Hard tack biscuit Letter: Driver Percy Gordon Hendy, 6th Battery, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, AIF

Standard issue Army hard tack biscuit with an official field service post card sewn on to one side. The postcard is addressed in pencil, 'Master James Hendy 9 Gordon Grove Malvern Victoria', and bears a 'passed by censor' stamp and two franking stamps for the Army post of 8 November 1915. The back of the biscuit bears the following message, 'Gallipoli Nov / Wishing you / all a Merry Xmas ' and a happy / New Year / George'. The corners of the biscuit have been broken off and the entire biscuit has been broken and glued together.

Improvised letter on a hard tack biscuit sent from Driver P G Hendy, 6 Battery, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade, AIF from Gallipoli.

Hendy enlisted in the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade on 3 June 1915. He served with 6 Battery on Gallipoli at the time of writing the letter. Following his subsequent service he was discharged on 18 July 1919.

Hard tack biscuits were part of a soldier's individual ration in the First World War and were so hard that they were often soaked in water before consumption if this was possible. Made mainly from flour and water, the biscuits were slowly dried in the baking process, rendering them so hard that they deterred attacks from weevil pests and allowing them to be transported with little breakage. A single biscuit was said to have as much nutritive value as a loaf of bread.