Collection relating to the Hutchins brothers

P05555.001
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Accession Number P05555.001
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Print silver gelatin
Maker Unknown
Place made Australia: Northern Territory, Adelaide River
Date made c 1941
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Informal outdoor portrait of VX61202 Private (Pte) David Arthur Hutchins (left), 2/21st Battalion, and his brother, VX61203 Pte Fred Hutchins, 2/21st Battalion, both of Woorinen North, Vic. The brothers are standing at ease with their rifles, at a training camp near Adelaide River. Privates David and Fred Hutchins enlisted with a third brother VX61201 Pte Eric Everard Hutchins, on 6 August 1941. The three brothers and a second cousin VX50460 Pte Thomas Hutchins, of Rainbow, Vic, members of 2/21st Battalion (Gull Force), all died as prisoners of war (POW) of the Japanese, at Ambon, Netherlands East Indies. Pte Fred Hutchins died on 6 July 1945, and Pte David Hutchins on 29 July 1945. In total seven brothers of the Hutchins family enlisted and served overseas. Only three, VX41288 Pte Ivan Robert Hutchins, 2/4th Field Ambulance, VX37192 Bombardier Malcolm George "Mike" Hutchins, 2nd Anti Aircraft Regiment, and VX41229 Pte William Ernest (Bill) Hutchins, 2/22nd Battalion (later 2/23rd Battalion), survived the war and returned to Australia. They had served in the Middle East and New Guinea. Another brother VX41293 Private Alan Leslie Hutchins, 2/22nd Battalion (Lark Force), died as a POW at Rabaul, New Britain. VX74662 Sapper Fredrick Wallace, 9th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, another cousin of the Hutchins brothers, was a member of the recovery team which visited Ambon in October 1945, to uncover mass graves and identify remains, including those of his cousins, at Laha airfield and Tantoei camp.

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