Informal outdoor group portrait of three Hutchins brothers at the Swan Hill railway station, ...

Informal outdoor group portrait of three Hutchins brothers at the Swan Hill railway station, prior to leaving their home area for service. Left to right: VX41293 Private (Pte) Alan Leslie Hutchins, 2/22nd Battalion (Lark Force), of Woorinen, Vic; VX41288 Pte Ivan Robert Hutchins, 2/4th Field Ambulance, of Woorinen North, Vic; and VX41229 Pte William Ernest (Bill) Hutchins, of Beverford, Vic. In all, seven brothers of the Hutchins family enlisted and served overseas. Only three, Pte Ivan Hutchins, VX37192 Bombardier Malcolm George "Mike" Hutchins, 2nd Anti Aircraft Regiment, and Pte William 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. Brothers VX61202 Pte David Arthur Hutchins, VX61203 Pte Fred Hutchins, VX61201 Pte Eric Everard Hutchins, and a cousin, VX50460 Pte Thomas Hutchins, all of 2/21st Battalion, died as prisoners of war (POW) of the Japanese at Ambon, Netherlands East Indies. Pte Alan Hutchins died as a POW of the Japanese on 31 March 1942 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.