German messenger dog's collar, message carrier and identity disc, 1918

German messenger dog's brown leather collar with seven holes for adjustment and white metal buckle. A leather keeper is sewn immediately below the buckle. A white metal 'D' ring, to which a message cylinder or dog lead can be attached, is held in place by a separate piece of leather sewn to the inside of the collar 150 mm from the buckle. A thick round leather identity tag is attached to the buckle with an 'S' shaped white metal fitting. The tag is stamped '416' on one side and 'PHV HAMBURG' on the other. Threaded through the 'D' on the collar is a narrower leather strap, also with a white metal buckle. This strap is also threaded through two heavy wire bands soldered to a cylindrical galvanised steel message container. The container pulls apart so that a message can be placed in or retrieved from it, and is secured in the closed position by a small V-shaped tongue and groove. The original paper message found in the container is also present. Written in purple indelible pencil, it measures 70 x 60 mm. A translation written at the time of capture reads, 'Translation very difficult but Lt (illegible) states that the message has reference to time of arrival of food apparently to front line from cookers in rear. Found in NM [No Man's] Land at [map reference] C5a 20 30 18/2/18 (illegible signature)'.

The German messenger dog from which this collar, identity disc and message carrier were removed, reported as 'a large dog moving South', was shot at dusk on 14 February 1918 by the sentry of D Company Headquarters, 41st Battalion, in the Le Touquet sector, north-east of Armentieres. A patrol sent out to find it could find no trace of the animal and its body was finally located in brickfields some distance away by another patrol on 18 February. The message it carried provided no useful intelligence about German movements and related to a question about rations which had been sent from a German outpost to a company commander.

The collar and message were later handed in to the Australian War Records Section by Corporal (later Sergeant) Bernard William 'Barney' Rickwood from the battalion. Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in March 1917, for his skill as a patrol scout, it is thought that he may have recovered the collar from the dog. He was killed on the Hindenburg Line on 29 September 1918.