Improvised trousers : Lieutenant I S Scott, Australian Army Service Corps, Sparrow Force

Improvised trousers made from a pair of khaki shorts and a khaki shirt. The shorts have slash pockets on each hip, a coin pocket and a rear patch pocket on the right rear hip. They have a concealed four button fly with cloth tabs (the bottom one has torn off) and two silver coloured metal buckles to close the waist. The inside back is labelled 'SUPREMECY CO. PTY. LTD. 1940 SIZE' with a space on the label to record the size. Next to this is another label, for recording the regimental number and name of the wearer. The shirt has been cut, with the sleeves removed allowing the front and back of the shirt to be used to extend the legs of the shorts. The shirt has been crudely sewn to the shorts using green thread from an army housewife (sewing kit). The right leg of the shorts has been extended by sewing the back piece of the shirt to the hem of the right leg of the shorts. The back of the shirt has been folded in half and the shirt's two side seams an inner leg seam. The left leg has been extended using the front of the shirt. The front of the shirt has also been folded in half and the shirt's two side seams sewn together as an inner seam of the trousers. There is one patch pocket with buttoned flap on the front of the trousers, directly underneath the seam joining the shirt to the shorts, and a matching pocket on the back of the left leg. Next to the patch pocket on the bottom of the left leg is the neck placket opening, with one button. This opening has been sewn shut using green thread. Near the top of the shirt is the arm pit seam, connecting the body of the shirt to the sleeves. The bottom edges of the trousers curve up towards the inner trouser leg seam, following the original hem of the shirt.

Ian Sydney Scott was born at Liverpool, NSW on 19 September 1917. In civilian life he worked as a colliery agent and coal contractor. Scott enlisted in the Australian Military Forces (AMF) on 13 February 1939, serving with the Australian Army Service Corps (AASC). He was promoted to temporary lieutenant in July 1940. He enlisted in the Second AIF on 28 July 1941, with the service number NX76230, and was made a permanent lieutenant the next day. As a member of the AASC he joined Sparrow Force in August 1941. Sparrow Force was the code name for the Australian garrison stationed on Timor.

Scott embarked for overseas service on 8 December 1941, disembarking at Koepang, in Dutch Timor, on 12 December 1941 with the bulk of Sparrow Force. The Force took up defensive positions around Koepang, the capital of west Timor, and at the aerodrome at Penfui. In early 1942 Scott was stationed at Champlong in Dutch Timor. The Japanese landed at Koepang on 20 February and created a road block which cut off the Australians at Champlong. Most surrendered, but Scott joined a small group who decided to evade capture.

On 22 February 1942, after the surrender of the Australian troops, the Australian government noted him as missing. Before they left Champlong, Scott packed a bag with some spare clothes, a razor and other items. The group of escapees headed east and eventually met up with 2/2 Australian Independent Company in Portuguese Timor. The Japanese had also attacked Portuguese Timor and the 2/2nd Independent Company was driven west from Dili. However unlike Sparrow Force in the west, they were not captured and instead retreated to the mountains where they conducted a successful guerrilla war against the Japanese lasting for over a year. Following the capture of Timor, 2/2nd Independent Company was listed as 'missing'.

The Company's signallers were able to build a wireless transmitter, nicknamed 'Winnie the War Winner', and on 18/19 April 1942 were able to contact Darwin. At the end of May RAN vessels began landing supplies for the Australians on the south coast of Portuguese Timor. These supply runs were very dangerous but they allowed the Australians on Timor to continue fighting. In September the guerillas were reinforced by 2/4th Independent Company. However, the guerilla campaign could not go on indefinitely. In August the Japanese lunched a major offensive against the guerrillas and Japanese reprisals against the civilian population of Portuguese Timor reduced local support for the Australians. The 2/2nd and 2/4th were withdrawn in December 1942 and January 1943 respectively.

Scott spent several months in Timor after the Japanese invasion, including time on the south east coast of Timor on the beach. The mosquitos were bad and as part of his protection against them, he turned his spare shorts and shirt into a pair of trousers for his legs. He finally embarked from Suai in Portuguese Timor for Darwin, arriving on 8 August 1942. Despite the protection of his improvised trousers he still contracted malaria and was hospitalised in Darwin for a few months. Scott was transferred to an AASC Training Depot in November 1942, and in 1943 to 2 Australian Corps AASC. He was hospitalised twice more with malaria in 1943. In March 1944 he was promoted to Captain. Captain Scott was released to industry in September 1945 and discharged on 13 November.