Tropical rain cape : Major H I Carlile, Australian Army Medical Corps

Khaki cotton japara tropical rain cape extending to the bottom of the wearer's knees. The cape has a stand and fall collar secured by a brass hook and eye, which can be turned up in extreme weather conditions and fastened in place with a fabric tab and button. Five buttons, of which the top one is missing, fasten the cape down the centre front. Angled welt openings on either side of the centre front, reinforced inside with khaki twill tape, allow the wearer to extend his arms from the cape if required; if they are kept under the cape the openings can be closed by a single button. All the buttons on the cape are of brown Bakelite, impressed around the edge ' *AUSTRALIAN* MILITARY FORCES'. The cape is constructed in three sections - two front and a single back - which are joined by French seams running across the top of the shoulder and down the outside of the arm. Two self fabric ties, one bearing two buttons, and the other a button hole, extend down the inside of the cape from the shoulders. They are used to secure the cape to the body by crossing over the wearer's chest and buttoning behind his waist. The centre back neck has a self fabric tape to allow the cape to be hung on a peg, and bears a red woven manufacturer's label 'M.TX SIZE 3', indicating manufacture by the Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory. The owner's name, 'MAJOR H.CARLILE' is written in black inside the upper back.

Hildred Irving Carlile was born in Melbourne in 1887. He enlisted in the AIF on 28 November 1914, giving his occupation as 'student', although he was at this time a qualified medical practitioner. Carlile was assigned to 1 Australian Clearing Hospital (renamed at Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915, 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station - 1CCS), with the rank of lieutenant, and sailed for service in Egypt aboard HMAT A55 Kyarra on 5 December. He served with 1CCS throughout the Gallipoli campaign. He was twice evacuated for medical treatment, with pneumonia on 14 May, and on 8 September. On these occasions he returned to Gallipoli after he had recovered. He was promoted to captain on 1 June 1915. Carlile's third evacuation, to Egypt, for appendicitis, took place on 28 November 1915. After treatment and rest he rejoined 1CCS on 21 March 1916, later moving to France with them, in May 1916, for service on the Western Front.

In July 1916 Carlile transferred to 2 Field Ambulance, and in December 1916 was appointed regimental medical officer (RMO) of 5 Battalion. On 10 February 1917 he received a gunshot wound to his right arm and was evacuated to England for treatment, rejoining 5 Battalion at the beginning of May. Carlile was promoted to major in June and briefly transferred to 9 Field Ambulance before returning to 5 Battalion as its RMO. After suffering four episodes of trench fever in early 1918 it was recommended that he return to Australia. However, his services could not be spared and he only left England to return to Australia on 23 September 1918. He was mentioned in despatches on 25 September for his service in France between 25 February and 16 September 1918. Major Carlile's appointed in the AIF was terminated at the end of January 1919. He was placed on the reserve of officers in 1925, but continued service with the militia throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

From 1919 until 1926 he was medical superintendent of the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum at Cheltenham. In 1926 he moved to Western Australia and was recalled to full time duty as a medical officer for 5 Military District, serving as RMO for 28 Battalion (Swan River Regiment). Between 1928 and 1935, when he returned to live in Victoria, he again served as a part time militia officer.
Carlile served during the Second World War as a member of the militia, with the service number V82580, from January 1940. He served at camp hospitals and 106 General Hospital at Bonegilla, Victoria until March 1942, and then at the Camp Hospital at Alice Springs and 27 Camp Hospital, both in the Northern Territory until the end of 1942. Carlile was appointed a temporary lieutenant colonel in December 1942 and returned to Victoria to take up a position as President of the Medical Board of Southern Command, which he held until the end of the war.

His sister, Isabella, also served in the First World War, in the Australian Army Nursing Service, in the hospital Ship Wandilla, and with 1 Australian General Hospital in France, and 3 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Dartford in England. Carlile's eldest brother, Lieutenant Keith Carlile served in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in New Guinea, and then with 7 Battalion, AIF, in France. He died of wounds received near Flers on 28 February 1917.

The tropical rain cape shown here was briefly made at the end of the 1930s, specifically for use by the Darwin Mobile Force, a small group of men who served as regular soldiers in the Northern Territory between 1938 and 1939, despite being members of the militia. They were popularly known as 'Mandrake' capes, after the caped cartoon character of that name, because they were worn hanging loose down the back by men on formal parade (see Photograph P01449.006). Carlile was never attached to this Force, and it is assumed that he later acquired his cape while serving in the Northern Territory, because he found it a useful item of uniform.