Royal Australian Navy female relatives' badge : Mrs M L Lane

Sterling silver and enamel RAN Female Relatives' Badge. The badge shows a silver fouled anchor set within a blue enamel circle which contains the words 'ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY. TO WOMEN OF AUSTRALIA.' Beneath this is a blue enamel scroll with the words 'FOR DUTY DONE'. The scroll ends in a pair of loops, allowing bars to be attached if more than one relative is serving. The badge is surmounted by a king's crown. The reverse bears the impressed serial number '1110' and, in raised letters, the manufacturer's name 'STOKES & SONS MELBOURNE'. There is a brooch fastening on the back, and a fine safety chain with a small pin at the end is attached to the right hand loop on the scroll.

These female relatives' badges were granted to the nearest female relative of those members of the Royal Australian Navy who enlisted for general naval service and who performed service outside Australian waters. This badge was issued to Maria Lane, the mother of 103 Able Seaman William John Lane, who served with the Australian Navy & Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF).

Lane, a boilermaker's apprentice, was born in Sydney in 1894 and joined the Senior Naval Cadet Service on 27 March 1911. On 1 July 1912 he transferred to the Citizen Naval Force as a stoker second class. Two years later he was promoted to stoker.

On 18 August 1914 Lane embarked aboard HMAS Berrima as a member of 3 Company, Royal Australian Naval Reserve, ANMEF.

He participated in the landing at Kabakaul and the subsequent capture of the Bitapaka Wireless Station on 11 September 1914. He was then stationed at Herbertshohe until February 1915. Lane returned to Sydney and worked at Cockatoo Dockyard for the remainder of the war. He was rated head stoker on 1 June 1917.