German 'Gummimaske' model 15 gas mask third type : Chaplain D B Blackwood MC MID, 13th Brigade AIF

Rubberised canvas mask featuring a pair of circular yellow acetate lenses. A small green cross has been drawn on the right side each lense. Around each lense and the lower part of the gas mask is wound a length of white cotton string. A number '2' has been stamped in faded black ink onto the front of the mask above the nose. Above the right eye is a stamped manufacturers marking in faded black ink. This mark is circular with unreadable text around the inside with a number possible '2' in the middle. On the lower left hand side of the mask is printed in faded black ink 'DRAEGER / CR 138 / 2 17'.

The entire rim of the mask has the remnants of browned shellac still intact in parts. The mask is secured to the head of the wearer by a pair of coiled spring bands enclosed in cotton and a pair of cotton tape bands which are sewn into the upper rear rim of the mask. A long cotton tape carry handle is also sewn into the bottom edge of the rim. Sandwiched between the conical removable canister and the mask body is a roughly square piece of faded red cotton with a hole punched in the middle on top. The canister itself is overall metal with condierable corrosion. The paint finish is also heavily worn, exposing natural metal in many places.

This relic relates to the service of Chaplain Donald Burns Blackwood during the First World War. It was recovered by Chaplain Blackwood from the battlefield at Zonnebeke, near Ypres (known as Ieper today) in Belgium in 1917.

The gummimaske model 15 was designed and made in Germany in the early part of the First World War as gas warfare and measures to counter it evolved. They were introduced into service between 1916 and 1917 on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. This particular one is the third variant issued. It was also known as a 'Rahmenmaske' from the stiffened frame around the interior of the mask. The gummimaske was gradually replaced by a predominately leather and improved gas mask known as the 'Ledershutzenmaske' by the Germans after 1917.

This change in gas mask material was because of the successful Royal Naval blockade of Germany and the dramatic impact it had on a range of important materials for the German war effort such as rubber, foodstuffs and materials.

Donald Burns Blackwood was born at Geeveston in Tasmania on 3 November 1884. He was the fourth son of Archibald Blackwood, the headmaster of New Norfolk School. He was educated at New Norfolk School, Queens College Hobart he received a Master of Arts from the University of Tasmania. He was ordained into the Church of England in 1907. In 1909 he married Ida Pitt and they went on to have four children, Mary, Donald, Kathleen and Graham.

Blackwood had been a Chaplain fourth class with the 6th Military District (Tasmania) from 1911 and he was 30 years and 11 months old when he applied for a Commission in the Australian Imperial Force on 1 October 1915. At the time he and his wife were living in Deloraine Tasmania where he was the rector of Sorell. Chaplain Blackwood was appointed to the AIF as a Church of England Chaplain fourth class on 20 September 1915. He left Australia aboard HMAT A14 Euripides on 2 November 1915. He served overseas in the Middle East, England, Belgium and France with the 52nd Battalion, 13th Australian Infantry Brigade, the 2nd Australian General Hospital and the 49th Battalion between 2 November 1915 and 1 February 1919. He also acted as the senior chaplain for the 4th Division in 1918.

Chaplain Blackwood was awarded the Military Cross on 17 September 1918 for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the field in France and was Mentioned in Despatches on 7 November 1917. He left the United Kingdom onboard the transport Nestor on 12 December and he returned to Australia on 1 February 1919. His appointment with the AIF was honourably terminated on 3 April 1920. During the First World War his cousin, 2220 Corporal Gordon Blackwood of the 3rd Trench Mortar Battery was killed in action on 24 July 1918.

He later was appointed Chaplain third Class in the Citizen Military Forces, 6th Military District on 9 July 1922 and prompted to Chaplain Second class on 9 July 1927. He was appointed Rector of Holy Trinity Hobart in 1924. In 1929 he became the Archdeacon of Hobart. He was again promoted to Chaplain First Class on 9 July 1932 and placed upon the Retired List on 11 April 1946. He was consecrated the third Bishop of Gippsland Victoria in 1942 and he held this until his retirement in 1955. On his retirement he and his wife returned to Deloraine Tasmania.
Blackwood died in June 1969.