Collection relating to MAJ Alec Jeffrey Hill (256828) (NX380), 2/13 Australian Infantry Battalion

Men of the "March to Freedom" halting for a rest by the side of the road. One of 12 images relating to a 1918 "March to Freedom" First World War recruiting march. Led by Captain (Capt) Alfred Charles Eade, Officer Commanding Lithgow Camp, this march ran for a month starting on the New England Tableland, across the Great Dividing Range and through the Hunter Valley, arriving in Cessnock on 6 June 1918. Initially planning to finish in Newcastle the men were directed to Sydney and 300 men arrived there on 10 June. Following the success of this march, a southern march was organised and commenced on 2 July from Albury. Capt Eade was an experienced militia officer, serving with the 43rd Regiment, he accompanied the Coo-ee recruitment march in 1915 and spent time as an AIF instructor in 1915. He later was commandant at Bathurst and Lithgow camps before his own enlistment in the AIF in April 1918. He embarked as a general service reinforcement (paybook number 513115) in July 1918 and on arrival was attached to the 34th Battalion. He was hospitalised with nephritis for a month and returned to Australia in June 1919.