Group portrait of troops outside the Drill Hall at Goulburn Training Camp. Identified in the ...

Places	Europe: France Europe: United Kingdom, England Oceania: Australia, New South Wales, Goulburn
Accession Number	P01625.001
Collection type	Photograph
Object type	Black & white - Film copy negative
Maker	Unknown
Place made	Australia: New South Wales, Goulburn
Date made	1916
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright	Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Group portrait of troops outside the Drill Hall at Goulburn Training Camp. Identified in the picture (third row, 11th from right) is 5435 Private (Pte) William Joseph Punch, 1st Battalion. William Punch was the sole survivor of a massacre carried out by white settlers in 1880. An infant at the time, he was adopted and raised by a white farming family in Goulburn, New South Wales. Despite restrictions on Aboriginal service, William enlisted in December 1915 and served with the 1st Battalion, AIF, and later, the 53rd Battalion. He was wounded in April 1917 and subsequently evacuated to England for treatment. He died four months later of pneumonia and was buried with full military honours in East Cemetery in Boscombe, England. Another (unidentified) Aboriginal person is standing in the back row, 13th from left, in front of the open window. (Donor: A Speer).