Framed, hand coloured photograph of 2367 Private (Pte) [later Lance Corporal] Hamilton ...

Framed, hand coloured photograph of 2367 Private (Pte) [later Lance Corporal] Hamilton Hollingsworth McLachlan, of Inverell, NSW. He enlisted 13th June 1916 and was posted to the 11th Reinforcements of the 34th Battalion. He embarked aboard HMAT Borda which left Sydney on 17 October 1916 and he returned to Australia on 11 May 1919. L Cpl McLachlan was awarded the Military Medal in 1919 (for gallantry in action during the battle of Amiens between 8 and 13 August 1918, when on several occasions he moved through the dense fog to locate enemy positions so they could be shelled by the artillery) and a French Medaille d'Honneur avec Glaives (en bronze) (Medal of Honour with bronze wreath), the latter medal was awarded to only six Australian soldiers in the First World War. The glass covering the photograph has been reverse painted with an oval framing of the image. It includes patriotic symbols and images including the blue Australian flag, Union Jack, a gold wreath, waratah flowers (native to and state emblem of New South Wales) and forget-me-not flowers. The image is encircled by two banners with the words 'With loving thoughts' and 'Fighting somewhere in France'. The bottom left hand corner shows a departing troopship; the slot for the battalion colours is empty but McLachlan has what is meant to be his battalion colours painted onto his epaulette [his battalion colours should be blue over green, not brown over green].