Allan, Victor Philip (Lieutenant, b.1897)

6 handwritten diaries June 1916-February 1918 kept by 10796 Lieutenant Victor Philip Allan, 3rd Divisional Train, 22nd Australian Army Service Corps (AASC) and 39 Battalion, detailing his voyage to England on HMT Persic (A34) and subsequent experiences in Lark Hill Camp, Salisbury Plains, England; La Creche and St. Omer, France; and Dickebusch, Belgium (near Ypres) July - November 1917. The diaries describe in detail personal feelings, management of horses and mules, movement of rations and supplies, observation balloons and aircraft and camp routine. A notebook of anecdotes kept in late 1916 appear possible drafts of articles submitted to the 3rd Divisional Train magazine The Astra. Diaries refer to Dan (later Sir Daryl) Lindsay who illustrated articles in The Astra, and in 1918 commenced work as an Official Medical Artist at Queen Mary Hospital at Sidcup, Kent.