Men of the 16th Battalion carrying full kit marching along a road. Identified leading the way is ...

Accession Number E00226
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Glass original negative other
Maker Unknown Australian Official Photographer
Place made France: Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Eaucourt l'Abbaye
Date made 28 February 1917
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Men of the 16th Battalion carrying full kit marching along a road. Identified leading the way is Lieutenant H Baldwin, the Australian Official photographer . In a footnote on page 420 of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Dr C E W Bean records that "on a hot day near the Canal du Nord Lt Baldwin took several photographs of the canal between the German and Australian lines. The day was hot, and Baldwin , and English press photographer, ready for any adventure, but physically small and delicated, drank some of the canal water, which is believed to have been polluted by the Germans. A few days later he became seriously ill, and, though he returned to the front for the Battle of Messines, he was soon forced to give up his work. He died a few years later" The man second from the front of the right hand column and carrying his rolled up blanket over his left shoulder is 6519 Private Horatio Rumble Ganson, 16th Battalion AIF.