Boxed pack of Australian Comforts Fund playing cards : Lieutenant General Sir I Mackay

Standard pack of playing cards, with the four suits, a joker featuring an illustration of a kookaburra with a snake in its beak, and a blank card. The pack is housed within a box branded with Australian Comforts Fund (ACF) details, printed in red and blue. The front reads 'PLAYING CARDS / Smooth finish', bordering the ACF logo, surrounded by the words 'A GIFT FROM AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS FUND'. Each lid is marked 'A.C.F.', with the upper lid also marked 'Made in Australia'. The box reverse features the card reverse design.

Pack of playing cards issued by the Australian Comforts Fund in comfort packs to Australian troops serving overseas. This example was given to Lieutenant General Sir Iven Mackay while serving in the Second World War. Iven Giffard Mackay was born at Grafton, NSW in 1882. A keen member of the militia, he was commissioned in 26 Infantry Battalion in 1913, and at the outbreak of war volunteered for the AIF. He was appointed Captain and adjutant of 4 Battalion, but a riding accident meant he did not rejoin his unit at Gallipoli until May. Promoted to Major, he led A Company, 4 Battalion in the attack on Lone Pine on 6 August, 1915, where he was wounded. Treatment meant Mackay could not rejoin his unit until after the evacuation.

In France, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and took command of 4 Battalion. He was appointed to command 1 Machine Gun Battalion in early 1918, and in June was promoted Brigadier General, commanding 1 Brigade. After the Armistice, Mackay studied physics at the University of Cambridge and returned to the University of Sydney in 1920 where he lectured in physics. In 1933 he was appointed headmaster of Cranbook School but left in 1939. Mackay had held the rank of honorary brigadier general in the AMF from January 1920 to June 1937, variously commanding the 9, 8 and 5 Infantry Brigades. On 24 March 1937 he took command of 2 Division and was promoted to major general on 1 July 1937.

In 1939, Mackay was ranked seventh on the army's seniority list, and was later selected replace Blamey as commander of 6 Division, taking command on 4 April 1940. He led the Division into its first battle at Bardia in January 1941, the success earning him a Knight of the British Empire (KBE). He endured the Greece campaign with his men, earning a mention in dispatches. On 1 September 1941, Mackay relinquished command of 6 Division and returned to Australia, where he was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of Home Forces to prepare for an invasion. His appreciation and planning led to the Brisbane Line controversy.

Mackay became commander of the Second Army on 6 April 1942 and when Blamey relinquished command of New Guinea Force on 30 January 1943, he handed over to Mackay who commanded until May 1943, when he returned to Australia to command the Second army at Parramatta. His reappointment to command New Guinea Force on 28 August 1944 coincided with the capture of Finschafen and the fighting at Sattelburg and the Markham and Ramau Valleys and accusations that he had not adequately represented Australian interests to MacArthur's staff and he relinquished commend on 20 January 1944, taking up the post of Australia's first High Commissioner to India, serving until May 1948. His association with the University of Sydney continued after his return to Australia, and he died in Sydney on 30 September 1966.