Pattern 1915 Australian Leather Equipment pack

Cotton canvas infantryman's pack made to the 1915 Australian leather equipment pattern. The pack is rectangular in shape with a top flap that secures at the front with two leather straps and brass buckles. At the top are two side flaps which secure under this top flap with a steel button and serve as weather protection. There are two webbing shoulder straps at the back which are secured to a reinforced base at the top of the pack with a strip of leather and brass buckles and slides and at the base by two rivetted leather loops. One of these loops allows supporting straps to be secured to the pack. Also attached to each reinforced base at the top of the pack is a short length of leather with a brass buckle for attaching the upper ends of the supporting straps. Inside the flap is a partially obscured maker's stamp which reads 'AUSTRALIA C.G.H.F. 1917' with a broad arrow. A checker's mark of a broad arrow and the initials 'FP' are also stamped on the inside. A name, from a later civilian use, has been printed in black ink on the inside of the flap.

The Pattern 1915 Australian Leather Equipment was based on Pattern 1908 webbing equipment and the specifications of the pack remained the same. Production was carried out from 1915 to 1918 and the equipment was used between 1919 and 1939 by the Citizen Military Forces. During the Second World War it was issued to Volunteer Defence Corps and Garrison soldiers before becoming obsolete in 1945.