Mosman Intermediate High School Army Cadet tunic : J A King

Khaki wool serge other rank's service dress tunic with stand and fall collar, shoulder straps, back yoke, a box pleat from centre yoke to the bottom of the skirt, long sleeves with single button cuffs, shoulder straps, pleated patch pockets on each breast, with triple pointed flaps and inset hip pockets with rectangular flaps. The tunic buttons down the front with four oxidised Australian Military Forces buttons. The same buttons fasten the pockets and cuffs. There is a single brown plastic button closing the neck of the tunic. There are oxidised copper Rising Sun badges attached to each side of the collar.A self fabric 'belt' extends across the back of the tunic only. Each sleeve carried white printed blue felt shoulder titles for 'MOSMAN I.H.S. CADET UNIT', woven red, yellow and blue formation signs for the Australian Cadet Corps and woven rank chevrons for a corporal. A gold anodised aluminium 'S' within a wreath is carried above the left cuff. A plaited lanyard, in the school colours of blue and white, is carried on the left shoulder.The tunic is unlined but there are heavy cotton reinforcing strips sewn behind each pocket. The same fabric forms the pocket bags for the two hip pockets and the superimposed pocket to hold a field dressing. A printed cotton tag sewn inside the right front reads 'N88 1945 Made in Australia' and is also marked in ink 'D.TONKIN'.

This tunic is associated with the Australian Army Cadet forces service of John Ashton King. John was born in Sydney on 29 May 1945 to Errol John and Dorothy Pat King (nee Shoobert). Raised in Cremorne he attended Neutral Bay public school and Mosman Intermediate High School.

Whilst a student at the latter he served with the school cadet unit between 1959 and 1961 attaining the rank of cadet Corporal. During this time he was selected to be the section commander of the 'special section' equipped with a pair of Vickers medium machine guns. Each weapon was crewed by three cadets, with this section being considered an elite of the cadet unit. A gold anodised aluminium 'S' within a wreath was worn above their left cuff to distinguish the section from the rest of the unit. The Mosman Intermediate High School cadet unit attended annual camps on Army training bases such as Singleton during the period John was with them.

After graduating from High School in 1963/4 King joined the Australian Taxation Office and the Citizens Military Forces (CMF - now referred to as the Australian Army Reserve). The unit he joined was the 504 Air Support Signals Squadron based in Sydney. Their role was to provide communications support to the successful linking of air support for Army operations with various elements of RAAF and RAN. The majority of the work involved working with a complex signals network environment within a Joint Operations Centre.

In 1968 King left the CMF and remaining in Sydney concentrated on his on-going civilian career.