Summary

Newspaper cutting featuring soldiers aboard the A7, taken on the voyage which left Melbourne on 16 December 1916 and arrived in Plymouth, England, on 18 February 1917. The same photograph is used for postcard HT 42740, sent by Private William (Bill) Nairn to his sister Sarah Jackson. Bill is depicted on the far right of the centre row, with a moustache.

The A7 was also known as the HMAT Medic. The Medic had been built in 1899 and had carried troops to the Boer War. It was part of the flotilla to leave Albany in November 1914, bound for World War I.

The back of the cutting depicts 'New Buildings at the Orphanage - St Catherine's School no.220, conducted by the Sisters of Mercy'. Research indicates that the school was located in Geelong. It has not been possible to identify the newspaper from which this article was cut.

Physical Description

Newspaper cutting, rectangular, printed on both sides. Front: black and white portrait taken on a ship of 22 uniformed Australian soldiers in three informal rows, with an additional man seated with his back to the camera, wearing soft cap and braces. The soldiers' uniforms include peaked and slouch hats and puttees. The image has a line border and inscription below. Back: a wooden building apparently recently constructed, with a group of children standing outside. The image has a line border and inscription below. The newspaper cutting has losses at a strong vertical centre fold, and has also been folded horizontally.

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