State Library of South Australia

Battalion with a West Spring Gun [B 74991] • Photograph

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Summary

Half-plate glass negative of a group portrait of an unidentified army battalion standing in a field with a West Spring Gun, a type of mechanical catapault used to launch hand grenades into enemy trenches, issued to British and Australian forces at the beginning of the First World War, and used by Australian forces during the Gallipoli Campaign.

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Physical description

1 photograph : black and white ; 16.5 x 12 cm

Dates / Publication details

Approximately 1915

Collection

Part of Portrait Collection

Subject

Australia. Army. -- Artillery.
Military uniforms.
Soldiers -- South Australia.
World War, 1914-1918 -- South Australia.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, Australian.

Catalogue record

Return to catalogue

General notes

One of a collection of glass plate negatives of South Australian soldiers, likely produced in metropolitan Adelaide from late 1914 to 1916. The majority of the images are single portraits and demonstrate a wide variety of uniforms, accoutrements and weapons, including swords and rifles with and without fixed bayonets, and various backdrops including outdoors, against buildings, and studio shots with a rural idyll woodland background. Included are portraits of men in twos or groups of three or more, some with wives and sometimes children and parents. Some portraits feature warhorses, senior offices, a quartermaster, and the crew of a West Spring Gun. The original paper envelopes of a number of the glass plates have survived, providing the name of the soldier along with details of the types and quantities of prints ordered. One of the envelopes gives details of the maker, Edwards and Errington of 52 Flinders Street, Adelaide. See B 74889-B 75011, B 75104.

Digitisation information

Date

29/07/2016

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

13,281 x 9,906 pixels (131.6 MP)

Size

131.58 MB

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