Photograph by Melbourne photographer Josiah Barnes of Australian Light Horsemen about to depart on NESTOR, Melbourne. Photographic print on paper. This image depicts a group portrait of a cavalry unit. The soldiers have ammunition belts across their shoulders and a few of them carry daisies. Their kit bags are piled together at right. Behind the soldiers are vehicles underneath the terminal and two officers can be seen talking behind the group. A funnel of the berthed WW1 troopship NESTOR is visible in the background. The reverse has a handwritten inscription in pencil reading: `NESTOR 7'.

From the Australian War Memorial website (of the same photograph, see below) identified left to right, front row: unidentified; 2955 Private (Pte) George Edwin Rogers, 35, farrier of Bairnsdale, Vic (believed to be); 2953 Acting Sergeant (A/Sgt) Charles Francis Maule Payne, grazier of Seymour, Vic; unidentified; unidentified.

Josiah Barnes' two sons, Norm and Victor, left for war in 1916 (both returned to Australia after their service). Barnes appears to have taken an interest around this time in photographing the troopships as they departed for war from Melbourne.

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Object number: 00027614

See also the same photograph at the AWM: cas.awm.gov.au/item/PB0646

(Thanks to Daniel McGlinchey for uniform details!)

Info:

Owner: Australian National Maritime Museum on The Commons
Source: Flickr Commons
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