Australian Railway Supply Detachment 1914

A complete index of a single photo from the State Rail Authority Archives Photographic Reference Print Collection, now in the custody of NSW State Archives. The 65 names have been transcribed from the back of the photograph.

The photograph (Digital ID 17420_a014_a014000498) shows the 1st Railway Imperial Expeditionary Force at "The Warren" in Marrackville, Sydney, prior to departure for France in 1914.

You can order a high res digital copy via the catalogue

The First Australian Railway Supply Detachment, 11th AASC, was recruited in September 1914 by (then) Lieutenant Edmund Osborn Milne, the personnel being specially chosen from the staff of the New South Wales Government Railways and each Branch of the Department being represented.

The Unit sailed from Sydney on HMAT Berrima, (No. A.35) on 19th December 1914. It had been encamped at premises then known as "The Warren" in Marrickville, (since demolished), which prior to occupation by the army, had been a convent. The photograph was taken in the grounds of "The Warren" in December 1914. The original picture is in the possession of Mr GR Asprey (formerly of the Traffic Branch), an original member of the Unit. The trophy in front of the group - a fighting boomerang and a "return" boomerang - was presented to the Unit by Edmund Milne, at that time District Superintendent at Orange and later an Assistant Commissioner.