Australian First World War tunic

[Bob Lyons]

A good friend of mine showed me this gem this morning, part of his collection, it is a lovely

First World War 4 pocket tunic, with overseas chevrons and wounded stripe, tunic is one that

was made in the UK, and I was told the collar badges are also UK made.

Just had to share the photos, I don't collect 1st War stuff, but I was impressed with the quality of

this item, will let the photos do the rest of the talking,

First up a general view of the jacket...

[Bob Lyons]

details of the collar....

[Bob Lyons]

Yes, they are leather buttons, here is the side with overseas chevrons and rank...

[Bob Lyons]

Metal 'wounded stripe'...

Edited May 20, 2007 by Bob Lyons

[Bob Lyons]

Unit colour flash and 'Australia' shoulder title...

[Bob Lyons]

Last one, from the rear showing the pleats.

Best wishes

Bob

[Chris Boonzaier]

I like WW1 Uniforms.. would love to have one like this !!!

[Tiger-pie]

G'da Bob;

Was there anything attached to the lanyard? The buttons are unusual, they are usually brass with an outline in relief of Australia, not leather as in this case. It is almost mint condition, a superb find to say the least.

Regards;

Johnsy

Edited May 20, 2007 by Tiger-pie

[Bob Lyons]

Hi Johnsy,

Yes the buttons are leather (apart from one of the shoulder strap buttons which does have the 'Australia'

button in metal on it, which must be a replacement), I am assuming that because this was made in the UK then

these buttons must have been what the original owner decided on at the time, or perhaps that was all the tailor

had at the time, I don't know, the lanyard once had a whistle attached, which has now gone to the mists of time.

Chris, your not the only one who would like it...

I was just about to turn the computer off and go for a cold beer, when I got the notification of a reply on my

computer, so as it is a Sunday afternoon, and as an ex Armoured Corps friend of mine is about to lob on my doorstep,

he said that he was thirsty, so I had better get them lined up !

Bob

[chippo]

very, very nice indeed! Hopefully it's in Australia?

- Chris

[Bob Lyons]

Hi Chris,

Yes it still lives here in Victoria, and there is more, it has a companion too, the visor cap that the same guy wore

is still with the tunic, I haven't seen the cap as my friend only brought the jacket down for me to see, will have to

travel up to central Victoria to see the cap and tunic together.

Bob

[Tony]

Bloody brilliant!

I didn't know WWI Australian tunics only showed the rank on one arm.

Tony

[Guest Rick Research]

What's the unit patch for? Closest I could find is 58th Infantry Battalion-- but this tunic has the red to the LEFT?

[Bob Lyons]

Hi Rick,

I just asked the owner, he confirmed it as the 58th Bn.

Bob (He was wounded 3 times in France).

[Mark Gibson]

Beautiful Tunic Bob.

Compeletely different to the one which I recenly received from the UK and returned right away. I can answer Johnsy's question about the buttons; many of the UK produced tunic had the brass buttons but many had these leather economy buttons as well and sometimes a combination of both. The AWM have quite a few British made tunics and a large percentage do have the leather economy buttons.

By the way this is only from what I've seen, no 'expert' opinions here because I'm no expert, just an interested collector.

And...for Tony, the rank was worn on the right sleeve only in both WW1 and WW2 I believe.

Mark

Edited May 25, 2007 by Mark Gibson

[Tiger-pie]

Here is some further examples of tunics with the same sort of buttons as above. Note that the rank is only on the one arm also.

Regards;

Johnsy

Edited June 10, 2007 by Tiger-pie

[Tiger-pie]

Again, this one is named to Richard "Dick' Salisbury.

[Tiger-pie]

And Pompey Elliot's jacket, which shows a good example of the typical brass buttons.

[ccj]

And Pompey Elliot's jacket, which shows a good example of the typical brass buttons.

Very nice...

I'm a big fan of WW1 and 2 Australian uniforms.

Edited June 13, 2007 by ccj

[Fromelles]

That's one very nice tunic!

Do you happen to have any shots of the inside?

I too have a British made tunic and it has a few slight differences, which you'd expect.

Dan

[Paul R]

Very nice displays! IF they could only talk!

[Chris Boonzaier]

A question...

Apparently the Brits had to hand in their tunics when demobbed... the canadians got to keep them (Making Canadian ones more comman)...

What is with the Aussies... and Kiwis... did they get to keep theirs when they got home?