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.
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- Record series in the index: NRS 17420 (Photo No. 1331)
- Entries in the index: 65
About the Railway Supply Detachment
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.
