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Paynter Dixon donates ANZAC history to Nambucca RSL Club

23 Apr, 2009 12:00 PM
The ANZAC spirit will live on at Nambucca Heads RSL with a photograph recently presented to the club for its members by Paynter Dixon, with whom they have an established business relationship.

The photograph shows the 11th Battalion contingent of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was taken on Cheops Pyramid in Egypt on January 10, 1915.

Nambucca Heads High School will be shown the photograph and then asked to research it and write an essay about the Anzacs.

The winning essay will receive a $100 gift voucher.

Paynter Dixon completed a $6 million extension to the club two years ago and is currently examining future opportunities.

This photograph is of the 11th Battalion contingent of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which was part of the first division that landed on the wrong beach at Anzac Cove on the morning of April 25, 1915.

The photograph, was taken on Cheops Pyramid in Egypt after a church service held before training.

It was supposed to be a photo shoot for the officer of the battalion, but the Australians, with their sense of humour, all decided to join in.

If a picture tells a thousand words, this photograph would tell a million stories.

One of the soldiers had died a couple of days before the photograph was taken and the Australian troops decided that he was part of the battalion, so dressed him accordingly and placed him with them on the pyramid.

In the front row of the troops, standing behind the officers, are four diggers with their arms linked.

They are a father and his three sons, who were tragically killed on the first day of battle.

At the top right hand side of the photograph, fourth row down, there is a young soldier without a hat.

It is believed he was aged somewhere between fourteen and sixteen.

It is believed that this battalion included four or five sixteen-year-olds, who lied about their age to join. Some of these are in this photograph.

The really sad part about this photograph is that 80 per cent of the soldiers in the photograph died on the first day of battle on April 25, 1915.

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The 11th Battalion contingent of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was taken on Cheops Pyramid in Egypt on January 10, 1915.
The 11th Battalion contingent of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was taken on Cheops Pyramid in Egypt on January 10, 1915.
Paynter Dixon Construction’s  Steve Alley (left) presents Nambucca Heads RSL Club President Brian Duncan with a piece of ANZAC history.
Paynter Dixon Construction’s Steve Alley (left) presents Nambucca Heads RSL Club President Brian Duncan with a piece of ANZAC history.

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