Inverleigh RSL Sub-Branch

17/10/2026

17/10/2026

12/10/2026

The Rarest of Photographs

This iconic yet tragic photograph captures the futility of the Passchendaele Battle.

It shows exhausted, wounded and dead Australian soldiers near Broodseinde Ridge after an attack on 12 October 1917.

This photograph has been published in various forms; understandably, often with the dead soldiers cropped from the shot.

But what makes this version exceedingly rare is that cameraman Frank Hurley poses among his shattered subjects (standing right).

It seems unusual for the person behind the lens to thrust themselves into the frame, replete with camera.

Hubert Wilkins, who snapped this image, also had his photograph taken in front of the soldiers.

What possessed Hurley and Wilkins to do this?

Hurley wrote extensively in his diary of his deteriorating state-of-mind after a month cataloguing the battle's horrors.

He vividly remembered that day, the appalling scene that confronted him. He said that every 20 paces lay a dead body.

‘Most desperately mutilated without legs, arms, and heads and half covered in mud and slime.’

He saw a group of dead men and nearby, a few living men, huddled in recesses scooped out of a railway embankment.

Those nestled among the dead were ‘so emaciated by fatigue and shell shock that it was hard to differentiate.’

Later that day Hurley admitted: ‘I'm afraid that I'm becoming callous to many of the extraordinary sights and sounds that take place around me, and things which astounded me when I landed, now seem quite commonplace.

‘The wounded and dead scarcely make any impression, and one is absolutely heedless of the fact that his turn might be next instant.’

Wilkins's rare photograph is archived in the National Library of Australia MS2721.

If my stories have touched you, I invite you to discover more of the human stories behind the Great War in my books. Author-signed copies are available through my website.

https://scottbennettwriter.com/shop/

Pozières
‘This is a staggeringly good first book’
— The Canberra Times

Night in Passchendaele
‘Bennett makes a brilliant foray into fiction … a must read’
— Better Reading

The Nameless Names
‘Superbly researched and insightfully written’
— Ross McMullin, author of Pompey Elliott

12/10/2026

By the summer of 1918, the Allies had gained control of the skies.

At times, British, French and American aircraft outnumbered their German counterparts by as much as five to one. That advantage played an important role in the final months of the First World War.

Reconnaissance aircraft photographed German positions from above, providing intelligence that could be used to direct artillery fire and plan operations on the ground. Allied air superiority also made it harder for German aircraft to do the same, helping preparations for forthcoming attacks remain concealed.

This photograph, taken on 6 August 1918, shows an observer of the US Army Air Service handing over photographic plates after a reconnaissance flight. A motorcycle was waiting to rush them to the squadron’s photographic section.

Just two days later, the Battle of Amiens began, marking the start of the Hundred Days Offensive that would continue until the Armistice on 11 November 1918.

A fascinating glimpse at the people, technology and intelligence behind operations during the final months of the war.

Photo: Imperial War Museums (IWM), Q 67849 – © IWM

12/10/2026

🇦🇺Vietnam War Stories: Honouring the Heroes We Lost: Corporal Thomas Douglas Blackhurst of the Australian Army Training Team

Thomas Douglas Blackhurst was born on 14 October 1946 in Belmont, New South Wales. Following his basic and initial employment training he was posted to the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (7RAR) and became an infantryman-dog handler in the battalion’s tracking platoon. Blackhurst deployed to South Vietnam with his battalion in April 1967. Over the following 12 months he took part in 7RAR’s operations, including the successful Operation Coburg, conducted in early 1968 along the Bien Hoa-Long Khanh border against the VC and North Vietnamese Army regulars. A month later Blackhurst sailed back with his battalion to Australia.

Blackhurst returned to Vietnam in January 1970 and was initially sent to the 1st Australian Reinforcement Unit before being posted to 6RAR. In March and April he took part in Operation Townsville, a month-long search-and-destroy operation in north-eastern Phuoc Tuy Province. When 6RAR left Vietnam in May, Blackhurst returned to the reinforcement unit. In October he was promoted to Corporal and posted to the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam to work as an advisor to Vietnamese regional troops. In early April he took the place of a comrade due a period of rest and deployed to the Long Hai Hills with a company-sized patrol from the South Vietnamese 302nd Regional Force Battalion. With him was another member of AATTV and two American advisors.

As the unit patrolled into the Long Hais, one of the Vietnamese soldiers triggered a mine which severely wounded him and three others. An Iroquois helicopter from No. 9 Squadron RAAF, protected by two “Bushranger” gunships, was called in to evacuate the group.

Blackhurst guided the helicopter into position and went to assist in strapping the most severely wounded soldier onto a litter to be winched out. As the litter was winched back up towards the helicopter a hidden enemy soldier opened fire and a number of rounds hit the helicopter, causing it to lurch, lose power and plunge to the ground. The group’s captain and the wounded Vietnamese soldier did not survive as the helicopter crashed. Blackhurst was struck by one of the rotor blades and died instantly.

The four RAAF crewmen managed to escape from the wreckage, but the medic on board was trapped. Blackhurst’s body, recovered the next day, was returned to Australia and he was laid to rest in Belmont South Cemetery, New South Wales. Thomas was 24 years old at the time of his passing. Lest We Forget.

Thomas Douglas Blackhurst was the last soldier of the Australian Army Training Team to die in Vietnam." - AWM Last Post Ceremony 18 June 2014

Pictured is Tom Blackhurst with tracker dog, Justin, standing guard over a bunker during Operation Paddington.




Original description and photo sourced by the Australian War Memorial Collection Last Post Ceremony transcript 18 June 2014, The Australian War Memorial Collection/PAFU2014/201.01,

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12/10/2026