George Owen's AIF Souvenir Book

A fellow researcher, Fay Dobson when she lived in Taree NSW was aware of a distant relative who was moving house and lived somewhere out the back of Wingham, NSW.  She believed that these people would probably be inclined to throw out a number of items and so went to visit them during the move.  One of the things she found sitting in a pile beneath a tree was an AIF Souvenir book containing a letter written on the back of the book's pages from George to his half-sister Minnie Hudson.  These are the individual pages of the AIF Book.  See the letter

	Front Cover	THE NILE MISSION PRESS, CAIRO
	Page 1	Sir George Reid The Australian Commonwealth's High Commissioner. who has come from London to welcome the 1st Contingent of Australian Imperial Forces, takes the Salute in the march past, from motor-car, with General Sir John G. Maxwell, Commander in Chief Egypt, seated on his left.
	Page 2	SECOND BRIGADE FIELD AMBULANCE IN THE FOREGROUND New South Wales Infantry in the middle distance, and 3rd Brigade Field Hospital and Ambulance in the Distance
	Page 3	6th AND 5TH (VICTORIA) INFANTRY BATTALIONS From Pyramid Plateau..
	Page 4	4TH (N.S.W.) INFANTRY BATTALION With Pyramids of Cheops and Cheffren.
	Page 5	FIELD ENGINEERS AND 1ST INFANTRY BATTALION IN THE FOREGROUND (from right to left). and 12th (Tasmania), and 11th (Western Australia) Infantry Battalion in the distance.
	Page 6	AUSTRALIAN ARMY SERVICES CORPS.
	Page 7	GENERAL VIEW OF CAMP From Pyramid Plateau. 8th Infantry Battalion in the foreground.
	Page 8	ABDIN PALACE. The accession of Prince Hussein (eldest living member of the family of Mohamed Aly) under the new British Protectorate, as Sultan Hussein of Egypt, on the deposition of Khedive Abbae Hilmi II
	Page 9	THE 7TH AND 6TH (VICTORIA) INFANTRY BATTALIONS AND TRANSPORTS
	Page 10	CHURCH PARADE OF 1ST AND 2ND INFANTRY BATTALIONS Artillery Brigades and Ammunition Column Lines in the distance.
	Page 11	A VISIT TO THE TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX. The Second or Pyramid of Cheffron is about 4,883,000 tons in weight, and contains 2,156,960 cubic yards of stone. It's height is 447 feet, and the length of each side at the base is 690 feet.
	Page 12	FOURTH VICTORIAN LIGHT HORSE.       THIRD BRIGADE FIELD ARTILLERY. DIVISIONAL AMMUNITION COLUMN
	Page 13	THE CAMP AT THE PYRAMIDS The Great or Pyramid of Cheops to left. Its height is 450 feet, and length of each side at the base, 750 feet. Comprises 3,057,000 cubic yards of masonry, and is calculated to contain 2,300,000 separate blocks of stone, each of about 40 cubic feet. It covers an area of 13 acres. The Pyramid of Cheffren to right.
	Page 14	FIRST BRIGADE FIELD HOSPITAL IN THE FOREGROUND From right to left in middle distance -- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th (New South Wales) Infantry Battalions; and, in the distance, 11th (Western Australia). 10th (South Australia), and 9th (Queensland) Infantry Battalions, and Third Brigade Field Ambulance.
	Page 15	SECOND BRIGADE FIELD AMBULANCE AND HOSPITAL IN THE FOREGROUND. In middle distance from left to right -- the 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1and 1st Battalion Lines. In distance, 3rd Brigade Field Hospital and 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Infantry Battalions.
	Page 16	A ROUTE MARCH IN THE COUNTRY NEAR THE DATE PALMS
	Page 17	SIR GEORGE REID The Commonwealth High Commissioner, addresses the Australians at the Camp, in view of the Pyramids, the sight of which caused Napoleon to remark to his Soldiers 100 years ago "Forty Centuries look down upon you."
	Page 18	THE NEW SULTAN Returns to his former home for the first time as Sultan Hussein of Egypt.
	Page 19	SIR GEORGE REID The Commonwealth High Commissioner, addresses the Australians at the Camp.
	Page 20	AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT
	Back Cover	Published by FRANK WADE Ghezireh, CAIRO, EGYPT.

Updated : 28 May 2008