The primary role of a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) member was that of nursing orderly in hospitals, carrying out menial but essential tasks - scrubbing floors, sweeping, dusting and cleaning bathrooms and other areas, dealing with bedpans, and washing patients. They were not employed in military hospitals, except as ward and pantry maids; rather, they worked in Red Cross convalescent and rest homes, canteens, and on troop trains. At the start of the First World War, Australian VADs were restricted from travelling overseas by the Defence Council. As a result, many chose to travel on their own initiative and join British detachments, often in Australian Hospitals. It is reported that the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital included in their nursing staff some 120 VADs, chiefly Australians in the British service, employed through the Australian Red Cross Society. This policy was changed in 1916 after a request from Great Britain, and the first detachment of thirty official Australian VADs to serve overseas left Australia in September 1916.(http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/vad/, accessed 13 August 2014)A group of VADs, a nurse, and some men from the Australian Imperial Forces. Verso: 'group of nurses and some of the men at Highton - taken at an afternoon we had. Can you find me [Harold Holmes] it is not very clear. The 2nd in uniform from the right hand side.chatham family archive, chatham, holmes, world war, world war 1, world war i, world war one, highton, red cross, vad, voluntary aid detachment, nurse, nursing

WW2 Dental Corps Hank Neil is back row on right and was a Dental Technician in Air ForceGroup photograph of men and women in three rows. Front Row seated. All in WW2 RAAF uniformLeonard Snowden Studios By Royal Appointment U7672

John Black is photographed with his son Dennis, who is wearing the uniform of the Australian Defence Forces as the photograph was taken in 1954, he may have been doing National Service at the time. From 1951 to 1959, all young 18 year old men were required to do compulsory National Service. They did 176 days of recruit training followed by 5 years of military service as a reservist.A non-digital scanned black and white photograph of two men, one dressed in Australian Army uniform, are standing beside a Chevrolet truck, which is parked in a suburban street. john black, dennis black, national service, ithaca

Back Row: Brd.Joe Clark, Sister Flora Gray, Jack Clark, Lizzie Weber Katies Dow, Mrs Bonney, Sis J Fraser, Sis Hannah Wells, Sis Mrs Hambly, Mary DowTwo Men & Eight Women in Salvation Army Uniform. Front Five Seated Studio Portrait Drapes behind.Stawell Photographic Co Close railwayway Station E. Hewitt Managerreligion

During World War II many Australian born and naturalised Ithacan men joined the Australian defence forces.A black and white photograph of a man in military uniform standing in a garden.Stamped on the back in black: 1 544armed forces, world war 2

The photograph is of a music ensemble from the Greek island of Ithaca, taken sometime between 1938 - 1941. Mandolin and guitar music and cantades singing was popular with the people of Ithaca and across the Ionian Islands. The preference for this style of music and song was a result of the influence of the Venetian rule of the Ionian islands for almost 300 years. The uniforms of the young men photographed suggest they may have been members of the National Youth Organization established in Greece during the years of the Metaxas dictatorship (1936–1941) with the stated goals of helping the youth in the productive spending of their free time and cultivating their national values and cooperative spirit. Membership was made compulsory, for all young people, despite the views of families. A range of coercive tactics were used for those who were reluctant to join. The youth movement disintegrated after the regime’s ending in April 1941. Many of its members joined the Greek resistance movement. Despite the regime being a right wing dictatorship, Metaxas refusal to submit to imperialist and fascist Italy resulted in Greece entering WWII on the side of allies. Many Ithacans who settled in Australia brought with them their instruments and their love of cantades and the Ionian style of music. At family gatherings and celebrations they would play their mandolins and guitars and sing their beloved cantades.A black and white photograph in postcard format of sixteen young men, members of a mandolin and guitar orchestra. They are all dressed in dark trousers and shirts with light ties. The Ithacan Historical Society has been stamped on the back.

The band is wearing naval uniform. Ithaca has a strong naval tradition with many young Ithacan men becoming naval officers or sea captains. The secondary school in Vathi was formally a Naval College and still incorporates a vocational stream for those seeking to embark on a naval career. Brass bands such as this march and play at national day parades.Such ceremonious pomp is part of the Ionian tradition.A coloured photograph of members of a brass band dressed in white naval suits playing for the townspeople who are pictured on the RHS of the photograph.

The two men, Spiros Raftopoulos and Ioannis Metaxas, joined the army to fight in the Balkan Wars which involved two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula between 1912 and 1913. In the first conflict Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia defeated the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War; in the second conflict Bulgaria unsuccessfully contested the distribution by its former allies of territory taken from the Turks during the First Balkan War. A number of Greeks who had emigrated to Australia and other parts of the world returned to Greece to fight in those wars.The men returning to fight for the country of their birth were motivated by their patriotism. Even though they had sought a new life in another country they felt strongly the need to return to their homeland to join the struggle. A black and white photograph of two soldiers dressed in Greek army uniform which was worn in the early years of the twentieth century. The two men are holding rifles and have a load of bullets strapped across their shoulders. The original photograph was mounted on fawn and dark green board.A strip of paper has been stuck across the bottom of the photograph with the names of the two men written in Greek and English. S.RAFTOPOULOS AND K. METAXIS IN THE ARMY 1913.

The Spot Cafe at 281 Elizabeth Street was established in 1912 and was owned by Athanasios Raftopoulos, Michalis Mavrokefalos ands Anastasios Flocas. The waiter standing second from the left is Hector Andrews. It was one of the many cafes owned and operated by Ithacans in the Melbourne CBD during the first half of the twentieth century.A black and white photograph mounted on grey board with a darker grey border.Three men and a lady, who are employees, are standing outside a cafe. Two of the men are waiters, the lady is in a white uniform and the other man is wearing a white apron over his trousers and shirt.restaurants, ithacan businesses

The eighteen men are assembled at the Greek Returned Servicemen's League hall which was located in Russell Street, Melbourne. The honour board, erected in memory of Greek soldiers, features battle fields where the Greek army participated from 1821, the beginning of Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, through to World War 2 and the Italian and German occupation of Greece. The man seated in front in an army uniform is an American serviceman. Seated fourth from the left is Spiros E. Raftopoulos who was president of the organisation from 1944 - 1968. Today the Hellenic RSL sub-Branch of Victoria represents and supports the Greek Australian veteran community. In 1978 the organisation joined the Returned and Services League of Australia. The Hellenic RSL sub-Branch commemorates all the Greek and Australian national days each year and proudly marches on Anzac Day in Melbourne, alongside veterans from the wars of Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan and earlier wars. On Anzac Day 2013 members of the IPS took part in the Anzac Day march for the first time. Greek national days are commemorated with wreath-laying ceremonies inside the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, at which the IPS participates.A black and white photograph of eighteen men seated and standing in front of an honour board, which has curtains on either side of it.