Gallipoli flag

This flag takes pride of place in the foyer of Birdwood House. It once joined Australian soldiers during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, and later travelled through war-ravaged France before finally returning home to Australia. English-born Australian Digger, Sidney Russell Exten, of the 11th Australian Battalion packed the flag after leaving his family farm in Chapman Valley and carried it with him during those terrible days at Gallipoli. Later, in France, he gifted the flag to fellow West Aussie, David Patten, to return it to Western Australia. The flag later featured in Nabawa ANZAC Day services before being donated to the Geraldton City RSL. Exten later returned to Western Australia himself, eventually dying in Perth in 1964, aged 71.