McCrae, Geoffrey Gordon (Major, b.1890 - d.1916)

Collection relating to the service of Major Geoffrey Gordon McCrae, 7 Battalion and 60 Battalion, AIF, 1914-1916, Egypt, Gallipoli, Cyprus, France. Collection consists of a diary kept by Major McCrae from October 1914 to December 1915; letters written by McCrae to his family between September 1914 and July 1916; a scrapbook compiled by McCrae's father commemorating the life of Major McCrae; miscellaneous telegrams, cablegrams, documents, postcards, newspaper cuttings. The collection also includes seventeen letters from Brigadier-General Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to Major McCrae's father, George Gordon McCrae of Hawthorn, Victoria.

Biographical note: Geoffrey Gordon (Geoff) McCrae was born in 1890 at Lower Hawthorn, Victoria. McCrae was an architect and serving as a Captain in the militia with the 58th Infantry Regiment (The Essendon Rifles) when he enlisted in the AIF in August 1914 at Hawthorn, Victoria. He was twice wounded on Gallipoli while serving with 7 Battalion. In 1916, at the express wish of his former battalion commander, Brigadier General H E 'Pompey' Elliott, he was transferred to 60 Battalion, promoted to Major and appointed temporary commander of the unit He was twenty-six years old when he was killed in action on the evening of 19 July 1916 during the Battle of Fromelles. McCrae was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches and is buried at Rue-Du-Bois Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, France. He is commemorated by a stained glass window in Christ Church, Hawthorn, Victoria.

• Series 1: Diaries and notebook of Geoffrey Gordon McCrae, 1914-1915
• Series 2: Letters from Geoffrey Gordon McCrae to his family, 1914-1916
• Series 3: Postcards and photographs from Geoffrey Gordon McCrae, 1914-1915
• Series 4: Cablegrams to George Gordon McCrae, 1915-1916
• Series 5: Items relating to George Gordon McCrae, 1895-1925
• Series 6: Other material relating to the life and service of Geoffrey Gordon McCrae, 1912-1926