Improvised Christmas pudding mixer: Lance Sergeant Edward McRae, 10th Field Ambulance, AIF

Improvised wooden pudding mixer made from a piece of wood from a crate. At one end a handle has been shaped and at the other, the corners have been rounded. Printed on one side of the mixer is 'NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA FIRST CLASS / PACKED BY THE COUNTRY FREEZI[N]G...'

Improvised pudding mixer paddle donated and likely used by Lance Sergeant Edward McRae while serving with the 10th Field Ambulance. The mixer was made from a wooden plank from a shipping crate packed by the Country Freezing Company which may originally have contained butter or frozen meat.

McRae enlisted in the AIF in 1914 at Coleraine, Victoria, stating he was a cook and a baker. He initially served in Australia, firstly with D Squadron Depot and from January 1915 with Z Company, 4th Depot Battalion and later with the Clearing Hospital at Seymour, Victoria.

He was transferred to the 10th Field Ambulance a few months after its establishment at Ascot Vale and embarked for overseas service in June 1916, arriving in France in November. There he may have served as a cook. This mixer was used to make Christmas puddings for the staff and patients at the Main Dressing Stations occupied by the Field Ambulance in 1916 and 1917.

In early December 1916 the unit took over the main dressing station (MDS) at Ecole Rue de Messines at Armentieres, along with the advance dressing station (ADS) at Houplines and established three advance aid posts.

On 25 December 1916, 95 patients at the MDS received special gifts from the Australian Red Cross and extras purchased from funds provided by them. The ward was specially decorated and tables laid out for Christmas dinner and the puddings were served at that meal.

McCrae kept the 'pudding mixer' with him and used it again for making puddings for Christmas 1917. By then the unit was at Erquinghem, south east of Armentieres. That morning the Assistant Director for Medical Services visited the ADS and MDS. Dinner for the men was held at 1pm and at the dinner, the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Purdy, expressed the hope that they all would be home for Christmas 1919.

For some reason, McRae decided not to keep the mixer any longer and on Boxing Day 1917, he donated the mixer to the Australian War Records Section.