Studio portrait of the two Sullivan brothers from Bundara, NSW. 462 Private (Pte) Thomas Joseph ...

Studio portrait of the two Sullivan brothers from Bundara, NSW. 462 Private (Pte) Thomas Joseph Sullivan (right) is standing beside his older brother 1719 Private (Pte) Ernest Lawrence Sullivan. Pte Thomas Sullivan, a railway worker, enlisted in the 2nd Battalion on 31 October 1914 and sailed from Sydney on board HMAT Suffolk (A23) on 18 October 1914 to join the first convoy of Australian troops that sailed for Egypt from Albany of 1 November 1914. The 2nd Battalion embarked at Alexandria on 5 April 1915 to join the British Expeditionary Force and would go on to land at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Pte Thomas Sullivan first reported sick on 21 July 1915 and eventually, on 2 November 1915, he was repatriated from Gallipoli and admitted to hospital in Egypt with a "dilated heart". On 4 January 1916, after a week in a convalescent hospital, he was discharged fit for active service. He was again admitted to hospital and diagnosed with pleurisy on 17 February 1916. He was reported dangerously ill on 18 February 1916 and died in hospital on 11 March 1916. He was buried in the Cairo War Cemetery by Chaplain Griffin the same day. Pte Ernest Sullivan, a butcher, enlisted on 20 August 1915 and sailed from Sydney on 23 October 1915 with the 11th Reinforcements to the 5th Light Horse Regiment on board HMAT Hawkes Bay bound for Egypt. Pte Ernest Sullivan spent the first five months in Egypt in and out of hospital with bronchial pneumonia. After three months with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment he finally joined his unit in Palestine on 11 October 1916. He was promoted to temporary Corporal 26 August 1917, temporary Sergeant Cook on 8 February 1918 and eventually Sergeant Cook on 18 March 1918. Sergeant (Sgt) Sullivan contracted malaria and was hospitalised on 12 October 1918. He re-joined his unit on 6 January 1919. Sgt Sullivan embarked on HMT Madras at Kantara on 27 June 1919 bound for Australia.