Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic camera and case: Gunner R W Hyles, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, AIF

Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic camera in original leather case. The case is fastened by a single press stud and is stamped in gold 'R. W. H.' The folding camera has a painted black aluminium body with rounded ends and brass fittings. It is opened by extending the front plate which connects the lens housing to collapsible paper bellows. There is a swivelling viewfinder to enable photographs to be taken in portrait and landscape formats. At the rear of the camera is an attached, pressed and raised steel disc with an oval shaped, amber coloured viewing window fitted to the centre. Text has been impressed into this disc which reads 'U.S. PATENTS MAR 4 1902 MAY 6 1913'. Fitted next to the disc is a raised rectangular hinging panel that has been impressed with the text 'VEST POCKET AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK'. This panel covers and protects a window which is designed to be scribed onto using an attached steel scribing tool, which in this example is missing. The camera is fitted with a Kodak ball bearing shutter. Scratched into the back of the camera is 'R.W. HYLES'

Roy Walter Hyles enlisted in 1st Field Artillery Brigade, AIF on 8 May 1916. Hyles name was actually Walter Roy Hyles but his name was reversed on his enlistment papers because his brother, 4313 Corporal Wallis Rouse Hyles, had already enlisted the previous month with the 'W R Hyles' initials.

Roy Hyles embarked for overseas service with 5th Field Artillery Brigade Reinforcements aboard HMAT Aeneas on 30 September. Arriving in Plymouth on 19 November Hyles marched out to Bulford Camp the following month for artillery training. He was taken on strength by the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery in March in preparation for service on the Western Front.

Arriving in Etaples on 16 March 1917 Hyles was taken on strength by 3rd Battery, 1st Field Artillery Brigade. Appointed acting bombardier on 10 November Hyles reverted back to the rank of driver at his own request on 12 July 1918. Remaining on active service until the end of the war Hyles returned to England on 25 April 1919 in preparation for return to Australia. He boarded the troopship Ormonde on 16 June arriving in Sydney on 4 August. Hyles was discharged in September 1919.

In 2014 the sports field at the General John Baker complex, Headquarters Joint Operations Command, near Bungendore, New South Wales was named the Walter Roy Hyles Field. The land where HQJOC now stands used to be owned by Hyles.