Folding boot hook : Lieutenant E T Hearne, 2 Divisional Artillery, AIF

Chrome plated steel boot hook designed to assist in pulling on leather knee boots. This is a folding version, designed with a notched axle to allow the actual hook to fold back into the handle. The hook portion is made with a ball end to avoid damaging the leather.

Related to the service of 6862 Gunner (later Major) Ernest Tasman Hearne, a grazier of Melbourne who enlisted on 30 June 1915 aged 24. Posted to 12 Battery, 4 Field Artillery Brigade (FAB), Hearne embarked for overseas service on 18 November aboard HMAT Wiltshire. Hearne disembarked at Suez on 15 December for service with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF). However, he immediately contracted measles and remained in hospital until 21 January 1916 when rejoined his unit and moved with it to France. Hearne was quickly promoted from Gunner to Bombardier, to 2nd Lieutenant commanding 10 Battery, 4 FAB in July 1916 and Lieutenant attached to 2 Division Artillery on 1 December 1916. He received gunshot wounds to his head and thigh on 11 August 1916, receiving treatment in England before rejoining his unit on 6 March 1917. These wounds continued trouble him and he returned to hospital in July 1918 for further treatment. Lieutenant Hearne returned to Australia aboard HMAT Derbyshire, disembarking in Sydney on 22 April 1919. During the Second World War, Hearne served as a Major with an Anti Tank Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery under service number N119827.