Trousers : D Dare Parker, Official Photographer

Pair of khaki cotton drill trousers with front pleats and slash pockets at each hip. There is a single patch pocket on the right buttock with a navy and blue woven ‘HARD YAKKA' tag sewn to the top edge. There are seven belt loops around the waistband and the waist is closed by a zipper fly and a plastic button. The side pockets are lined with white cotton and a tag with makers' details woven in red and black is sewn to the lining of the right pocket.

David Dare Parker was made an Official Photographer for the Australian War Memorial in 2003, becoming the first such appointment since the Second World War. In company with the artist Lewis Miller, Parker worked alongside the Australian Defence Forces (ADF), and was deployed to Iraq, the Persian Gulf and other Middle Eastern locations for a period of six weeks during April-May 2003. During this time, he was clothed and equipped with ADF issue items. The official purpose of his engagement was to create a visual record of Australian services participating in Operation ‘Falconer’, including representation of the diversity of operations of the ADF, as well as the civilian environment. He was attached to units such as Royal Australian Navy mine clearance teams, and had opportunities to photograph Royal Australian Air Force fighter aircraft on their final combat operations over Baghdad as well as interception duties by HMA Ships Kanimbla and Anzac. By the time of his appointment to the Memorial, David Dare Parker was a recognised photojournalist and a multiple finalist in the Walkley Award for Best Feature Photograph, which he won in 1997. The Walkley Award is granted by the Walkley Foundation, in recognition of the work of Australian photographers, by the media industry and their journalistic peers, for skill, versatility and technical excellence. Parker also worked in East Timor at the end of the Indonesian occupation in 1999, capturing images of the civilian environment and of ADF Peacekeeping activities.