Collection relating to the Hutchins family and their Second World War service

Informal outdoor portrait VX61203 Private (Pte) Fred Hutchins, 2/21st Battalion (Gull Force), of Woorinen North, Vic, standing in the yard of the family home. Pte Hutchins enlisted on 6 August 1941 and died as a prisoner of war (POW) of the Japanese on 6 July 1945 at Ambon, Netherlands East Indies. Pte Hutchins was one of seven brothers who enlisted and served overseas. Only three, VX41288 Ivan Robert Hutchins, VX37192 Bombardier Malcolm George "Mike" Hutchins, 2nd Anti Aircraft Regiment, and VX41229 Pte William Ernest (Bill) Hutchins, 2/22nd Battalion (later 2/23rd Battalion), survived the war and returned to Australia. They had served in the Middle East and New Guinea. Along with Pte Fred Hutchins, brothers VX61202 Pte David Arthur Hutchins, VX61201 Pte Eric Everard Hutchins, and a cousin, VX50460 Pte Thomas Hutchins all of 2/21st Battalion, died as POWs at Ambon. Another brother VX41293 Pte Alan Leslie Hutchins, 2/22nd Battalion, died as a POW at Rabaul, New Britain. VX74662 Sapper Fredrick Wallace, 9th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, another cousin of the Hutchins brothers, was a member of the recovery team which visited Ambon in October 1945 to uncover mass graves and identify remains, including those of his cousins, at Laha airfield and Tantoei camp.