Lottery ball

During the Vietnam War, Australian men who had turned 20 had to register for National Service (with exceptions including serving members of the permanent military forces, non-British migrants, and Indigenous Australians). Men were randomly selected for national service by the “birthday ballot”: 184 numbered wooden balls were placed in a barrel, one for each day of a six-month period. Number 87 represents 28 March 1945, Errol Noack’s birthday.