AUSTRALIAN TROOPS ARRIVAL [Allocated Title]

Unedited and uncensored newsreel rushes showing Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in Neville Chamberlain's wartime cabinet, meeting the first Australian troops to arrive in the Middle East in the new war and a camp for New Zealand soldiers outside Cairo, Egypt.

I. Soldiers serving with units of the 2nd Australian Imperial Force (AIF) gather in large numbers on the decks of the ex-P&O passenger liner SS Otranto and wave at the camera. Close-ups of the slouch hat and AIF badge worn by one Australian volunteer; the badge depicts the rising sun and its inscription reads 'Australian Commonwealth Military Forces'. Soldiers standing in the well deck at the stern of the troopship on the port side wave at the camera. Two First World War veterans of the British Army now serving in the Australian Army pose for the camera with their 1914-1918 medal ribbons on their chests and 'Australia' flashes and the badge for 7th Division on their shoulders. Spectators including seven nurses serving with the Australian Red Cross (?) crowd on deck to watch a tug of war match. A shot filmed for cutaway purposes showing the leader of one of the teams encouraging his side in the contest. The Cicogne, a motor launch fitted with a sun canopy, comes alongside SS Otranto anchored in Crocodile Lake at Ismailia and Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, steps up the gangway to board the vessel; with him is Sir Miles Lampson, British ambassador in Egypt. Australian troops are drawn up on parade on deck to hear speeches of welcome from VIPs. Brigadier A S Allen, the commander of the Australian 16th Brigade (a short figure), Anthony Eden, General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief Middle East and two Egyptian government ministers (both wearing fezzes) listen to Sir Miles Lampson addressing the soldiers. Eden makes a speech (in which he delivers a message from HM King George VI to the 2nd AIF). The soldiers are seen giving him three cheers. Eden is seen making his way along the deck past the men and posing for the camera with Brigadier Allen and General Wavell and the two Egyptian ministers. With a wave from Eden, the VIPs board the motor launch Cicogne and head back to shore. The craft is flying the Egyptian flag.

II. A panorama of the large camp of tents and prefabricated huts established in the desert eight miles south of Cairo at Maadi to house the first New Zealand troops to arrive in the Middle East. A Chevrolet 30-cwt truck with a soft top cab rolls by. On high ground overlooking the camp, Egyptian labourers are seen working on a construction site, possibly for a water tower, watched by two British and New Zealand Army officers. The New Zealander wears a Stetson hat. A Humber shooting brake arrives at the site and two more officers get out of it. They observe the labourers at work and engage a few of them in conversation.

35mm