The handwritten manuscript called The 4th Brigade Trek from the Canal to Khan Yunis and the 2nd Gaza Battle was produced by 666 Sergeant David Woodward HARRIS of the 12th Light Horse Regiment.
David Woodward HARRIS was a 24 year old Overseer from Turramurra, New South Wales. He enlisted on 30 December 1914 and was allotted to the 12th Australian Light Horse Regiment, AIF, Machine Gun Section, which embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on board HMAT A29 Suevic 13 June 1915.; and at the conclusion of the war Returned to Australia, 20 July 1919.
For further information, see:
4th Australian Light Horse Brigade, AIF
and:
eight miles back from the firing line. Later, one of our planes, when fighting an enemy machine, suddenly crumpled up and crashed to earth just behind us.
When darkness fell the few remaining men were assembled and a further retirement ordered so that the British forces, which had been flung back their entire attacking length, could take up a regular entrenched system of resistance. During the night the wearied men on outpost shot several Turks and Bedouins who had been sent to try to gauge our strength. Taken on an average not one half of the attacking Australian forces were left, while the supports, who were to have backed us up, proved to mythical; so it was fortunate that the Turks did not attack.
At daybreak we were set digging trenches, driven with all the force