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:
11th ALH fought at Romani, El Maghara and Nekyl; and the 12th ALH at El Maghara; but it was not until the 11th, 12th and 4th Australian Light Horse Regiments were Brigaded in March 1917 that we received the combination and backing necessary to secure a fair share of the fighting and other advantages. The 4th ALH, an isolated Regiment, completed the Brigade Strength in place of the 13th ALH then in France.
On the 20.3.17 the newly re-formed 4th ALH Brigade left Ferrys Post, travelling north until Hill 40 to the east of Kantara was reached. The next stage was to Pelusium, where the Eastern Section of the Nile Delta found its way to the sea in ancient times, and a few tumbled ruins of what is assumed to be the old Egyptian Grain Storehouses can still be seen, scattered over what is now arid desert. We next passed through Romani, with its scattered Oasis and high shifting sandhills,