How does Members of 5 Platoon, B Company, 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, 26 August 1967 elucidate its Photographer?
The photograph was taken by Sergeant Michael Coleridge, serving in a public relations role with the Australian Army. Coleridge enlisted in 1957 and served in the Royal Australian Artillery in the Malayan Emergency.While serving in Malaya Coleridge, using his own equipment, privately made films for the British Army. This work saw the Australian Army assign him a position as a public relations photographer in 1963. Coleridge was posted to Vietnam in 1966. Often exposing himself to danger, Coleridge recorded the tours of 5RAR, 6RAR and 7RAR in Vietnam. Coleridge worked relatively independently and was required to construct his own darkroom and even sometimes purchase his own film.Coleridge was born in Slovenia in 1933. Coleridge and his mother moved to Austria at the end of World War II, after the breakdown of his parents' marriage. When he was 16, he migrated to Australia on his own where he worked as a labourer, first in Sydney and later in rural New South Wales. Coleridge, chasing adventure, then moved to the Northern Territory where hs obtained a private pilot licence. Coleridge joined the Australian Army hoping for a role as a pilot. However his lack of formal education saw this path blocked and he was assigned to an artillery unit.
Coleridge discharged himself from the Australian Army on return to Australia in 1967 to support his family in Australia. He worked as a photographer for the Truth, a Melbourne newspaper for a period. He later worked as a cane train driver in Queensland and a gold miner in Western Australia before settling in Canberra where he worked for a while as an attendant at the Australian War Memorial. Later in life he grew walnuts and raised cattle on farms around the Canberra region. He died in 2012 from complications after a fall while suffering from lung cancer.
Royal Australian Artillery Australian War Memorial Malayan Emergency Truth British Army Austria Australian Army 6RAR Northern Territory Slovenia British 7RAR Canberra New South Wales