[Editor: This postcard, which incorporates a photograph of the chalk carving of the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge at Fovant Down (Wiltshire, England), is undated; however, it is believed to have been published around the era of the First World War (1914-1918), perhaps within a few years of the end of the war.]
[Front of postcard]
[Description: A photograph of the chalk carving of the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge at Fovant Down (Wiltshire, England), being one of the Fovant Badges.]
[Reverse of postcard]
Post Card
Correspondence Address
[Handwritten text, in italics]
These are a very nice lot of cards and the Australia is only ¼ of a mile long & this Sun is ¾ of a mile from one side to the other
Fred xxxxx
[No identifying information about the manufacturer was included on the postcard.]
Source:
Original document
Editor’s notes:
Dimensions (approximate): 141 mm. (width), 86 mm. (height).
From the text written on the card, it appears that this postcard was one of several sent (possibly inside an envelope, which would explain why there is no address or postage stamp on the postcard).
Fovant Badges = a group of military badges cut into the side of a chalk hill at Fovant Down (Wiltshire, England), located to the south-east of the village of Fovant and just to the north of Chiselbury Camp; the chalk carvings were created during the First World War (1914-1918) by soldiers stationed at nearby army camps; one of the carvings was a Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge, measuring about 51 metres wide and 32 metres high
See: 1) “Fovant Badges”, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Australian Government [51m x 32m] [see also the archived 2020 version]
2) “Chalk badges of Wiltshire”, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
3) Glyn Coy, “Fovant Badges and Chiselbury Camp”, Hidden Wiltshire, 18 October 2018 (updated 14 November 2020)
4) “Australian badges and our Australian friends”, Fovant Badges Society
5) “Fovant Badges”, Wikipedia
Sun = (in the context of Australian military badges) the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge, also known as the Rising Sun badge
See: “Rising Sun (badge)”, Wikipedia
x = a symbol for a kiss (depending on the circumstances, it may indicate a loving kiss, a familial kiss, or a friendly kiss)
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