Hey bc, they are 15 and 30 Bns, 851 and 866 respectively in my book. The grey background had absolutely nothing to do with the patch except to identify that the wearer had volunteered for the AIF.
I deliberately only showed colour patches with grey backgrounds in the book if they were authorised with a grey background. The patch of 15 Bn was dark brown over dark blue between 1915-1946, the patch of 30 Bn was purple and yellow 1916-1946. Between 1942-1946 some men of those battalions added grey backgrounds to those patches to signify that they were volunteers for unrestricted overseas service.
Cheers, Keith
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