60th Bn enquiry

[lettman]

The following enquiry was passed on to me, but it's way outside my realm of expertise. I got permission from the enquirer to post it here, in the hope that a BBF member might have some answers:

I was wondering if you or anyone in the Society could help me with a problem I am having with the Colours of the 60th Battalion. The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne has three 60th Battalion Colours Laid Up in the Crypt. One is the “Brunswick – Carlton Regiment” Regimental Colour while the other two, according to the Shrine, are the “Heidleberg” King’s and Regimental Colours. I checked on Trove and found in the Melbourne Argus, 7th of June 1915, that a set of "Brunswick – Carlton" King’s and Regimental Colours were presented and consecrated on the 6th of June 1915. I believe the funds for these were raised by the citizens of Brunswick. I presumed the Regimental Colour is the one at the Shrine. But when I looked closely at the article in the Argus, it mentioned that the Regimental Colour bore the words “South Africa” on it. The Colour at the Shrine doesn’t show that, maybe it's faded. Also the 60th “Heidleberg” Regimental Colour doesn’t show a “South Africa” Theatre Honour, which I don’t believe they were entitled to although I always found it strange given they descended from the 5th AIR. It is my understanding that the 60th "Brunswick - Carlton" Infantry and the 60th "Heidelberg" have the same lineage, so why would the "Brunswick – Carlton" Inf be entitled to the South Africa Insignia.
Any information you could provide regarding the 60th Battalion Colours would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.