Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The old diorama at the Australian War Memorial of the Romani Conflict in Syria was constructed by using photographs of the Middle East taken by Kenneth Henderson McLeod.
Kenneth McLeod was born in Sydney in 1889 to William James McLeod and Ellen Sarah Smith. He was a second cousin to my grandmother.
He was initially turned down when he tried to enlist in the AIF but was accepted for home service. He eventually became a 2nd Air Mechanic with the Flying Corps on 30th November 1916.He embarked from Melbourne on the HMAT A9 Shropshire in February 1917 and ended up in the 69th Squadron in South Carlton, Kincolnshire, England. In July 1917 they were mobilised to France.They were employed in support for ground forces, operating over the Canadian and XIII Corp’s front near Arras.
In November 1917 the Squadron moved to Flanders to operate in support of the Australian Corps. They had to locate gun emplacements, spot artillery and patrols. On 20th January 1918 the Squadron was designated No.3 Squadron. This Squadron dropped propaganda leaflets and did photographic reconnaisance work for which Kenneth was best suited as a photographer. They were involved in vital artillery spotting operations in the Somme.On 3rd April 1918 the Squadron was involved in the action which led to the death of Manfred Von Richtofen – German flying Ace. (photo of remains of von Richtofen’s plane).
The Squadron was involved in experiments in aerial supply methods for ground troops in June 1918 and in July contributed to noise diversion operations in connection with the Battle at Hamel. They assisted allied movements in the Battle at Amiens by dropping smoke bombs and also continued their reconnaissance duties.
In December 1918 Kenneth was in the Australian War Records Section – Photographic Subsection – France – 15th Wing RAF. He travelled backwards and forwards between England and France during 1919.
There are photographs in the Australian War Memorial of the area around Villers Bretonneaux and other places in France that have his name attached.
He left for Cairo on 22nd January 1920 where he was a Staff Sergeant in the Australian War Records. During this time he took photographs in Egypt and Syria of the areas where conflicts had occurred and the photographs used by the artists that later made the Diorama at the Australian War Memorial were taken at this time by Kenneth.
Ken came back to Australia on the Ceramic on 28th March 1920.
He did not marry but was a photographer for many years in Grafton and Coffs Harbour. The 1963 Electoral Roll showed him living at 3 Alan St North Sydney with 3 of his unmarried siblings. He died in 1973.