ff were attached to
each company in order to assist. The latter did exceedingly valuable
work. A special class was formed for the purpose of instructing in their
duties those men who aspired to wear stripes. In the training of
sections and platoons, emphasis was laid on the necessity for obtaining
a condition of physical fitness, and acquiring a thorough knowledge of
the use of the rifle, the bayonet, and the spade. Physical exercises
were followed by short marches of one or two hours' duration. After
passing the elementary tests, companies, in turn, proceeded to Osborne
Rifle Range and fired the recruits' course of musketry. A satisfactory
figure of merit was obtained. For the more advanced training it was
intended to move the Battalion to a camp at Rockingham. During the
second week in May two companies proceeded there and the camp was
established under the command of Major Davies. However, on account of
the rumoured early embarkation, these companies had to be recalled, and
the whole unit was once more concentrated at Blackboy Hill. Training
proceeded energetically, with the result that officers, and other ranks
within the companies, quickly settled down--daily becoming more and more
accustomed to their tasks.

[Illustration: THE REGIMENTAL SIGNALLERS.]

[Illustration: MACHINE GUN SECTION.
_Photos. lent by Captain G. D. Shaw._]

The health of the members was good. Very few cases of infectious
disease, and fewer cases of serious illness, were reported. The
situation of the camp, together with the insistence on the cleanliness
of the lines and person, had a beneficial effect in this direction.
Unfortunately one death occurred. Private F. W. Hopkins fell into an
unprotected clayhole and was drowned. A few of these excavations existed
on the western edge of the training area, and were a menace to those
taking a short cut from the railway station at night time. All ranks
submitted to vaccination and inoculation. This was unpleasant, but the
medical history of the war has since demonstrated the value of the
measures.

Discipline was fairly satisfactory from the outset and rapidly improved.
At the commencement every member was given to understand that a high
sense of duty and a strong _esprit-de-corps_ were essentials for
success. Both these traits were later very fully developed, and the
regard that 28th men always had for their battalion was a subject of
frequent comment in the A.I.F.

In all the preliminary work o