Aussie gear

Barathea. Plus remember what type of sheep they have in Oz.
Wikipedia says:
Barathea, sometimes spelled barrathea,[1] is a soft fabric, with a hopsack twill weave giving a surface that is lightly pebbled or ribbed.[2] The yarns use cover various combinations of wool, silk and cotton. Worsted barathea (made with a smooth wool yarn) is often used for evening coats,[3] such as dress coats, dinner jackets, and military uniforms,[4] in black and midnight blue. Silk barathea, either all silk, or using cotton weft and silken warp, is widely used in the necktie industry.[1]

Ah, I think that modern No2 trousers are made of barathea too. I know you said you were going to using your denim BD trousers, but if they're not too irritant you could use them instead (as well as that, you could probably get them for £10 or less).

I think modern No2's would be the wrong colour and cut. Also I am still allergic to wool so cannot wear it next to the skin. Modern no2's are also not as soft. The material this jacket is made of is kinda fluffy like the felt on a beret. I might take it along to the Normandy game if you want a closer look, although obviously I can't wear it for the game as the Aussies weren't involved in the war in Europe after 1941. It's perfect for Copenhagen though in Sept
Now I just need an SMLE

I wouldn't mind having a look at Normandy, but if it's too much for you to carry, it doesn't matter, I'll be happy to wait 'til September.
On the subject of No2s, the colour can vary. I've seen them range from dark green (much like the greener WW2 Aussie uniform) to a brown similar to that of your jacket. Cut wise the waist is probably too low for 40's wearing (though that would be covered by the jacket skirt) but they're basically straight cut, wool* trousers.

It probably wouldn't have been unknown for an Aussie soldier to have a mix of shades between jacket and trousers. Remember that jackets would last much longer than trousers, a soldier could have gone through 3 pairs of trews before his jacket needed replacing.

*I believe that the newer, greener ones may be a polyester/wool mix.

The colour of the jacket looks more yellow than in the picture, almost a mustard brown. When I do a later war Aussie impression with the US HBT trousers, US lace up gaiters and jungle green shirt, I may have to get the green jacket as well and work out how to swap the insignia over.
I think they will match quite nicely

Well, I don't think I've seen mustard No2s before! I've certainly seen ones that match the brown in the pictures though.
Does the insignia not have pins at the back?
Oh, and how's the quality of the jacket & hat (wool thickness, stitching, sizing, etc.)?

The fit is spot on, I ordered a large and am usually a 44" chest. It's well stitched together. The fabric is not too thick but you don't want to overheat. I do worry how it will react to getting wet though. I guess time will tell.
And the insignia is attached with pins so should be easy to swap to another jacket

Sounds good! I wonder if he could be convinced to do the insignia separately or with the WW2 jacket?
Yes getting wet is an issue, though with wool rain tends to just sit on the outer fibres as opposed to soaking through like with cotton. I think as long as you can keep it from being fully submerged, it'll probably be fine.

Latest Aussie webbing alteration I have just found out about, apparently it was quite common practice in the jungle to stitch a 3rd ammo pouch to the side of the small pack. This sounds like an awesome idea and it provides the spare clips to use for the water bottle.

Latest Aussie webbing alteration I have just found out about, apparently it was quite common practice in the jungle to stitch a 3rd ammo pouch to the side of the small pack. This sounds like an awesome idea and it provides the spare clips to use for the water bottle.

Interesting. Got a picture?
The Chindits used to stitch utility pouches to both sides of their large packs, see this dashing photo of forum member Glenlivit45 for an example:

There is a picture but it's in a book. It seems such a simple idea when you think about it, so it's no surprise the chindits worked it out as well.

Are you they were sticthed or did they stitch a piece of belt to the side of the pack and attched the pouch to that? I have no knowledge on this by the way, it''s just what I would do. It seems easier and more flexible. I suppose if they did we would have small packs with bits of belt stiched to them turn up now and again.

The book it was in said they were stitched to the backpack. This is for jungle fighting so any risk it could flop about and make noise would have been bad. The Aussie in the picture is wearing a small pack with a pouch stitched to the side, it's unclear whether there would be another on the other side as well. Either way, we are unlikely to see any of these packs as they would not have been shipped to the UK and would probably have been a state by the end of the war so would have been binned.

Just ordered some HBT trousers and lace up gaiters from Epic Militaria. In a few days when these and my SMLE arrive my late war Aussie impression will be complete apart from accessories such as bayonet and modified water carriers.

Spearhead Jacket and Hat, P37 webbing and anklets in WW1 blanco. I have added 2/31st battalion insignia to the hat and both shoulders, this is hand made out of felt. Rank insignia on right arm only. Tan work boots are standing in for Aussie boots and in this picture I am using denim battledress trousers. I have since obtained a pair of moleskin trousers which work a bit better. I also have a gas mask bag for this look but as it would cover up the jacket, I left it off. You can just about see the rising sun collar badges and Australia shoulder insignia in blackened metal. The buttons are also blackened metal with a map of Australia on them. The P1907 Bayonet isn't visible but I made a scabbard for the SnS bayonet out of a layer of felt with an outer layer of black craft foam glued into the bayonet frog.

US M1938 lace up leggings, US HBT trousers and a green shirt. You can't see the water bottle but it's modified to fit directly to the belt. SMLE is scoped and the scope has had some details and weathering painted in brass coloured enamel.

I used this scope mount, which fits the Iron Aitsoft SMLE: http://www.opticswarehouse.co.uk/prodde ... cope_Mount
It's not correct but without paying a fortune, it seemed the best way to do it. Incidentally, I found that if you start asking about how to put a scope on an SMLE, you get told a lot that 'you can't do that, only the Australians used scoped SMLE's'.

I now have Dadio working on an Owen gun

The issue of Blanco colours is beginning to bug me. Blancoandbull.com only has mention of Khaki and White Aussie Blanco and paintings (the only colour pictures available) seem to indicate that webbing was khaki and not green. Everyone keeps telling me that Australians would definitely have had KG3 blanco at the very least, but I cannot find any evidence for any green coloured blanco.
I have now joined an Australian re-enactors forum in order to try and solve this. Early responses seem to generally agree with my theory that green blanco was not used, but no-one seems to be entirely sure

With Dadio's awesome work on the owen gun coming along quite nicely viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18577
I am now thinking about small details to work on next. I ideally need a set of unblanco'd webbing for the Aussie impression, so I may try and produce a set of Owen gun pouches. The principle is very simple, on the left would be a set of magazine pouches for the Owen gun and on the right would be a pouch slightly larger than the Mk3 pouch. It is almost impossible to find these pouches but the owen gun pouches look almost identical to US 30rd Thompson mag pouches and the difference in size of the large pouch compared with a Mk3 is not very noticable so a pair of mk3's and a set of thompson mag pouches should be relatively easy to convert.

The remains of the mk3 pouch used to make the Thompson pouch fit the P37 webbing can then be sewn to one side of a pack, with another pouch needed for the other side.

If you want to get into the nitty gritty, the Aussies also produced cross straps with a wider shoulder relief part to go with the larger pouches.
Both pouches and straps turn up on eBay.au with some frequency.

I think in practice the difference in size between the Mk3 pouch and the Aussie jungle pouch, although enough to increase carrying capacity, is not enough to make the difference very noticeable. I cannot see that the postage costs from Australia would be worthwhile. A Mk3 pouch and set of Thompson mag pouches should do the business. All I keep in the 2nd pouch is my pipe, tobacco and sometimes some pyros.

I dont think they were universal anyway.
You'll be fine with a MkIII.
I have the straps and pouch if you ever want pics.