National Treasure

Held in the collection of the Australian War Memorial

HARD TACK ‘TILES’, or wafers, in army rations – also known as ANZAC tiles, or wafers – were biscuits made of flour, water, salt and sugar and used instead of bread, which goes mouldy rapidly and couldn’t survive long voyages to the front lines.They were so hard, soldiers had to grate them into soup or make them into a ‘porridge’ to be able to eat them.That some remain in good condition in the Australian War Memorial collections, more than 100 years after they were made, is testament to their durability (and relative inedibility).

In fact, during both the Boer War (1899–1902) and World War I Aussie soldiers used them for messages home, writing letters on them or decorating them with whatever was at hand.While paper was often hard to come by on the front, this was also a humorous nod to how tough these biscuits were.

Although the majority of such messages date to WWI, this hard tack tile photo frame from the Boer War (pictured) dates to about 1900 and was sent home by its creator with a Christmas greeting and decorated with red, blue and white wool, bullet cases, and newsprint letters and numbers.The name of the soldier who created it and the subject of the photograph are unknown. But the Egypt Medal he is wearing suggests he may have previously fought as part of an Australian contingent to the Sudan in 1885.