John Jackson Paine was a well-known and respected Windsor identity. He was Mayor of Windsor for 9 years, Trustee of the Hawkesbury Benevolent Society and Hospital, President of the Hawkesbury District Agricultural Association and a prominent Mason. He was a military enthusiast and commanded the 41st (Blue Mountains) Infantry Regiment.
When the Great War broke in out in July 1914 he volunteered for service. In 1915 he was despatched to Melbourne to command 2,700 troops on the Ceramic, the largest troopship that left Australian shores. A further command of 2,200 troops on the Euripides brought him in touch with the Anzac Mounted Division then operating in Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. He was awarded the rank of full Colonel, then the rank of Brigadier-General. He held the 1915 Star, the General Service and Victory Medals and the Victoria Decoration.
Donated by the Paine Family to the Hawkesbury Regional Museum in 2015, the items were in a poor condition but recent treatments to the collection were undertaken by a professional conservator to preserve them for the future. This work was undertaken thanks to a Hawkesbury Regional Museum successfully receiving $4,416 from the Commonwealth Government's Department of Veterans' Affairs, under the Armistice Centenary Grant funding program in 2018.
Now more than 100 years later items and memorabilia that belonged to Brigadier General JJ Paine and that were used by him during his active service in WWI are be on display at the Hawkesbury Central Library until November 2019. Some of Items on display include his uniform, travelling trunk, personal photographs and hats.
The Items can be viewed at the Hawkesbury Central Library, 300 George Street, Windsor during opening hours. The opening hours are Monday to Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-1pm and Sunday 2pm-5pm.
