Hines was dubbed “the Souvenir King” on the Western Front during the First  World War because of his passion for looting the belongings, badges, weapons and helmets from dead and captured Germans.

Hines gave his occupation as shearer and lied about his age (he was much older than 28) when he first enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915.

He was classified medically unfit a few months later because of hemorrhoids but successfully rejoined the AIF in June 1916, this time giving his age as 36 years and his occupation as engineer.

In fact Hines, who was born in Liverpool, England, had been drifting around Australia working at different jobs before he was posted to the 45th battalion and sent to France and Belgium.

Hines was an unruly soldier away from the frontline trenches, frequently in trouble with his superiors and the military police for a range of “crimes” including drunkenness, numerous absences without leave and forging entries in his pay book.

But in battle he was a ferocious fighter who once captured 63 dazed Germans, including a general, after throwing several Mills bombs inside a pillbox during the Battle of Messines.

Later the same day he destroyed another German machine ­gun post after venturing out alone but was wounded and while convalescing stole a horse which he sold for a bottle of whisky.

A photograph of Hines taken by Frank Hurley after the Battle of Polygon Wood in September 1917, wearing a German cap and surrounded by souvenirs taken from the enemy became one of the most famous images of the war.

Reports indicated he had collected more than 4000 francs, a bottle of whisky, a pair of earrings, a diamond brooch, a gold ring, around 1 million German marks, a variety of watches and sufficient iron crosses to fill a sandbag.

He also had some lucky escapes. At Passchendaele in 1917, Hines was the only member of his Lewis gun team who survive a direct hit by an enemy shell.

After the war he lived in a humpy near Mt Druitt on Sydney’s western fringe and was forced to sell off some of his collection of war souvenirs to raise some much-needed cash to bolster his war pension.

Hines was a big man weighing 90 kilograms and standing 1.5 metres and loved attacking German strongholds with sugar ­bags full of hand grenades. He fought in the crucial Battle for Dernancourt in 1918, helping prevent the Germans from breaking through the British front.

He was gassed soon after and was hit with a piece of shrapnel in his heel. He didn’t recover quickly enough to return to service before the end of the war.

Hines died on January 29, 1958, and was buried in Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery.

Blacktown City Council renamed a street in suburban Minchinbury, John Hines Avenue, in his honour.