Souvenir olive wood album sent by George Benton from the Holy Land 1941

« Prev Item Next Item »

1941

Overview

Souvenir olive wood album containing flowers and views from the Holy Land sent from Palestine by Australian soldier, George Benton, to his parents in Tyabb, Victoria, in April 1941.
It comprises two rectangular pieces of varnished timber joined at the spine with fabric, with the pages held between.
The front cover features a middle eastern scene, with the silhouettes of two camels facing left. The first is being ridden by its handler while the second is walking in front of its handler. The area around the base of the figures is orange, perhaps representing a sunset or the earth.
George has written a greeting to his parents in black ink on the inside cover. The page opposite has the title in three different languages - Hebrew, English and French.
The inside leaves have a view from the Holy Land on the left hand side and a dried floral arrangement on the right.
The back timber cover has a depiction of the Australian Army rising sun badge in the centre in black.
Within this album were also two postcards with dried floral arrangements. Each has the following words, 'Flowers from the Holy Land' written above and 'Placed on the Holy Sepulchre' written below the dried flowers. On the reverse is the word 'Myrtie' written in blue pen.
There was also a pressed orange, buff, black and white butterfly inside a folded piece of paper, much of which has become damaged over time.

Historical information

George Albert Benton was born on 14 July 1917 in Mornington, Victoria. He enlisted in the Australian Army (service number VX33826) at Royal Park on 22 June 1940, where his occupation was listed as a motor transport driver.
He served with the 2/10, 2/15 and 2/16 Field Companies, Royal Australian Engineers. He disembarked in the Middle East on 3 February 1941 and was transferred to the Australian Headquarters Guards Battalion on 3 June 1941. He returned to Australia on compassionate grounds on 21 July 1941, disembarking in Sydney on 24 August 1941. He was discharged on 8 September 1941.
George's only brother, Leonard Arthur, was killed in a motorcycle accident, aged 18 on February 7 1941. George also had three sisters, Irene, Edna, and Myrtle, with the youngest one (Myrtie) being who the pressed flower cards in the album were sent to.

Visiting servicemen and women purchased a variety of souvenirs from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Palestine and The Holy Land while passing through on active service during both world wars.
Some of the more common items were embroideries such as cushion covers, painted artworks on fabric, jewellery made from mother of pearl, metal and timber, and photo albums with wooden covers filled with postcards of local scenes and pressed dried flowers.
There was also a range of trinket boxes, often with hidden drawers, made from the local olive wood and a range of other olive wood items including napkin rings such as these and even a portable book shelf.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00787

Item type

Themes