Welcome home banner : Able Seaman Marine Technician P Matthews, HMAS Kanimbla

Rectangular cotton welcome home banner heavily coated in craft paint so that the fabric is quite rigid. The body of the banner is painted in shades of blue. Each vertical side has a border of grey anchors and ropes, edged in black and white. The left of the banner has large lime green letters edged in black,'WELCOME HOME BOYS', together with the scientific symbols for male and female. On the right of the banner are large dark blue-green/lime green letters, edged in black, on a white ground, 'WE LOVE YA BLUE!' The back of the bannner has been signed in black ink by the subject of the welcome, 'Phil Mathews ABMT HMAS Kanimbla 17.7.03'. The banner is stapled to a length of wooden dowelling on each of its vertical sides.

Welcome home banner prepared for Able Seaman Marine Technician Philip Matthews, RAN, who served aboard HMAS Kanimbla during the war on Iraq, 2003. The amphibious transport HMAS Kanimbla (LPA-51) was acquired by the Royal Australian Navy from the US Navy in 1994 for use as a helicopter support and sea training vessel. During 2003, while participating in Maritime Interception Operations in the Persian Gulf and in the war on Iraq, Kanimbla served as command and control platform for the Australian Task Group. Coalition boarding operations were coordinated from Kanimbla. At one point the ship hosted boarding teams and inflatable boats from three different countries, and a total of 88 sea mines were intercepted.