Lanyard & general service whistle : Sergeant V Kelleway, 5 Battalion AIF

Standard nickle-plated brass tube-bodied whistle with intergal suspension loop, double window and lead fipple. The word 'PATENT' is impressed into the main barrel of the whistle, while the words 'PATENT 5727.08' are impressed into the suspension loop end dome. A woven khaki cord with sliding knot, reinforced with a brass eyelet, is attached to the whistle loop with a gold (or gilded) fob-chain clip. The nickle plating is worn.

Standard police pattern tube whistle used by 922 Sergeant Val Kelleway, 5th Battalion AIF. He enlisted as Percival Henry Kellway as a private on 18 August 1914. The 5th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War and were part of the second wave that landed at Gallipoli. They fought at Cape Helles in the attack on the village of Krithia, before takling part in the battle of Lone Pine. The Battalion served at Gallipoli until the evacuation in December 1915.

In June 1915 Kelleway was promoted to lance corporal. He was wounded by shrapnel in his right knee in August 1915, and was sent to London, via Mudros for hospitalisation. He was able to rejoin his battalion in March 1916 in Egypt. His battalion then proceeded to France and the Western Front. The first major action in France was at Pozières in the Somme valley in July 1916 where Kellway recieved gunshot wounds.

He was sent to Birmingham, UK for recovery. During this recovery period, Kelleway worked for various battalions and Military Intelligence at Windmill Hill, as well as commanding military tasks and physical training. He was also on command at the Officers Training College at Candahar Barracks at Tidworth. Kelleway was promoted to Sergeant in August 1917, and in October 1917, while in the UK, he changed his name by deed poll 'for family reasons' to VAL Kelleway. He returned to Australia on 23 September 1918 and died in 1968.

As a sergeant and a platoon's second-in-command, Kelleway would have used his whistle in action as a aid to commanding his platoon; usually only a small number of whistle blasts were used to indicate pre-designated commands - one, two or three blasts to indicate simple movements such as advance, stop or withdraw.