Ground Hog Day 1998 T-shirt : Lieutenant K M Sturtevant, Bougainville Combined Health Element, PMG

Light brown crew necked short sleeved T-shirt with a printed design over the left breast and one on the right sleeve. The print over the left breast is in black ink and features a caricature of a smiling tusked pig's head and torso with its thumb up. Around this is printed 'GROUNDHOG DAY / 19 / 98 / BOUGAINVILLE'. On the right sleeve is printed a black rectangle with "OP BEL ISI '98" inside. The manufacturers tag inside the neck has been removed.

T-shirt worn by Lieutenant Kristy Michelle Sturtevant, who was a Registered Nurse serving with the Nursing Corps of the Australian Army in Bougainville, as part of the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) from April to August 1998. She served with the Bougainville Combined Health Element based at Loloho and was the Nursing Officer in charge of medium and low dependency unit. The PMG was deployed in on 1 May 1998, taking over from the New Zealand-led Truce Monitoring Group (TMG). The PMG comprised a mix of military and civilian personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. Its headquarters were variously located at Arawa and Loloho in central Bougainville. Sturtevant later served in East Timor from September 1999 to February 2000 with the Field Surgery Team (FST) Heavy, which was part of the 1st Field Hospital based at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney. During her time in East Timor, she was field promoted from lieutenant to captain, and her unit, the 1st Field Hospital changed its title to the 1st Health Support Battalion. Un-official T-shirts, such as this are common among Australian troops on overseas deployments. Often featuring the artwork of people involved in the particular operation, these T-shirts give an interesting look into the self-perception of the groups at the time of the deployment and on their collective sense of humour, duty and service. The reference to 'Ground Hog Day' in this shirt relates to the popular 1993 movie 'Ground Hog Day' starring Canadian comedian Bill Murray. The movie is essentially about a man who lives the same day over and over again. The monotony of this is related to the relatively quiet time in the Solomon Islands that the Australian Defence Force served during Operation Bel Isi. Operation Bel Isi was an operational deployment of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) that provided ADF support to the United Nations Peace Monitoring Group to monitor and report on the maintenance of the cease-fire in Bougainville.