Housewife : Private H E Curtis, 10 Battalion, AIF

Khaki wool housewife (sewing kit) with black tape ties. One end is folded to make a pocket which contains a small ball of grey darning wool. Attached to the pocket is a square of grey flannel which would originally have held needles and pins. The housewife is lined with brown polished cotton which is machined to the wool backing so that three long open ended holding tubes are formed. Threaded through two if these are multiple lengths of pre-cut cotton thread in cream and olive green.

Used by Henry Earl Curtis, a 23 year old gardener from Piccadilly in South Australia, who enlisted in the 12th Reinforcements to 10 Battalion, AIF, with the service number 3724, on 11 August 1915. He sailed from Australia aboard RMS Malwa on 2 December 1915 and after further training in Egypt moved to France with his battalion. Curtis was wounded at Mouquet Farm, on the Somme, on 22 August 1916, receiving a gunshot wound to his left shoulder and a severe gunshot wound to the buttock. He was evacuated to England, where his recovery was delayed when he contracted influenza. After retraining in England Curtis eventually rejoined his battalion in France on 29 June 1917 but was withdrawn after only two months service, on 26 August 1917, suffering from debility. He was judged unfit for further service and returned to Australia on 18 October 1917, where he was discharged on 27 December of that year.