Improvised prisoner's smoking pipe, Lintang Barracks, Kuching, Borneo

Improvised wooden pipe with a vaguely octagonal shape bowl. The shank is reinforced with a wrapping of cotton drill fabric overlaid with what appears to be latex (this was very common at this camp as rubber trees grew nearby). The stem and mouthpiece form a poor fit into the shank. The top of the bowl is discoloured from the smoking process and is split horizontally about halfway round its diameter.

The pipe is accompanied by a gummed cut-down address label carrying the number '21'; and by a manila coloured Military History Field Team label.

This collection of pipes (REL/01988 - REL/01995) was collected by the Military History Section Field Team attached to 9th Australian Division Headquarters. Writing on 25 September 1945 to John Treloar, Director of the Australian War Memorial, and describing their activities at the Kuching POW camp, an unidentified officer wrote:

'With regard to the relics, before the Australian officers left on the morning of 13 Sep, I got them to make a selection of personal relics for the AWM. These included improvised comforts, home-made pipes, etc, some of them with a story attached. I left these at the office of the Barracks pending spraying with disinfectant, informing the staff what they were and placing a big notice on top of the box stating that the contents were relics required by the AWM and were not to be touched. You can imagine my feeling on calling back for them to find that a newly-arrived officer had assumed it was rubbish left by the Japs and had had the lot burned. However we were able to duplicate most of the items from other Australian Officers huts.'