Housewife : Private P Mapstone, 2/2nd Battalion

Light brown checked cotton fabric housewife, lined throughout with multi-coloured striped cotton flannelette (possibly pyjama fabric). Each end is folded in and sewn to form a pocket. One pocket carries a red and white printed label 'AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS [Red Cross symbol] SOCIETY' with 'BENDIGO' typed beneath it. Two rectangles of grey flannel fabric are sewn across the centre to hold pins or needles. The housewife is empty and is designed to fold closed into three even sized sections.

Issued to NX9861 Private Paul Mapstone when he enlisted in the Second AIF on 4 January 1940. Born in Sydney, according to him, on 4 December 1906 (or in 1901 according to NSW police records in the 1920s). Mapstone served in the merchant marine until c 1930, including 6 months of First World War Service, before marrying and working as a labourer and painter in the 1930s. Between 1930 and 1934 he served in the militia, in the Royal Australian Artillery.

After initial training in 1940, Mapstone was posted to 2/2nd Battalion and sailed with his unit for the Middle East on 7 March. Apart from a month's service in Palestine, a brief hospitalisation, and a week's secondment to 6th Division's Concert Party, Mapstone incurred numerous disciplinary charges in the following year resulting in loss of pay and periods of military imprisonment. A decision was made to repatriate him to Australia in July 1941. He was discharged from the army on 16 August.