Weeping angel statuette, Amiens Cathedral : Sergeant P J Birnie 20 Battalion, AIF

Statuette of a weeping angel, after the funerary monument by Nicholas Blasset in Amiens Cathedral. The angel is leaning its right elbow on a skull, which has fabric draped over it, and has its left hand placed on an hourglass. The wings of the angel have been cut off, leaving a hole in its right shoulder. The base is made of a red-brown stone. The right bolt is missing from the base, which causes the angel to swivel around on it.

Souvenir associated with the service of 34 Sergeant Peter James Birnie, 20 Battalion, AIF. The statuette of the weeping angel was sold as a souvenir at Amiens Cathedral. The image of the weeping angel, after the funerary monument for Canon Lucas by Nicholas Blasset, dating from 1628, was a popular image with soldiers in the First World War. This was possibly because of its sentimentality and the symbolism of the monument, which was highly appropriate for the times. In Christian symbolism, the weeping angel represents grief, or mourning for an untimely death. The skull, represents mortality. The hourglass also represents mortality, and the swiftness of time. Because the hourglass must be turned upside down for the sand to run out, it also represents the cycle of life and death.

Peter Birnie married Agnes Murtha in 1912. He was a carpenter, and had served in the militia with 25 Infantry Regiment. He enlisted into 4 Battalion, AIF on 17 August 1914 at Randwick, New South Wales. Birnie embarked from Australia for Egypt aboard HMAT Euripides in October 1914. He served on Gallipoli with 4 Battalion and was wounded in June 1915. After convalescing he was transferred to 20 Battalion and returned to Gallipoli in November 1915. Birnie was later sent to France. On 7 June 1916 he wounded himself in the right leg and received 14 days Field Punishment No. 1. He rejoined his unit in the field in November 1916, and was wounded in action on 8 October 1917. Birnie returned to Australia in August 1918 on '1914 Furlough' or 'Anzac Leave', awarded to soldiers who had enlisted early in 1914.