Embroidered Souvenir of Palestine 1941 : Corporal A C Carter, 2/3 Australian Field Workshop

Rectangular magenta fabric table cover with a plain white cotton backing and dark blue tassel fringe. The face of the cover is embroidered, predominately in yellow with some green, orange and white. It shows a border of date palms and stylised Middle Eastern buildings. The buildings represent the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and David's Tower. A stylised Australian Coats of Arms is in the center of the cover with a stylised rising Sun badge above and a small camel caravan below. They frame a crude Rising Sun design over the words 'Australian Commonwealth / Military Forces', which sits over the coat of arms with a scroll bearing the words ' 19 Souvenir of Palestine 41'. Parts of the embroidered outline have been filled in with blue, brown and green paint.

Aubrey Cecil Carter was born in Bathurst, New South Wales, on 16 February 1910. He was a motor engineer when he enlisted in the militia with the service number N77867 and rank of private on 5 August 1940 in Sydney. He was discharged in November to he join the Second AIF. With service number NX65683, he was taken on strength at Liverpool and appointed to Specialist Group I on 12 November 1940. He embarked from Sydney on 27 December 1940 with 2/3 Australian Field Workshop. He disembarked at Kantara in Egypt on 3 February 1941 and served in the Middle East until early 1942. He was promoted to corporal in September 1941. On 4 Ferbuary 1942 he embarked from the Middle East on board SS Salween, arriving in South Australia on 16 May. Through 1942 he was promoted to sergeant, then staff sergeant and finally warrant officer class II. In May 1943 he was detached to 1 Australian Army Weapons Training Course for junior leaders for a month. He rejoined his unit and embarked from Sydney on board the James Goodhue in July 1943 bound for Buna, New Guinea. He served in New Guinea for five months before returning to Australia in January 1944. Carter was discharged medically unfit in August 1944 due to a constant problem with his left hand. This embroidered souvenir of Palestine was purchased by Private Carter while serving in the Middle East in 1941 and sent home to his wife, Irene. These types of souvenirs were very popular with Australian troops; they were easy to send home and were colourful. The vendors would have a number of designs for sale already machine embroidered, from which the soldier could select and then personalise with a date or message. Soldiers could also design their own souvenir, but the souvenir here is one of the former type. Unlike similar fabric souvenirs for sale in Egypt, where the outline of an object such a pyramid would be in filled with embroidery, Palestinian made souvenirs almost always have a machine embroidered outline of an object that is then filled in with paint. Palestinian souvenirs were often seen displayed for sale outside houses in country villages.