Wrist watch : D Dare Parker, Official Photographer

Circular metal 'diver' analogue wrist watch with a rotating bezel. The face of the watch is black and is marked with the maker's name 'CITIZEN', 'QUARTZ' and 'WATER 200M RESIST' with a styalised arrow. At the 12 o'clock is a digital date month display panel. The hands are stopped at 10 past 4 with the second hand stopped at the 9. The hour markers are luminous stick markers. There are functions controls at 2, 4, 8 and 10 o'clock and an alarm at the 9 o'clock. On the reverse is impressed, 'CITIZEN WATCH CO. WATER RESIST STAINLESS C020-086899Y 6080595 CQ-1012 GN-4-S JAPAN' and 'DO NOT OPEN: MANUFACTURER'S REPAIR ONLY'. The watch has no band.

This watch was worn by David Dare Parker, the Australian War Memorial's Official Photographer during his assigment to Iraq in 2003. David Dare Parker was made an Official Photographer for the Australian War Memorial in 2003, the first such appointment since the Second World War. In company with the artist Lewis Miller, Parker worked alongside the Australian Defence Forces (ADF), and was deployed to Iraq, the Persian Gulf and other Middle Eastern locations for a period of six weeks during April-May 2003. During this time, he was clothed and equipped with ADF issue items. The official purpose of his engagement was to create a visual record of Australian services participating in Operation ‘Falconer’, including representing the diversity of operations of the ADF, as well as the civilian environment. He was attached to units such as Royal Australian Navy mine clearance teams, and had opportunities to photograph Royal Australian Air Force fighter aircraft on their final combat operations over Baghdad as well as interception duties by HMA Ships Kanimbla and Anzac. At the time of his appointment to the Memorial, David Dare Parker was a recognised photojournalist and a multiple finalist in the Walkley Award for Best Feature Photograph, which he won in 1997. The award is granted by the Walkley Foundation, in recognition of the work of Australian photographers, by the media industry and their journalistic peers, for skill, versatility and technical excellence. Parker also worked in East Timor at the end of the Indonesian occupation in 1999, capturing images of the civilian environment and of ADF Peacekeeping activities.