| Place | Asia: Malaya |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | REL/01961.001 |
| Collection type | Heraldry |
| Object type | Heraldry |
| Physical description | Clay |
| Maker |
Robinson, Arthur Cyril |
| Place made | Singapore: Changi |
| Date made | c 1942 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Source credit to | This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government. |
Improvised prisoners' smoking pipe: Staff Sergeant Arthur Cyril Robinson, 8 Division Signals
Description
Crude smoking pipe with shank made from local clay and fired. The pipe was used with the stem (REL/1961.003) which also served another pipe.
The interior of the bowl contains tobacco residue.
History / Summary
Crude pipe fashioned from clay which was smoked with a stem (REL/1961.003) by Arthur Cyril Robinson, a resident of Rosedale, Victoria who enlisted on 2 July 1940 aged 37. He was assigned to 8th Division Signals and given theservice number VX28150. He became a prisoner of war of the Japanese after the fall of Singapore in February 1942.
No details of his service are presently available, but when he donated this collection in 1966 (he died in 1968) he wrote regarding his health 'have no wind and have been made TPI from some of my POW experiences. Worst trouble is emphysema, spondylitis and recurring dysentry. It is a bugger as I feel OK when doing nothing.'
The material used in these pipes varied from camp to camp but prisoners were often reduced to smoking tobacco stalks or dried grass.