Decorated cloth made by Japanese POW : Gunner D M Watson, Australian Army

Place Asia: Netherlands East Indies, Halmahera Island, Morotai Island
Accession Number REL42167
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Heraldry
Physical description Calico
Maker Unknown
Place made Netherlands East Indies: Halmahera Island, Morotai Island
Date made 1945-1946
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Description

Piece of calico taken from cloth originally used to wrap a parcel. The cloth is decorated in paint and crayon, and shows a Japanese woman in traditional dress, standing in front of an orange railing. She wears a blue kimono with a green and orange pattern, a yellow obi, and carries a fan in her right hand. Behind her are images of a pagoda and Mount Fuji.

History / Summary

Douglas Mervyn 'Doug' Watson was born at Pinnaroo, South Australia on 9 February 1924. Shortly after his 18th Birthday, in March 1942, he was called up for service in the Citizen Military Forces. He was assigned the service number S50821 and served as a gunner with 29 Australian Anti-Tank Battery, undertaking training in both New South Wales and Western Australia.

Watson enlisted in the AIF on 19 July 1943. He was allocated the service number SX32174 and posted to 112 Anti-Tank Battery. In October 1944 he was sent to the Australian Training Centre for Jungle Warfare at Canungra, Queensland, where he remained until February the following year.

Watson was posted to 3 Australian Artillery Signal Troop in May. A month later he sailed for Morotai from Brisbane, arriving there on 24 June. He served with a variety of units on the island. At the beginning of February 1946 he was posted to 2/27 Transport Platoon. Watson returned to Australia for discharge on 24 April 1946.

At the end of the war, while he was still serving on Morotai, Watson's mother sent him a fruit cake. He saved the outer calico wrapping from the parcel, although the edges were slightly stained with the butter that had been used when making the cake, and gave it to a Japanese prisoner so that he could make him this souvenir picture. Japanese prisoners were held for considerable lengths of time after the war, as a shortage of shipping meant that they could not be repatriated immediately. They made souvenirs such as this one in return for a few cigarettes or other small luxuries.