Trench art clock : Sapper S K Pearl, 5 Field Company Engineers, AIF

Trench art clock alarm clock. The clock case is made from two brass 4.5 inch shell cases and contains a commercial alarm clock mechanism. The clock bears impressed markings '4.5 HOWR II CF 1917' and is engraved with hour markings in Roman numerals. The two clock hands are made from copper. An American 18 pounder nose cap forms the alarm cover,and has an attached copper 'rising sun' badge. The cover is surmounted by a brass Australian Military Forces button, and a German bullet. The bottom of the cover is edged with copper driving band. The clock sits on a steel 'foot' made from an 18 pounder shell clip. Each side of the clock has a brass 'arm' made from detonator wells.

This alarm clock is part of a collection of trench art made by 6756 Sapper Stanley Keith Pearl, a Tasmanian who served with 5 Field Company Engineers, AIF. He enlisted for service on 9 November 1915 and returned to Australia on 21 March 1919. Pearl subsequently moved to Canberra and was employed as a carpenter by the Australian War Memorial. He supplied the following information about the clock, 'Made at Ypres in March 1918. The case was made from two 4.5 inch shell cases picked up on Christmas Day 1917 at the Australian batteries at Le Bizet. The foot support is a clip of an 18 pounder shell. The arms are detonator wells of rifle grenades and nose-caps. The hands are from a gun-cotton case, while the alarm cover is an American-made 18 pounder nose-cap with a 'whizz-bang' driving band. The Rising Sun is the badge of a mate killed at Noreuil, while a button from the maker's greatcoat and a German bullet surmount the whole.'