Improvised Melbourne Cup : Lieutenant W E Peck, Lintang Prisoner of War Barracks, Kuching, Borneo

Improvised trophy cup made from an empty bully beef tin that has had the label and lid removed. This is mounted on a wooden stem which slots into an octagonal wooden base with a roughly shaped top edge. The cup is held on to the stem by two curved galvanised iron handles, which extend from the top of the cup to the bottom of the base. They are secured with rivets and nails. Attached to the front of the cup are two roughly engraved aluminium plates. The upper plate is engraved 'MELBOURNE CUP 1942', and the lower plate, '1943'.

This improvised Melbourne Cup was made at Sandakan prisoner of war camp in North Borneo in 1942. Deciding to mark Melbourne Cup day with their own race, the Australian officers at the camp set up a straight track, for nine or ten entrants, between the officer’s huts. Each track was divided into thirty squares and each competitor wore a coloured top of some kind to represent jockey’s silks. Drawing a number from a deck of cards to determine their position on the track, a race caller then proceeded to draw cards which determined how many squares each jockey could advance. The first to reach the end was the winner and was presented with the ‘Melbourne Cup’. In October 1943 the officers were transferred to Batu Lintang prisoner of war and internee camp at Kuching in Sarawak. This camp had a parade ground and in November that year the officers built a circular track and competed for the Melbourne Cup again, using the same method. At both events bookies took bets and evidence from the 9 Military History Field Team which collected the cup from the barracks in 1945, suggests that Lieutenant William Peck, of 4 Anti-Tank regiment, won the cup on at least one occasion and possibly both years.