Souvenir of Palestine cushion cover

Gold cotton sateen souvenir cushion cover with a blue cotton fringe and unbleached calico backing. The sateen is painted in red, green, brown and blue, with added details in blue, white and red machine chainstitch embroidery. At the top is a Rising Sun badge with 'Australian Commonwealth Military Forces' embroidered in white. Above it is 'Souvenir of Palestine, embroidered in red, flanked by two red painted hearts outlined in blue embroidery, with 'To my' and 'Mother' embroidered in white on the hearts. The bottom of the cushion cover carries painted images of two Middle Eastern buildings and a tree. The name of each building is stencilled in blue beneath it: 'RACHEL'S TOMB' and 'DAVID'S TOWER'.

The history of this souvenir is unknown. These types of souvenirs were popular with Australian troops as they were easy to send home and were colourful. The vendors would have a number of designs for sale already painted and machine embroidered, which a soldier could then have personalised with a date or message. Soldiers could also design their own souvenir, but the souvenir here is one of the former type, with some modifications, as evidence by the faint red lines on the upper part of the cushion cover, which indicate that another design was once intended.

Unlike similar fabric souvenirs for sale in Egypt, where the outline of an object such a pyramid would be in filled with embroidery, Palestinian souvenirs almost always have a machine embroidered outline of an object that is then filled in with paint. Palestinian souvenirs were often seen displayed for sale outside houses in country villages.