Turkish Prisoner of War beadwork purse : Lieutenant D R Waddell, 7 Light Horse Regiment, AIF

This small bag has been made using the beaded crochet method, using thousands of small, 2 mm glass beads and is lined with an open weave buckram fabric. The body of the bag is made from dark blue beads; the words 'TURKISH * PRISONERS * 1919' appears across the top of the bag in white (the asterisks in blue and ochre); while the centre of each side incorporates a design of two birds (possibly eagles) facing each other, wings raised, separated by a tree. The birds are of white beads with black eyes; the tree is of light blue beads with eight white highlights, and the base on which the birds stand is of white, light blue and ochre beads.The rounded base is divided in six triangular panels by rows of white beads, and the whole is finished at the bottom with a beaded ball utilising all the colours mentioned. A looped carrying handle, made from light blue beads has been sewn to the top of the bag, and has a brass snap fastener.

Associated with the service of Lieutenant Douglas Ronald Waddell, 7th Light Horse Regiment, who enlisted on 28 August 1915 and returned to Australia on 29 April 1919. He was born on 21 November 1877 and was married to Margaret Isabella Waddell and a manager of a stock station when he enlisted. Before the war he served with militia units. He embarked from Australia on 11 March 1916 on board HMAT Orsova from Sydney. He was a Second Lieutenant with 15th reinforcements of 7 Light Horse Regiment. He served in Egypt and was wounded with a gun shot wound to the lower jaw on 9 August 1916 at Bir El Abd around Kantara. He was invalided to Australia on board HT Ascanius on 1 September 1916. The medical board thought it would take him six months to recover enough to be returned to active service. He embarked for Egypt again on 10 May 1917 arriving on 20 June. He served with the unit around the time of the battle at Beersheeba and photographed the Australians massing prior to the charge on 31 October 1917. He served with the 7 Light Horse at the Dardanelles in November 1918 with the Graves Registration Unit, returning to Egypt in January 1919. He later injured himself falling through an open hatch on a ship and was admitted to hospital on 26 March 1919. On 29 April 1919 he embarked for Australia on board HT Dorset. Post war, Waddell served again with the militia after the war. This beadwork purse was made by an Ottoman prisoner of war (POW) in a British POW camp, probably in Egypt. Except for fatigue duties, prisoners were generally not required to work. Making craft items, along with playing sport, games or music helped them pass the time. The prisoners also made these items as a way of making some money to buy extra rations and supplies, such as coffee or tobacco; to barter with other prisoners; or as gifts for friends or family. Although the bag has 'TURKISH PRISONERS' worked into the purse's design, the maker may not have been ethnically Turkish as the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Balkans to the Sinai, and the soldiers in its armies came from throughout the empire. The bulk of the Memorial's beadwork collection comes from Egypt but there were also prison camps in England, Salonika, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, India and France where prisoners made similar souvenirs. There are similarities in design, materials and technique in the beaded items made by prisoners which can make it difficult to know where the items were made. This purse was made using single stitch beaded crochet.