This poem references Mersa Matruh, a port town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt where Tom Meagher of the 14th Battalion may have served. Mersa Matruh was the backdrop for a series of battles between the German and British forces from mid- to late-1942.This poem was written by Avis Quarrell, an active community member of the Warrnambool RSL. Avis Quarrell was a former driver during the Second World War and is well known as a photographer and author in the Warrnambool area. The poem is well provenanced, bearing a dedication from the author herself and has significant interpretive capacity to discuss the North African campaigns, experiences of war and the history of the 14th Battalion when paired with the sketch.Poem printed in black ink on marled biege coloured paper in serif font, centred on page and signed by hand. Frame comprises of black plastic and is suspended by a wire on the reverse, which is screwed in on both the left and right hand sides. Poem is sealed in frame by framing tape, brown in colour. A gold adhesive label in the lower left hand corner indicates the framer and an inscription printed on paper is adhered onto the back of the frame.Underneath poem on front: “Avis Quarrell. C 2016.” On reverse, gold adhesive label reads: “Henna Street Picture Framers/74 Henna Street, Warrnambool/Ph/Fax (03) 5561 4795/ABN 88160473014” Printed inscription on reverse reads: “Warrnambool R.S.L./Please accept this Mersa Matruh sketch and poem/from Avis Quarrell and family (Anne and Murray/ Coverdale, Stephan and Jenny Quarrell, David/ and Janet Quarrell.)/Tom Meagher was a member of the 14th Battalion/in World War 2 and gave this to my husband while/ they were in North Africa./I wrote the poem because of the poignancy it/ created in my heart./We give this on the 100 Anniversary of the/ Warrnambool Sub-Branch, 26th of April, 2016 (16 crossed out and replaced with a 17).”north africa, mersa matruh, 14th battalion, poetry, quarrell, world war two, second world war, tom meagher

Framed behind Glass. Pen, ink, watercolour original drawingNight at Mersa Mutrah written bottom Right. T Meagher signature bottom Left.

Jean Hanna was one of a group of old collegians who presented a book containing the names of eighty former students who served World War II to Presbyterian Ladies College, Burwood. Jean, 93, had seen war firsthand, working twelve hour shifts in tent hospitals, nursing sick, wounded, amputees and POW's. By 1937 Jean was the sister-in-charge of the Alfred Hospital's operating theatre and after a European tour where she witnessed Germany arming, displaying swastikas everywhere and restricting movement in and out of Germany, Jean registered with the Australian Nursing Service and were called up. April 1940 saw Jean amoung the first Victorian nursing sisters to go overseas. Jean nursed in tent hospitals in Gaza, Mersa Matruh, Nazareth and Colombo before heading home to Australia to nurse sick and wounded from New Guinea. In April 1945 Jean went to another tent hospital in Borneo, where she cared for civilians and POW's, including a survivor of the Sandakan death march. Discharged in 1946, Jean joined the Alfred Hospital again until her retirement in 1962. A newspaper clipping of a story of five columns of text beneath two black and white photos. The photo on the left is of four women in uniform, two on camels and two on donkeys, with three men on foot, in front of a pyramid. The photo on the right os on an older woman wearing service medals.'NEWS'[graphite pencil, left top] 'AANS'[graphite pencil, right top]world war 2, wwii, ww2, world war ii, middle east, 2/1st casualty clearing station, nan schofield, egypt, battle of bardia, greece, syrian campaign, syria, japanese, american barrack hospital, ipswitch, labuan island, children's health bureau, melbourne