Historical information
This is a needle book containing needles. It appears that the Army and Navy Needle books were not issued to soldiers or sailors but were made for home use in the Western World - Europe, America and presumably Australia. They were made mainly in Germany and some were made in Japan but were not sold in wartime. They were sold before and after World War Two and often featured images of well-known ships of the day. This folder has images of the Europa and the Bremen, two ships made in Germany which belonged to the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line (N.D.L.) and which were launched in the late 1920s. They were the two most advanced high speed steam turbine ocean liners of their day. The Bremen was gutted by fire in 1941. The Europa was captured by the Allies in 1945 and used as a troopship, then it went to France where it was became an ocean liner named Liberte. It was scrapped in 1963. The newspaper cutting tells of a presentation by the Warrnambool Woollen Mill to Private Les Lawlor on his embarking for overseas service. It is not known to which war the cutting refers and no reference can be found to Private Les Lawlor. No connection between the two items (needle book and cutting) has been established but they have always been together in our collection.
Significance
The needle book is of social significance but has no known local provenance. The cutting contains information suitable for our files
Physical description
.1 This is a piece of thickened paper folded in two to make a folder containing four packets of needles. The folder is green with two images of ships on the back and the front. The images are multi-coloured and have an ornamental edging. The needles of different sizes are contained in black paper folded four times to enclose the needles (13 still in the folded paper – all rusty). It appears one needle packet may be missing.
.2 This is a cutting from a newspaper regarding a soldier leaving for overseas military service. There is no date.
Inscriptions & markings
‘The Army and Navy Needle Book’
‘Made in Germany’
‘Silver Steel’‘Superior Quality Royal Drilldeyd Sharps 1 Made in Germany’
‘Superior Quality Royal Drilldeyd Sharps 1/5 Made in Germany’
‘Superior Quality Royal Drilldeyd Sharps 5 Made in Germany’
‘Superior Quality Royal Drilldeyd Sharps 6 Made in Germany’
