Historical information

Olive trees have been a boon to civilization for millennia. The oil extracted from olives can be used for everything from fuel for lanterns to medicinal balms to an essential ingredient in foods. It’s easy to understand why the tree was incorporated into so many early religious practices, but near the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, a grove of olive trees in Gethsemane provides a direct link to ancient biblical stories. At the foot of the Mount of Olives, a small olive grove would go on to become an important site for Christianity. Gethsemane, taken from the Aramaic word for olive press, is mentioned many times throughout the New Testament as a favorite place for Jesus and his disciples to rest and pray beneath the evergreen olive trees. Today, the Church of All Nations has been constructed in a section of Gethsemane, enshrining the ground where Jesus is said to have last prayed.However, as a privilege, soldiers were given one green envelope per month in which they could send uncensored personal and private letters to loved ones. The soldier had to sign to verify that they had only included private and family matters.

Physical description

A small vintage brown paper WWII AUSTRALIAN Active Service envelope with faded green text explaining its use, which was for letters only. It was Revised July 1942. There is a large green lined open cross on the front with Active Service at the top and (Crown Copyright Reserved). It has an address space on the right. Inside the envelope is a small folded paper souvenir from Gethsemene Jerusalem with a black and white image on the front of a relief sculpture depicting the moment when an angel visits Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. It is titled 'Gethsemeni'. Inside the small souvenir card is a Daily Prayer for the Dying and, glued to the opposite side, an olive leaf from the Garden of Gethsemane. On the back of the souvenir is a text titled, The Good Work of the Holy Land, which describes the work of the Friars Minor who resided in Jerusalem for seven venturies. Though undated, this document dates from WWII when the soldiers were in the Middle East.

Inscriptions & markings

'Leaf from the Trees of the Garden of Gethsemane'