Historical information

Actual donor is unknown. However, this dictionary may have been a souvenir collected by Australian personnel in WWII following the sinking of the cargo boat which carried this type of dictionary. The cargo boat may have been carrying supplies and troops. It was torpedoed on 12 July 1944 by USS Piranha.Australian soldiers were known to collect 'souvenir' items belonging to the enemy although this practice was not officially condoned.

Significance

This dictionary is a reminder of Australia's participation in fighting relating to the Pacific zone in WWII - participation which might have included some Emerald and district residents.

Physical description

Japanese character dictionary produced by a company which made Japanese cargo ships in the 1930s and 1940s. This dictionary seems to have belonged to one of those ships: Nitiran Maru (aka Nichiran Maru) which was completed in 1938 but destroyed by torpedo in 1944. The front cover is white cardboard. The back cover is brown cardboard with embossed gold lettering.

Inscriptions & markings

The inside of the book is entirely characters - no Latin script.
On front cover is 'Nanyo Kaiun' stamp and S. S. Nitiran Maru.
(Nitiran Maru is handwritten suggesting that it was one of several Nanyo Kaiun ships that carried this type of dictionary.)
There are also characters stamped onto the front cover and the back cover as well as the (embossed) Latin script: 'Shin Shu'
(Shin Shu may have a literal English meaning of 'Improve oneself through one's own efforts'.)