There is a piece of World War I trench art that is kept on display in Narrabri resident Pat Carberry’s home.

The brass carving, crafted by Mr Carberry’s Uncle Jack (Jack Wall, killed in action at Senakh, northern Palestine in 1918) is made from a canon shell casing.

WWI inspired a prolific amount of trench art, made from the scraps created by war, ammunition shell cases, bullet casings, shrapnel, and pieces of downed planes. They open a window to the past – the stories of our downed soldiers and the soldiers who returned.

Jack Wall, a 24-year-old Narrabri farmer at the time, enlisted to join the 12th Light Horse Regiment on August 11, 1915. On September 11, 1918, he was promoted to Lance Corporal but was killed in action alongside his best mate Herbert West (Wee Waa) on September 25. The tragic circumstances of their deaths were a treacherous abuse by the Germans of a white flag surrender by the Australian regiment. The war ended 16 days later.

Jack had served on Gallipoli and in the charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse at Beersheba. Lance Corporal Wall was posthumously awarded the 1914/15 Star and the British War and Victory Medals.

He was to become Stan Carberry’s brother-in-law – Mr Carberry, also mates with Jack and Herbert, served and survived WWI, and later married Jack’s sister Gertrude on March 20, 1920.

Back to the present day, when Narrabri local Anthony Phelps was carrying out some work at Pat Carberry’s home, he looked with interest at Jack Wall’s trench art. The antique war relic held pride of place in Mr Carberry’s home.

Mr Phelps had purchased his Stoney Creek property from the Wall family around 1990, and the war relic was familiar to him. He had a similar piece of trench art displayed, which had been left behind in the house when the Walls left.

After checking with the Walls first, he was delighted to be able to present the shell case carving to Mr Carberry. The two pieces, both made and engraved by Jack Wall, had been apart for 100 years.

“While I’ve had these artefacts on display, visitors and friends are always interested to hear about the history behind them”, said Mr Carberry.

“We have marvelled how the soldiers carved these out, possibly with their bayonets in the trenches. I thought Courier readers may be interested to hear this story”.

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