Victor Brand’s Memorabilia at the Shrine

Andrew Brand

It came totally out of left field when our intrepid Secretary Joy emailed me last June to advise that she had been contacted by Neil Sharkey, a curator at the Shrine, who was seeking out family members who may be in possession of memorabilia available for display relating to doctors in captivity during the Second World War. I contacted Neil who was very anxious to examine some of my father’s war memorabilia. I was very pleased to assist as after all, Victor’s bits and pieces had resided, in the main, in cupboards for some 70 years hidden from family and public view.

The proposed display was to occupy a small section of a medical installation featuring Weary Dunlop and Albert Coates. Neil was particularly interested in a number of the smaller artefacts whichh included an aluminium trench art box made in Changi, prisoner identity tag, miniature medals with Military Cross, photos and an original typed personal account (the Diary) of the Battle of Muar. Neil asked if we had something else which was overtly medical in nature. Fortunately, this prompted me to contact my sister Melanie to check if there was anything inside an old medical canvass bag which had been hanging in the shed at our family home for as long as I could remember. To my extreme surprise and delight, we discovered shell dressing, syringes, ampoules, scalpels, chloroform and miscellaneous medicine bottles. Neil was excited by this treasure but due to space restrictions and preservation requirements (especially with ampoules filled with morphine), he considered that some of these items could be used when the display was updated at some future time.

The items are now on display and Melanie and I and our families are very proud and honoured to have these items publicly displayed by the Shrine.