Recycling is not a new concept.
Held in private collections, many amazing artefacts made by the Italian POWs have survived. While, the Australian War Memorial has a number of items made or belonging to Italian POWs in their Heraldry Collection, research for this project has unearthed artefacts ‘unknown’ to public collections.
Basil Wyllie of Mooloo Gympie had three Italian prisoners of war on his farm: Alfredo Montagnini from Montefascone Viterbo, Raffaele Scrigno from Albanova Napoli and Pietro Verrengia from Cellole Napoli.
One of the items made by the Italians was a belt. An example of war arts and crafts, it is fashioned from the cellephone wraps from cigarette packets. Basil Wyllie has written on the inside of the belt: 1942 Egypt Italian.
A special thank you to Basil Wyllie’s daughter Noela White (Wyllie) for sharing this wonderful relic.
Belt made by Italian POWs on Basil Wyllie’s Farm Mooloo
(from the collection of Noela White (Wyllie))
Percy Miles from a neighbouring Mooloo farm, remembered, “Some of the things they used to do to beat the boredom… One was to collect all the cellophane wrapping on cigarette packets and fold it up and plait it into a belt.”
Alex Miles, son of Percy Miles, had telephoned me in 2017 about his families prisoners of war. Alex told me about the belts the Italians made. Thinking leather, I was not prepared for the word ‘cellophane’. I had no previous reference to belts made from cellophane. I was intrigued. Alex then sent me photos of the ‘belt’ and I was amazed.
This seemingly ‘fragile’ material, cellophane, has been prepared and fashioned in such a manner that one belt has survived. While the white cellophane has yellowed with age, this double sided belt must have taken many many hours to make and comprises of hundreds of cigarette packet wraps.
Close Up of Belt made by Italian POWs on Basil Wyllie’s Farm Mooloo
(from the collection of Noela White (Wyllie))
But this was not just an object of war. Making belts from the cellophane wraps of cigarette packets and chocolate boxes was a new fashion in 1930’s. Newspaper articles sing the praises of this fashion statement being made in Paris and London.
So how does one make a belt from cellophane… the full instructions can be found in the 1937 newspaper article as referenced below and available from Trove.
Footprints of Italian Prisoners of War in Australia 
My mother had one just like this. It was made from clear cellophane from cigarette packets on a buckle she provided. She said it looked silvery when new and was worn for evenings. She was a Landgirl in Cheshire, England, working with Italian POWs, and treasured the belt as she found them very likeable.They made many of these belts and other small articles in exchange for things like cigarettes. She also had a ring made from a silver teaspoon.
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The POWs were ingenious and creative. I have been told of memories of rings made from one shilling for children and two shillings for adults.. our coins were 92.5% silver. Like your mother’s ring from a teaspoon. The work to make the belt took patience and a lot of cellophane. I think in this example they used green paper to make it more elaborate. Your mother as a Land Army girl must have had many stories to tell of her experiences. Does she still have the ring?
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