Tobacco tin : Corporal A K Boyden, 2/12 Field Company, AIF

Rectangular tobacco tin with rounded corners. The removable lid is slightly concave. All surfaces of the tin have a coating of surface rust, which has obliterated any markings which may have originally been present. The contents are a small quantity of tobacco and some papers which appear to have been cut from a Thai book or newspaper.

Cigarette tin, tobacco and papers used by Arthur Keeling Boyden during captivity. The tobacco and papers were obtained from locals encountered while working on the Thai-Burma railway. Boyden was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in April 1904. He enlisted in the AIF on 19 June 1940, becoming Corporal NX32792 with 2/12 Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers. Captured by the Japanese at the end of the Malayan campaign, he was held between 1942 and 1945 at Changi POW camp, and various camps on the Burma-Thailand Railway. Boyden was repatriated to Australia and discharged from the AIF on 8 February 1946. Post-war, he became sales manager for North Shore Gas, and died on 30 December 1975.