Trooper Ernest John Rook and the Shellal Mosaic

In 1917, during the Palestine campaign of World War I, the ruins of a Byzantine church were unearthed by Australian soldiers in Shellal, Gaza. As they dug, the soldiers were astounded to discover a beautiful mosaic floor. Dating from 561 AD, the mosaic featured exceptionally finely detailed patterns of vines, lions, peacocks and chalices, typical early Christian images. Under the direction of Chaplain Maitland-Woods, a keen amateur archaeologist, it was carefully removed and transferred in boxes to Cairo. Later it went to Canberra, where since 1941 it has been displayed in the Australian War Memorial Museum-not without controversy. The Shellal Mosaic is sometimes described as Australia's Elgin Marbles, the illegitimate spoils of war. The British Museum wanted the mosaic to add to its collections (which of course include the original Elgin Marbles), but the Australians insisted on holding on to it. Indeed, some individual Australians apparently made off with portions of it for their own personal collections, and it was probably to protect it from these souvenir-hunters as much as from the misfortunes of war that it was crated up and sent to Cairo.

In 1917 any doubts about the legitimacy of Australia's claim were in the future, and the mosaic's discovery caused considerable excitement, especially when a skeleton was found underneath it. According to Guy Powles's history, the chaplain sent a telegram to Divisional Headquarters in Cairo, stating only that he had 'FOUND BONES OF SAINT'. The telegram was diverted without explanation to the Records Office in Cairo, where a nonplussed clerk returned a request to Maitland-Woods to 'SEND FULL NAME, NO. AND REGIMENT OF TROOPER SAINT'. (There are several versions of this story.) The inscription on the grave identified the bones as those of St George, the founder of the church. In spite of rumours which abounded at the time, he was not the same St George who was the patron saint of England. That was St George of Cappadocia. St George of Shellal was rather less well known.

The mosaic's intricate images were copied, and from this painting the Egyptian Survey Department produced a lithograph. A reproduction of the lithograph was acquired by Wellington Mounted Rifles trooper Ernest John Rook, Service No. 58278, of New Plymouth. Trooper Rook was born in 1893. When he joined up in 1917 he was a farm contractor, with a wife named Linda and two small children, Betty and Victor, born in 1916 and 1917 respectively. He was fair-haired and blue-eyed, and just under 5' 11” (1.8m) tall, weighing only 133 lb (9 ½ stone or 60 kg). The doctor who pronounced him fit for military service wrote on his attestation form, 'Tall &thin but we think wiry &should be able to stand up to his work'. Wiry he may have been, but he suffered from recurring bouts of jaundice during the eighteen months he spent in the Middle East between 1917 and 1919. His military career seems to have been uneventful, apart from getting into trouble for smoking below decks on the homeward-bound troopship. After the war he became a farmer, and when he died in 1977 he was living in Kaiaua on the firth of Thames.
At some point in his life Ernest Rook made a presentation of the lithograph of the Shellal Mosaic. On a blank piece of the print someone wrote, in ballpoint pen, 'Presented by E. J. Rook / No 58278 Second Mtd / Wellington rifles'. The use of the ballpoint indicates that the gift was made in the 1950s or after. The recipient isn't recorded. But by the time it ended up in a Waikato antique shop, the picture was looking decidedly scruffy, and it is easy to see that from an aesthetic point of view it might have become surplus to requirements.

However, it is a genuine relic of the Great War, a soldier's souvenir, a small part of a huge story. As such, its scruffiness is irrelevant. Its interest lies in its origins, and in the fact that, thanks to Archives New Zealand and a name and regimental number, the soldier who acquired it nearly a century ago can be clearly identified. More investigation via the internet revealed him as a man who is still fondly remembered by his descendants. His granddaughter in Australia kindly provided the wedding photo of Ernest and Linda.