The Adam Park Project

Item Information:

Catalogue Number: See Report No 14 Source: TAPP Archaeology Surveys Location: No15 Adam Park Report No: Report No.14 Artifact Type: Tools Production Date: 2012-07-11 00:00:00 Dimensions of Item: Not taken Copyright with The Adam Park Project

Other Description:

The prospecting survey revealed a chunkel head found along the bottom northern boundary of the garden along the silt and sandy water run-off area bordering the fence. The item was photographed but when we returned to collect it a few days later it had been removed, most likely by the gardeners who had been on site in the interim period.

Historic Context:

Chunkels are a common gardening implement which are still used today. However there is a tangible connection between the tools and the POWs who were frequently asked to use them as part of the construction of the Shinto Shrine. The chunkels were initially carried back from the SICC golf course to Adam Park each evening and held in the Quartermaster’s store overnight. However these tools would mysteriously go missing as the POWs found the burden too heavy to carry back or as a way of sabotaging the work on the site. After a few weeks of sustained lossers stricter controls were put into place and every tool had to be accounted for at the risk of heavy punishment. A collection of chunkels were found at No.2 Adam Park which where the amount recovered suggested that the items were discarded by the POWs rather than gardeners. The single item found at No.15 could never be definitively linked to the POW occupation. Unfortunately it remains lost from the collection