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Image Not Available for Cigarette cards collected by John Berchmans Kiley while serving with the Royal Australian Navy
Cigarette cards collected by John Berchmans Kiley while serving with the Royal Australian Navy
Image Not Available for Cigarette cards collected by John Berchmans Kiley while serving with the Royal Australian Navy

Cigarette cards collected by John Berchmans Kiley while serving with the Royal Australian Navy

Date1920s
Object numberANMS0846
NameArchive series
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Margaret Kiley-Balas
DescriptionThis archive collection includes cigarette cards collected by John Berchmans Kiley during his service in the Royal Australian Navy. The collection of over 140 cigarette cards were issued by John Players & Sons, W.D. & H.O Wills, Carreras Ltd and Westminster Tobacco Ltd. The cards feature various subjects including flags of the world, football players, royal costumes, architecture and dogs.HistoryJohn Berchmans Kiley was born on 29 January 1910 and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1925. He began his naval service on HMAS TINGIRA, a ship for boy sailors moored at Rose Bay in Sydney, where he trained for 15 months. He went on to join HMAS SYDNEY and travelled to England, returning home on HMAS AUSTRALIA's (II) maiden voyage to Australia in 1928. Kiley also served in HMAS MELBOURNE, and undertook four years of training at HMAS CERBERUS studying a range of gunnery courses. Kiley reached the rank of Leading Seaman, and to his great disappointment was invalidated out of the navy around 1930 due to respiratory illness.SignificanceThis collection of cigarette cards provides an insight into the types of souvenirs young sailors collected during the 1920s as part of daily life in the Royal Australian Navy.