Cleveland collector Sam Smith is displaying his war memorabilia at Redlands RSL and Cleveland Library for the Centenary of Anzac.
For the RSL display, he has spent the past six months constructing replica trench scenes, which he said were inspired by displays he saw at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as a young boy.
Such is Sam's attention to detail and authenticity, that for the typical Gallipoli trench scenes, he sprayed concrete and then coloured it after carefully researching the colour of dirt in Gallipoli.
He then filled sandbags to construct his trench.
One scene has a soldier in an original uniform having a meal.
Beside him are an original knife, fork and tin mug and Sam made faux biscuits and jam to complete the picture.
The labels on the old tins were carefully researched and reproduced.
Next to the soldier is an old wooden periscope, which Sam said he found in the back of a shed at a garage sale.
"I've never seen another wooden one," he said.
"It was a bit paint-spattered, but has cleaned up well.
"The soldiers worked in pairs - one with the periscope over the top of the trench and the other firing his rifle out of the hole.
"The man with the periscope guided the other where to shoot."
Sam's second trench display was inspired by stories he'd read in Charles Bean's account of WWI about deceased Turkish soldiers being buried in trenches as they were built.
"They would sometimes end up with an arm sticking out and Australian soldiers used to say 'g’day’ and shake the hand as they went past," he said.
Two mannequins in nurses' uniforms are also displayed at the RSL.
Sam said he was unable to source original World War I uniforms, so he had them made in the United Kingdom by a woman who sews them for film and television productions.
"She had the original patterns and I managed to track down original buttons to complete them," he said.
"She couldn't have got them more exact.
"When I look at photos, she got the buttonholes and pleats exactly right - she did a great job."
For the library display, Sam has prepared memorabilia from World Wars I and II, with the more precious items displayed in cases with written explanations.
