Jewish ritual mikveh bath unearthed, with names of WW2 Aussie soldiers carved into the rock

AN Ancient ritual site has been unearthed in the Holy Land — complete with graffiti from two Australians. Do you recognise their names?

Aussies graffiti ancient relic

OH dear.

Archaeologists delighted to unearth an ancient religious site in Israel discovered something else along with it — the names of two Aussies etched into the stone.

The men were World War Two soldiers who passed through the area outside Jerusalem before going on to fight in Egypt, the Times of Israel reports.

And they had carved their names into the stonework of a 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath, known as a mikveh.

The two Aussies scratched their names, ranks and identification numbers into the stone roof of the cave-like structure. Because it had been later used as a water cistern, they probably had no idea they were defacing anything of significance.

Rock scars ... the carvings inside the mikveh. Picture courtesy of the Israel Antiques Authority.

“Among other things, two English names were identified that are carved in the rock: Cpl Scarlett and Walsh. Next to the names are carved the initials RAE and two numbers — NX7792 and NX9168. The date 30/05/1940 appears below the graffiti,” Israel Antiques Authority historian Asaf Peretz told the Times.

A trawl through Australian archives indicates the likely suspects as Corporal Philip William Scarlett and Patrick Raphael Walsh, of the Royal Australian Engineers, stationed with the Australian Sixth Division in the area in 1940.

The Jewish Press reported Scarlett was born in Melbourne in 1918 and died in 1970. Walsh was born in 1910 in Cowra, NSW, and died in 2005.

The Israeli architects have taken the find in good humour, appealing to relatives of the men to get in touch — while stressing it actually makes the site at Elah junction doubly historically significant.

First Aussie visitors ... George Lambert’s painting of the charge at Beersheba in WW1. Picture courtesy of the Australian War Memorial.

“We’ll be happy if they contact us and we’ll share with them the warm greetings left behind by Scarlett and Walsh,” said excavation director Yoav Tsur.

If you are related to the men please feel free to email [e-mail] and share your memories of them.

Australia’s military has a 100-year-old connection with the area, having fought in Palestine against the Turks in World War One. Of particular fame is the charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba, when the men successfully rode through Turkish positions to victory.

Interested in little-known stories of Aussies at war? Follow @Untold100 on Twitter.

Originally published as Jewish ritual mikveh bath unearthed, with names of WW2 Aussie soldiers carved into the rock