GallipoliArt Prize Gallipoli Memorial Club Museum Fund Inc

Transcription

1 GallipoliArt Prize 2013 Gallipoli Memorial Club Museum Fund Inc

2 Gallipoli Art Prize 2013

3 Gallipoli Art Prize 2013 Foreword by Jane Watters Our Creed We Believe... That within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation of perpetual peace and universal freedom. The Gallipoli Prize challenges artists to respond to the creed of The Gallipoli Club which includes qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship to create an art work which the judges determine best fulfil those universal values. The Prize challenges not just the artists with their interpretations of the creed, but also gives the judges much to consider and contemplate in their discussions. Many of the works entered clearly have deep, personal meaning for those artists seeking to recount the story of an ancestor who may have served in the arena of war whilst others are concerned with contemporary conflicts and the ongoing dilemma of modern warfare. Unlike most other prizes which have delineated themes of portraiture, landscape or still life, the Gallipoli Prize compels the artist to examine the qualities of the creed to create an original and sincere work that represents respect for the ANZAC commemoration and the other campaigns since It is this spirit that makes the prize somewhat enigmatic but at the same time so relevant. This year entries were received from artists from across the nation and internationally. The judges have awarded the 2013 Prize to Victorian artist Peter Wegner for Dog with gas mask. The depiction of a dog illustrates the side of warfare that is concerned with the use of animals in conflict. Although aware of the contribution of the horse in warfare, dogs have also had important roles as messengers, sentinels and on patrol. During the First World War when gas was used extensively, ambulance men fashioned gas masks so that dogs could go onto the battlefields to seek survivors from amongst the dead. The dog also represents the special bond that exists between man and animal, and the qualities extended to the care of animals in the armed forces epitomise the notion of the dog as man s best friend. The judges have also commended Garry Nolan for his work Quick Mum, over here, I think I have found him which shows the moment that the descendant of a fallen soldier discovers his ancestors grave at Villers Bretonneux, Maryanne Wick for her haunting, fragmented work Ancestral Ghosts which was inspired from a visit to the Gallipoli peninsula and finally to Peter Gardiner for Light horse which shows an exhausted soldier on horseback in a post- Apocalyptic landscape of utter desolation. The Prize continues to inspire artists to preserve the traditions of the ANZAC legend and its enduring legacy. Jane Watters Director, S.H. Ervin Gallery (on behalf of the judges) Acknowledgements The Gallipoli Memorial Club wishes to acknowledge the wonderful efforts so tirelessly given by the following people in contributing towards another successful year of the Gallipoli Art Prize. JUDGES John McDonald Jane Watters Barry Pearce Craig Hickey PHOTOGRAPHY Sowerby Smith SPONSOR Australian Government Department of Veterans Affairs provided valuable financial assistance towards the publishing of this and the Canakkale Art Prize catalogues. For further information, please log onto The Australian Government Catalogue supported by the Australian Government Department of Veterans Affairs

4 Contributing artists Alison Chiam Looking back 2 Aliyah Kadic What makes me proud 3 Allyson Parsons Tide line Gallipoli 4 Bill Nix Wild Colonial Boys 5 Carol Wilson Twilight memories 6 Caroline McGregor Loyalty, courage, comradeship 7 Christian Morrow Spitfire fading 8 David Pavich Memorial (Waverley) 9 Deanna Lavoie Sinton A minute s silence 10 Garry Dolan Quick mum, over here,. 11 Glen Preece The night before he went to war 12 Helen Brancatisano The call 13 James Powditch Loves lost 14 Jennifer Kiefel My grandfather s diary John Colet School Yr 6 They gallop on still 16 John Palmer All alone 17 Judith White Blood & soil 18 Judy Nelson A remembered soldier from 19 Julie-Ann Vellios Goodbye cobber-god bless you 20 Kristin Hardiman The Nightmare 21 Lee Anne Bethel The Poppy 22 Leo Robba Remembrance, flowers of a lost 23 Lianne Gough Indigenae Milites 24 Louise Fox To my darling wife 25 Margaret Hadfield Snapshop of Gallipoli - with Charles Bean 26 Maryanne Wick Ancestral Ghosts 27 Pamela Slattery The knitting bee 28 Patricia Smith Gallipoli 29 Peter Gardiner Light horse 30 Peter Smeeth Goodbye mate - Gallipoli Peter Wegner Dog with gas mask 32 Robert Keen Generation 3 33 Stephen Nothling There is sunshine 34 Sue Jarvis Às we that are left grow old 35 William Chamberlain Poziers Heights 36

5 ALISON CHIAM Looking Back Oil on Canvas 175 x 187cm My life involves supporting people with a hearing loss, often they are older people and who are dealing with adapting to a whole range of challenges later life has thrown at them. I am continually amazed at how they are thrown the most undignifying challenges of their life at a time when they are most vulnerable. I have witnessed people dealing with physical and emotional challenges with dignity, respect and pride towards themselves and those around them. I am warmed by their humble approach and inner strength. I live on the beach in beautiful Jervis Bay, during the summer I spent time painting people on the beach. People on holiday with their families, all ages mixing together, mothers reading, relaxing, grooming, fathers awkwardly playing, swimming and bathing. My favourite character on the beach this summer is an elderly man, frail and with a gammy leg. He limps with his stick to the beach, limps into the water leaning on his stick all the way until he is up to his neck, cools off and then limps out and home. He was wearing blue boxer shorts with white stars on them. We rarely immortalise those whom are elderly and without uniform, in a lot of ways they are our most wise, loyal and often provide the fabric of family and community. They have faced or are facing the greatest challenges of their lives, those whom I admire most combine pride, loyalty and respect with dignity and a humility. It is these qualities which make me feel like immortalising them on their journey. I have painted my favourite character from the beach on a monument on top of a mountain; he is looking back over the landscape...possibly his life. ALIYAH KADIC What makes me proud? Water Colour 95 x 78cm My artwork was created first I sketched the flags as a guide I then painted the flags according their correct colours. My artwork is a giant tapestry, it represents what make me proud, which is the multicultural Australia that I live in. Amongst the flags there are three focus points. First is the Macedonian flag, this represent the pride I feel for my native country. The second and third flags are for inter-twinned as they are the Aboriginal and Australian flags. These flags are important as they represent the county I m so proud to live in. I believe that it is the multicultural society we live in that makes me proud to be Australian. 2 3

6 ALLYSON PARSONS Tide Line, Gallipoli Oil on Belgian Linen 123 x 92cm The beach has always been a special place of healing; a time and place to reflect and there is often a story or piece of history washed up with the tide. Here I can imagine their common everyday items like the tobacco tins, a soothing balm to our soldiers, a time-out to share... the razors, the pegs, ropes, copper wires, brass bits and pieces, shell cases and their flag were all part of their daily lives... It tells the story of loyalty, mateship, courage, and respect for each other, love and pride for their country. The beach and memorabilia intermingles and connects; the poetry of the seaweed, the shells, driftwood and the Gallipoli treasures, weathered by the storms, - just as enticing as the shells, - all part of the Anzac Legend. BILL NIX Wild Colonial Boys Oil & Charcoal on Canvas 100 x 100cm The Gallipoli Campaign for the Allies was unwinnable from the start. In the nine months the Anzacs clung to the cliff faces above Ari Burnu they never lost their spirit in the face of adversity. They gained the reputation of being formidable soldiers, respected by their Turkish counterparts, which in their own right were good soldiers. The War Office in London silently conceded that Australia and New Zealand were not the poor relations but Nations of people who demonstrated bravery and endurance among their attributes. We asked so much of these boys and they gave us more Lest we forget. 4 5

7 CAROL WILSON Twilight Memories Acrylic, mixed media on 300gsm artist paper 88 x 70cm The inspiration: My mother, Dorothy Isabel Alcock (nee Parker). At 99 years she vividly recalls her time serving as a member of the Australian Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Mum trained at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, and served at the 115 A.M.H., Heidelberg. The wards were very busy. I was often on night duty. Didn t get much sleep, same as now but I was never bored. Old age is such a menace. Mum s war was personal. While serving she met my father who was just back from the Middle East, they married in uniform and soon after he was sent to New Guinea. My father returned a different man (PTSD). Looking back, I see Mum s nursing experiences and understanding of injured men helped keep the family together. I discovered Mum s service badges recently. It was then that I decided to paint a portrait of her as a representative of all the VAD S. On a personal note I have been painting and exhibiting for many years. Art and war are a common thread in our family: Albert Lee Tucker ( ) cousin, husband and son both professional soldiers serving in Vietnam, East Timor and Afghanistan. CAROLINE McGREGOR Loyalty, Courage, Comradeship Oil on Canvas 90 x 120cm In 2011,MTF-3 was conducting a major operation clearing the Mirabad Valley (also known as IED alley) of insurgents. Corporal N and his spotter had been ordered to higher ground to provide sniper support, but as they started setting up their position on the top of the hill, a 5kg IED exploded a meter in front of them. Corporal N called in his own medevac whilst dropping in and out of consciousness. Combat engineers searched their way up to the men to provide further first aid and to clear a landing zone. Here, a medic and a combat engineer are helping Corporal N and his spotter (Private Andy Allison) to the American medevac chopper. Both men returned to their unit as soon as they were medically cleared to do so. When we think of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship it is men such as these who personify those terms. 6 7

8 CHRISTIAN MORROW Spitfire Fading Acrylic, metal, charcoal on branded hardboard 120 x 119.5cm When I was a child my father worked as an engineer for QANTAS and I was surrounded by images of aeroplanes, hangars, runways and jets. In learning to draw I made endless drawings of planes, trying to get the subtle curves and angles just right so as to capture the grace of flight. The aeroplanes are about wonder, masculinity, science, innovation, danger, adventure and escape. I like to conce ntrate on the physical making of work at close range, using new and reclaimed timber materials and sometimes metal pieces. Applied layers of paint and provisional images are scraped back, adjusted and reapplied as the image is slowly built over a period of days, months, and sometimes years. Often the assembled surfaces of individual pieces are subjected to a range of industrial processes like sanding, grinding, branding and fire. These works can be both literally and figuratively heavy. The silhouette of the super marine Spitfire is a familiar icon of WWII, it has become a mythic symbol of heroism immortalised in films and history books. As they become scarcer their wreckage is recovered and painstakingly reassembled to remind us of battles elegantly fought between a clear wrong and right. The painting is assembled like a packing crate with a beaten surface, scraped back and repaired with metal and branded with serial numbers. But the image is fading and the details absent, but the shape still stares out from the past, flying straight at us as if we are in the gun sights. This is not a painting about war it is about remembering something that is fading. DAVID PAVICH Memorial (Waverley) Oil on Canvas 32 x 42cm This Painting composition developed from Waverly Park where I have been lunching for 17 years during my break from teaching at the Art Centre. The war memorial and the grounds during this period has become a very familiar site to me and provided many memories. Every year the school band would play a special service we would have for Anzac Day. We would discuss the bravery of our past soldiers that lived and died through the war and how the tragedy unfolded. This aroused my interest to visit Gallipoli in 1989 whilst backpacking around Europe. There was an eerie silence as I recall and being the only person there heightened the experience. It was difficult to imagine that in such a picturesque location a slaughter had taken place. Whenever I see one of these war memorials in our lucky country these memories quickly return. 8 9

9 DEANNA LAVOIE SINTON A Minute s Silence Acrylic 143 x 66.5cm GARRY NOLAN Quick Mum, Over Here, I Think I Have Found Him (Villers Bretonneux, a Modern Australian Pilgrimage) Oil on Canvas 90 x 74cm My piece pays tribute to the narratives within the cold cement of a headstone. The panels represent the unification of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey through the following stories the fallen, the young naive man keen to do his bit, many years later the same elderly survivor and a leader s healing words about a campaign that bonded these three nations forever. These nations exceptional and profound relationship is portrayed by the connection between each section of the painting. The headstone panel represents the inaccessible stories. However, this headstone s mysteries are released by allowing the viewer to be interactive. Trooper James Sinton and the late James Sinton are flanked by two panels. The first open panel symbolizes those who never returned. The last panel depicts Ataturk and his famous soothing words that wash away the red of the blood spilt, leaving in its place the colour of the honourable Turkish flag. Trooper James Sinton of the Otago Mounted Rifles (9/966 NZEF) was my husband s grandfather and my children s great-grandfather. At 101 years old, James was one of the last surviving Gallipoli vets when he was laid to rest in My gratitude for his legacy is valued deeply within my soul To Harold Prosser, a young, shy 19 year old farm hand from Frogmore NSW, Bathurst was the big smoke. Enlisting in 1916, nine months later he lay dying from a machine gun bullet in no-man s land near Bullecourt. 2005, Anzac Day. Alex, Harold s Great Grand Daughter finds his gravestone at Villers Bretonneux. This is the first time in nearly 100 years that a family member has managed to visit him where he is laying in French soil, a young man, like tens of thousands that will never see Australia again. Many Australians who have grown up with the images and stories of young men like Harold Prosser will make a modern day pilgrimage to visit these sites and try to make sense of what happened and say thank you to ordinary men who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances and doing extraordinary things. Looking over a foreign landscape, they will try to imagine what happened to a generation of young men forever lost to Australia. Men like Harold Prosser, a young, shy 19 year old farm hand from Cowra, NSW Like in William Longstaff s paintings, if you close your eyes you can almost imagine an army of ghosts still very much present in the landscape, a lot of them with Australian or New Zealand accents

10 GLEN PREECE The Night before he went to War Oil on Canvas 76 x 51cm This painting was inspired by thoughts of my Uncle Edward (Ted) who was an anti-aircraft gunner in New Guinea during World War ll. He was in his early 20 s when he left. I wanted to paint his face showing pride to be serving King and country but also pensive, uncertain of what lay ahead. HELEN BRANCATISANO The Call Monotype - oil on BFK Rives 90cm x 73cm At Anzac Day Dawn Services around our country the poignant bugle calls of the Last Post and the Reveille transport us to another time in far off lands where young soldiers were defending our freedom. The soldiers awoke to the notes of the Reveille and ended their day with the call of the Last Post. Just before dawn each Anzac Day the same notes hang stirringly in the air, evoking scenes of the extraordinary sacrifice enacted by those young soldiers and intensifying our gratitude for their courage

11 JAMES POWDITCH Loves Lost Mixed Media 112 x 170cm In 1966, the year I was born, Australia committed troops to Vietnam and conscription was expanded to include service overseas. My father was eligible for the draft and could so easily have been sent. It was run as a lottery and if your birthday date came up then you could be drafted. It got me thinking about how chance and luck play a role in who and where people are sent in all wars and ultimately who may even live and die. And, how the sacrifices that were made were spread across such a broad spectrum of people. Mothers lost their children; children lost their fathers and wife their husbands. The soldiers sometimes lost years away from the ones they loved, marking days on a calendar and looking at photos from home, waiting to return. And those at home did likewise while awaiting news of their loved ones safety and wellbeing. Unbearable, aching loss for so many... James Powditch is a current finalist in the Archibald and Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and a past winner of the Blake Prize, The Mosman Art Prize and in 2012 The Cricket Art Prize. JENNIFER KIEFEL My Grandfather s Diary: Gallipoli 1915 Mixed Media on Canvas 120 x 90cm This work is an acknowledgement of my late grandfather who spent 88 days at Gallipoli in My grandfather, William Walsh kept a diary whilst in training with the Light Horse in Egypt and also Gallipoli s Pope s Hill and Quinn s Post where he was wounded. He was medically discharged after this but then re-enlisted in 1917 to accompany his brother Tom to go to war in France. Having survived two forays into war he then went on to meet his future wife, Minnie (my grandmother) in Ireland. Sadly, I did not meet my grandfather as he died before I was born. It is only as I have become older that I have come to realise, by reading his diary and accompanying letters, how brave and stoic he must have been throughout this moment in history and for his life beyond. The collage/painting/drawing is attempting to convey my grandfather s diary (as well as military papers and letters relevant to the diary) overlaid on to a painting depicting Anzac Cove at dawn so that the landscape merges with the diary extracts. I have also rewritten passages from his diary that were meaningful to me in my own hand across the canvas. His diary is now kept in the Australian War Museum, Canberra

12 JOHN COLET SCHOOL YR 6 STUDENTS They Gallop on Still Pencil and Water Colour on Paper 160 x 75cm JOHN PALMER All Alon Oil 100 x 100cm Carol Huechan is an Australian Bush Poet who is also a horse trainer and rider. She was the Master of Ceremonies at the Royal Easter Show Great Ring Event this year, 2013 She wrote the poem Rosie that inspired us to create the painting about the only horse, Sandy, to return from 136,000 horses that went to WW1 from Australia. To draw the horse is a difficult undertaking but to want to create an artwork that is inspired by them was a memorial journey and not to be forgotten. The concept of this panting is a self-portrait. Being in the Army when I was in the National Service during the Vietnam War, I had a similar experience to how the young boys and men felt during Gallipoli and at the Western Front. During those times I witnessed many lonely boys and men. Though I didn t see the action first hand, it was a privilege to serve in the Australian Army. The Australian flag has stuck throughout these wars to the present day and should continue

13 JUDY UEHLEIN NELSON A Remembered Soldier from Berwick Acrylic 183 x 72cm JUDITH WHITE Blood and Soil Mixed Media on Canvas 90 x 120cm This painting links the notion of land and soil with the concept of nation and the ultimate issue of blood, sacrifice and witness. When I was undertaking research in 1999, I interviewed Jim Richardson, aged 96, whose family for three generations lived and worked in the small town of Berwick, Victoria. I was intrigued with his family history and saved memorabilia. One photo of three young diggers caught my attention. This is the story of Jim s mother s brother. His name was Clarence John Smith. The family lived on the main street behind his father s shop. When recruitment officers came to his hometown, Clarence, age 20, with other country lads, enlisted and became part of the 37 th Battalion, AIF. Due to their similar age and backgrounds, it was only natural to stick together and become mates. On June 3, 1916 the three of them boarded the HMAT Persic and left Melbourne for England, disembarking at Plymouth on July 25. Four months later their battalion arrived in France to occupy the trenches and to experience one of the worst winters remembered. In their battalion photograph (13 th platoon) the three are seen together on the left, now part of a bigger collective unit. Private Machine Gunner Smith was killed in action on June 8, 1917 at Messines. He was 21 years old. His body was never identified and his memorial details are at Ypres (Menin Gate) in Belgium, and at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Closer to home, his name has also been included on the honour roll of Berwick s War Memorial, visible as you enter the township. My painting shows a soldier s ties with home and family, vulnerability, mate-ship, duty, and finally, finite separation never to return

14 JULIE-ANN VELLIOS Goodbye Cobber - God Bless You Oil on Canvas 70 x 85cm Trooper Harold Rush died in the Battle of the Nek his famous epitaph reads Goodbye Cobber, God bless you. These were his last words and I think that they are beautiful. The Battle of the Nek is depicted in the climax of Peter Weir s movie Gallipoli. Like so many Australian children, this movie was my first introduction to the bloody, cold reality of the death of youthful men and women at Gallipoli most not very much older than me when the movie first came out in This was a great shock after years of watching my father and elderly male relatives marching each Anzac Day, as I had never thought of them as young, spirited youthful men. Goodbye Cobber - God Bless You is an idealised recreation of the landscape of Gallipoli. In a way, I envisaged a type of heavenly scene, other-worldly rather than the bloody and harsh scene that must have confronted those young soldiers during the Battle of the Nek. I have tried to make my painting symbolic rather than pretty. I wanted to create a scene which explores the ideal of the timelessness of heroic sacrifice, as so aptly represented in Trooper Rush s final words. The use of strong foreground colours and thick paint with a vast, distant horizon is used in an attempt to convey the ideals of strength and ongoing memory. KRISTIN HARDIMAN The Nightmare Oil on Canvas 90 x 60cm Gallipoli is both a tragedy and something to be very proud of: the needless loss of life, but also the heroism and camaraderie of all the soldiers. The best and worst of the human race played out on the battlefields and the conflicts were not just between the opposing armies, but also inside each soldier. I tried in this painting to show how these young men must have felt and how they depended on each other to cope and survive. The war turned the countryside into something similar to a lunar landscape. The sky was choking with smoke and there was death around constantly. These young people had no idea whether they would survive this living nightmare

15 LEE BETHEL The Poppy Watercolour, Acrylic on Hand Cut Paper 81 x 60cm And left the flushed print on a poppy there, is a line from The Poppy by 19th century poet Francis Thompson. To me this simple line evokes the feelings of the Remembrance Day poppy. Reminding me with its annual appearance of dignity and spirit. In my work I have allowed the colour behind the cut out poppies to reflect, creating a subtle flush of red. The hand cut black map over the poppies is a map of the trenches at Gallipoli. LEO ROBBA Remembrance, Flowers of a Lost Generation Oil on Canvas 170 x 116cm My painting Remembrance, Flowers of a Lost Generation, 2013, is a heart felt memorial to the young soldiers who lost their lives so tragically in the trenches in the First World War. This painting is based on a view I first painted en plain air in 2012, of the historic 1930 s Paul Sorensen garden, The Everglades, in the Blue Mountains. It was painted in the safety of my studio in Springwood. I can only begin to imagine the horrors of fighting in the trenches, far from home, with shells exploding all around, with no sanitation, with lice and rats and often knee-deep in mud. My painting pays respect to the fallen soldiers, to their courage, their hardship and to their memory and, in a small way, this garden painting personifies my hope for an everlasting peace. In the flowers their memory lives on

16 LOUISE FOX To My Darling Wife LIANNE GOUGH Indiginae Milites Oil on Linen 95 x 125cm These men, all indigenous, are among our forgotten soldiers. Although between five and eight hundred aboriginal servicemen served in the First World War alone, only 5 are buried at Gallipoli. Let this painting remind and make us proud of all indigenous soldiers and the important part they have played in Australian history. Mixed Media (watercolour, ink, pencil, tissue on paper) 76 x 54cm My late father, Stanley Raine was a corporal in the A.I.F. 2/12 th Field Ambulance Unit in the Borneo conflict during World War 2. He wrote many letters to my mother, now 94 years old. They were married in She has kept all his correspondence to her. As she nears the end of her life I have reflected on my father s legacy to her: his devotion to his family back home, his courage in the face of hardship and his camaraderie with his fellow soldiers. Recently I viewed the exhibition Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt at the Australian War Memorial. It tells the story of an enterprising photographer who captured on glass plate the First World War troops from the Somme who were recuperating in the French village. I was touched by the immediacy of the photographs, printed onto postcards and posted home. It was a reminder of the importance of maintaining that fragile link

17 MARYANNE WICK Ancestral Ghosts Acrylic on Wood 103 x 154cm MARGARET HADFIELD Snapshot of Gallipoli, with Charles Bean Acrylic 90 x 160cm I stood in the same place as WW1 historian Charles Bean stood recording the horror of events of the time. With my medium of paint I attempt to blend the imagery of the ghosts of the past with the lush and green landscape of today. It s a safe environment, blooming with brilliant poppies, blue sky and the only shots fired through a camera lens of the tourist of today. On 23 June 1987, I visited the battlefields of Gallipoli with my husband Peter. We were on a tour and our large group was made up of young Australians and New Zealanders. Our bus left Troy quite early and on arrival we virtually had Anzac Cove to ourselves. Natural erosion had dissolved many of the trenches and paths throughout the hills, but one could visualize how it would have appeared when our young soldiers first set foot here. It was humid and overcast, but when the sun did come out, the sky and the water were a beautiful blue. There was spirituality about the landscape and their presence was felt. Everyone on the bus was quiet, which was unusual. We were taken back in a way - it was difficult to grasp the enormity of what had taken place here. Our tour organizer put on a cassette tape from the movie Gallipoli. When I think back, it was a little corny, but it did fire up our imagination and our emotions. But we understood why we had wanted to come here; we felt it our duty to be close to our ancestors. Peter wrote in his diary later that day; we visited Lone Pine, ANZAC Cove, Chanukh Bair and saw Suvla Bay where the ANZAC s were originally supposed to land. The war cemeteries are all extremely well maintained and are really quite moving, particularly when you see the huge lists of men with no known graves and realize that in 9 months, both sides lost 250,000 men. The most striking difference is that between ANZAC Cove and Suvla Bay. At ANZAC Cove, the beach is no more than 20 feet wide, behind which are steep hills that rise at a rate of about 1:1. It is really obvious that with the Turks commanding the heights, it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel As I slowly worked on my painting, panel by panel, the memory was vivid of that day twenty five years ago

18 PAMELA SLATTERY The Knitting Bee Watercolour/Gouache 22 x 71cm The Knitting Bee was inspired by a visit to the Australian War Memorial where I saw a little booklet on how to knit two socks at the same time. During World War 1, women knitted socks for the soldiers at the front and the Lady Mayoress s Patriotic League in Melbourne was one of the first volunteer organisations to do this. As well as knitting socks, the ladies of the League packed parcels for the servicemen containing plum puddings, tobacco, cakes, condensed milk, newspapers and biscuits. By 1916, the organisation had grown and became the Victorian Division of the Australian Comfort Fund. As well as helping to ease the boredom of the women left behind and making them feel as though they were doing something useful to contribute to the war effort, knitting socks was a demonstration of patriotism and an intimate gesture towards absent loved ones. On my way back from Canberra on the train, three ladies in the seats in front of me were knitting and I took this as a sign that this should be the subject of my painting. Painted purely from my imagination, The Knitting Bee is dedicated to all women left at home during wartime. PATRICIA SMITH Gallipoli Mixed Media 104 x 122cm I am interested in working in mixed media and like using found objects and rescuing discarded articles from oblivion. I also like to make objects to include in my completed work and together I feel these best represent the patina of time, re-instating discarded items of everyday life. I am focused on building works that symbolise the passing of time, aging and deterioration. I wanted to capture an aspect of what happened at Gallipoli in a contemporary depiction and make an artwork that provokes an observer to think about what it was like for the people that went over there. This painting has a lot to do with the vulnerability of the soldiers who were so very young and it represents certain aspects of their time in Gallipoli, realised through the fragments of everyday items. The pieces are arranged on cards, in columns reminiscent of lists of missing persons from disastrous situations. Scraps of soldiers lives are shown through copies of photographs, imaginary drawings and torn pieces of letters. However, opposed to these very personal items is the impersonal nature of the documentation which accompanied all the soldiers movements. This documentation mainly relates to three different soldiers, one of whom was my uncle. My uncle was an important inspiration for this painting, and his photograph is included. He ran away from home and lied about age to get in to the army. He was 16 when he died

19 PETER GARDINER Light Horse Oil on canvas 120 x 90cm PETER smeeth Goodbye Mate Gallipoli 1915 Oil on canvas 20 x 90cm This painting is about the bond of mateship which Australian soldiers developed during WW1 and subsequent wars and conflicts and displays the respect and care that these tough young men had for their fellow soldiers. I also wanted to pay tribute to the sacrifice these men and boys made for the sake of future generations and to remind us of the dreadful cost of war. As well as the risk of death, there is the risk of physical harm with permanent disablement and disfigurement, and the inescapable risk of psychological damage. The Aboriginal lad is included to pay respect to the contribution made by our indigenous brothers, which until recently had largely gone unrecognized. I also wanted to make some passing reference to religion and war. At various times through the centuries, religion has been cited as a cause and an excuse for conflict and despite protestations from the protagonists I can see no evidence for a God taking sides or being involved in any way. The chaplain in this painting may well provide some comfort to the soldiers but he is totally powerless to have any effect on the terrible forces of war

20 PETER WEGNER Dog with gas mask Oil on Canvas cm My image of a dog with a gas mask is as much about the bond that exists between man and dog as it is about the hideousness of war. From 1915 onwards, gas was used as a weapon of war and the mateship that we associate with Gallipoli spirit was extended to the dog. Speciality masks were made for the canine (as well as for horses). The relationship between man and dog has played an important role in conflicts right up to the present time in Afghanistan. In the heat of battle dogs were used as messengers, sentinels and on patrol. They also were used by the Red Cross to search for wounded soldiers and were just as important as moral boosters for soldiers. I feel that this image represents all the qualities that exist in mateship including the values of respect, loyalty, and comradeship. In a time of war these human qualities extended to the care and guardianship of one of man s best mates, - an often forgotten member of the forces. ROBERT KEEN Generation Three Pastel 100 x 88cm My painting has a great deal of pride and sentimentality attached to it, as my great Uncle Bill served on the Western Front,was wounded and came back home with a steel plate in his head, he suffered for many years and passed away when I was a small child. I gave his service medal to the Australian War Memorial and I kept his I.D disc. A photo of him in his uniform sits on the shelf in my work room. My Father served in WW2, he was with the Engineers for a time and then was transferred to R.A.E.M.E as a Warrant Officer class 2. He spent most of his service in New Guinea and came home with tropical diseases as well as PTSD that was not known as that at the time. A shy, retiring, man who never spoke of his experience, except for the times of training in North Queensland. His uniform and badges of rank I donated to the AWM. A very talented man, the things he made is still cherished by me and family, but some of the finer pieces are in the AWM. His web belt with his service number and name written on it also became my web belt when I served in the Army. In 1963 I joined the Army and served with the Royal Australian Regiment, Firstly with One Battalion then transferred over to the Fifth battalion in 1965, I saw active service in SVN as a front line Infantry Assault Pioneer Soldier. I finished my tour of duty in I donated most of my kit to the AWM as well. So you can see how I came to do this painting

21 SUE JARVIS As We That Are Left Grow Old Oil on Canvas 92 x 137cm STEPHEN NOTHLING There is Sunshine Mixed media on plywood 58.4 x 120cm This artwork is about how collected ephemera and keepsakes although meaning long forgotten and changed, can influence and reinforce our respect for the sacrifice of loved ones. The work is a kind of memory box. The title There is Sunshine comes from the barely discernible text and image on the fragment of an old butter box that became the basis and inspiration for the work. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. For the Fallen, by Robert Binyon, 1914 With all World War 1 veterans now gone, Geoffrey Charters symbolises the dwindling number of World War II veterans. Wisdom gained from past experience etches his face. Age has wearied his body, Despite this, he still has the wit and warmth of the young Air force recruit of 2 nd Squadron, RAAF, who was to serve in Darwin, Borneo and Japan. The 87 year old, has been a member of the Springvale RSL (Vic.) for 63 years. Whilst he was President of the Springvale RSL from 1995 to 2007 he commissioned a contemporary cenotaph, Reflections of Service by designer/ artist Jenny Steiner. This is a source of great pride to Geoffrey and a fitting backdrop to his portrait. Post War, Geoffrey worked as a market gardener, not far from his family s home and the Springvale RSL, and he played football for Mulgrave. A generous and gentle man, he is admired by all

22 William CHAMBERLAIN Pozieres Heights Oil 92 x 92cm The ridge running slightly NW to SE above the River Somme was the main objective of the great Allied offensive for On the 23rd of July after the offensive had started on the 1st the ANZAC Corp was tasked with the capture of Pozieres village, a high point on the ridge. Its capture would reduce part of the German 2nd line, gain an advantage in observation and hopefully outflank the fortified village of Thiepval to the NW. After a heavy artillery bombardment the 1st Division AIF captured Pozieres. However they then had to endure a German bombardment, the worst they would experience in the Great War. The Anzac divisions would fight here for another six weeks suffering 23,000 casualties. I have tried to depict this part of Picardy and the desolation and churned up ground over which the ANZACs had to advance and fight and the ferocity of the bombardment. I have also included a hint of the as yet unspoilt Picardy downland glimpsed through the smoke, a faint green line in the distance. As Charles Bean remarked The windmill site at Pozieres marks a ridge more sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth. 36

23 37 37 Gallipoli Memorial Club Museum Fund Inc