Here are some of the latest pics of the George Lambert exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne. You can see that it looks quite different to how it did in Canberra. As each venue has different physical spaces and facilities and even different visitor patterns, the exhibition is ‘re-designed’ for each specific venue. Whereas in Canberra we used dark wall colours, in Melbourne the works hang on white walls with an even wash of light over them. With slightly more space the exhibition has an ‘airy’ feel about it. And the order in which the paintings and drawings are displayed is very different. Some groups have remained the same but generally, the hanging order has taken into account the way people move around the two adjacent galleries.

On their first day in the ‘Old ANZAC area’*, Lambert and Hubert Wilkins (the official photographer of the Australian Historical Mission) were taken down to ANZAC Cove by Charles Bean. Bean was keen to introduce them to the area and show them the dugout that he had occupied during 1915. The following day, 16 February 1919 Lambert made another visit to the beach and then again the next day. As a group they retraced the steps of Hedley Vicars Howe who as a Private had landed with 11 Battalion on the morning of 25 April 1915. Howe’s account of the landing and climbing up Plugge’s Plateau would also largely inform the narrative that runs through Lambert’s large commissioned work ANZAC, the landing 1915. (a separate post to follow)

Lambert held off painting an ANZAC Cove subject until towards the end of his stay on Gallipoli with the Australian Historical Mission. On 5 March he made a painting of the beach with the hills of Suvla in the distance and wrote: “In the afternoon I did a picture, not a sketch, of ANZAC Cove, chiefly palette-knife, and quite like it”. This work – unusual for Lambert in that as he observes he used a palette knife – is quickly sketched in with only the barest indication of the complex topography of the slopes leading up from the beach. But, his painting also shows the debris of war still littered across the beach including the ruins of a water-condensing plant.

Hubert Wilkins also took a photograph of the scene from the beach level and this more clearly shows the remnants of the terraces and rubbish along the water line. Wilkins’ and Lambert’s images are both classically composed with the sweeping curve of the bay, but each conveys a different sort of information. Wilkins’ photo indicates the stucture of the altered landscape and gives an immense amount of information – Lambert gives us an impression of the confused and still raw landscape of war.

In 2007 the scene has changed dramatically. The beach is shallower due to the build up required to support the road and possibly the natural shifting processes of coastlines has contributed to this erosion. Ari Burnu headland is clothed in green scrub and any terrace contours are invisible in the dense vegetation. However, as you come around the road past Hell Spit and see ANZAC Cove for the first time, it is still instantly recognisable by the curve of the beach and distinctive profile of the headland.

* Charles Bean used the term ‘Old ANZAC area’ in his book Gallipoli Mission to denote all the ground held by the ANZAC forces from April 1915 until the second major thrust in August 1915.

Gaba Tepe, 21 April 2007

In late April the days on the Gallipoli peninsula are warm and the evenings cool. Across the peninsula the landscape is a mix of rich and interesting bushy scrub as well as farming land with olive groves, wheat fields and almonds growing wild along the roads. In many places Aleppo pine trees make dense shaded groves and the arbutus shrub provides a rich green contrast to the otherwise softer grey greens of the peninsula.

The arbutus shrubs dominate the ANZAC area giving the slopes a bronze-ish tint in the late afternoon light. This year, the warmth of an early spring has brought a flush of wild flowers out across the slopes and plateaus of Gallipoli. In the higher areas along Plugge’s Plateau and Lone Pine the soft grey green brush has a carpet of white Gallipoli roses (Cistus salvifolius) underneath, occasionally interspersed with a pinky mauve variety.

Euphorbias, brilliant yellow or dull red are found in the drier areas and along the roadsides and wheat fields red poppies float in the light breeze. Around the cemeteries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has planted species that will flower in April; purple and white iris are common and an occasional late anemone can still be found in the lawns.

When Lambert visited Gallipoli in February 1919, it was late winter and he had to paint in icy winds and rainstorms. Despite the conditions, several of the early spring flowers were out. Understanding the landscape, its form, structure and colour was an important aspect of his work and he made detailed studies of the local plants as preparation for the later canvasses ANZAC, the landing 1915 and The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915.

Lambert’s intention was to make a series of watercolours of the local flora as a record of the natural history of the area but in the end he made only one watercolour of an individual species – an arbutus plant. Lambert described the landscape as mostly being made up of a local scrub about 2ft high with “rather a wax like leaf with a sort of blossom something like a laurel but with red stalks or sticks.”

His other well known work is Gallipoli wildflowers. Lambert made this painting of the flowers of the ANZAC Cove area in late February 1919. He gathered a bunch of wild flowers on 27 February in case further rain prevented him from painting up at the Nek. His bunch consisted mainly of euphorbias and anemones with sprays of grasses and soft grey succulents. With two days of rain he finished the work on 1 March and wrote: “The flower piece is finished … The flowers are in a biscuit tin sitting on top of a bed for a tent pole. The work is up to standard.” All of these species are still thriving on the peninsula but overall the landscape is much changed from when Lambert saw it. Nature has repaired much of the damage caused in 1915; the lines of trenches are softened and parts of the heights are eroding and crumbling. Importantly, the flora of the area has changed significantly since 1919. Introduced trees have been planted as part of an afforestation program and a massive fire in 1994 has caused substantial regeneration of particular species over others.

The area is now managed as part of the Gallipoli Peninsula Peace Park and covers 33,000 hectares (330 square kilometres). The park is included on the United Nations list of National Parks and Protected Areas.

Cannakale is a small town on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles. From the waterfront you look across to the Gallipoli peninsula with some of the familiar landmarks visible in the distance – Kilid Bahr, Chunuk Bair and Mal Tepe. As we walked along the waterfront we searched for the spot where Lambert may have painted Dardanelles from Chanak, effects of blizzard on Gallipoli (ART02833).

Lambert wrote of his 7 day stay here: “Snow blizzards ice and general discomfort. No coal or wood and a damp gloomy fifth rate house called the Lion Hotel, may I live to forget it.” Frustrating as it may have been, the unexpected stay gave him time to paint this sparkling view across the rough seas to the snow shrouded slopes of Chunuk Bair.

The scene is very much the same today; the Narrows is a bustling waterway wth ships on their way to and from Istanbul and the Black Sea. In this fine spring weather the waterfront promenade was crowded with people ambling along, young kids coming out of school or Uni and others just sitting in sunny spots sipping some hot drink or other.

Already, from comparing the physical landscape with Lambert’s paintings, I am learning how he ‘framed’ his views, the choices he made about what to paint and then what he might have left out or put in.

Unfortunately, the picturesque wooden jetty is no longer here!

In late 2006 I was fortunate to receive a Gordon Darling Travel Grant to do field work at Gallipoli. The purpose of the grant is to examine the landscape of Gallipoli in relation to paintings and photographs of Gallipoli in the Memorial’s collection. I joined the Memorial’s Battlefield tour that left Australia 13 April. After 4 days in Istanbul we have arrived in Cannakale [Chanak] a small town on the Asiatic side of the Dardanelles that looks across the Narrows to the Gallipoli peninsula. For a more detailed account of the battlefield group’s progress and some fantastic photos of what we are doing, check out my colleague John Lafferty’s blog.

Today we visited the ruins of Troy and the Dardanelles battery positions before heading back to Cannakale for an afternoon discussing the importance of this place to the Gallipoli campaign. George Lambert spent some time in Cannakale on his way to Gallipoli with the Australian Historical Mission in early 1919. Stranded for 7 days by rough seas and blizzards, Lambert spent his time painting and looking across the Narrows to Gallipoli. I know how he felt; we have been circling around, getting ever closer to our destination for the last few days!

While here, I wanted to locate the sites of a couple of Lambert’s paintings and in particular Inside the fort, Chanak (ART02832). This afternoon we visited the Cimenlik Castle fort built by Sultan Mehmet the second [the Conqueror] in 1461-1462. The fort now houses the Cannakale Military Museum.

When Lambert painted this, evidence of the fierce Allied bombardment of Cannakale was still very raw. The central feature of his painting is the Fatih Mosque of Sultan Mehmet II, with the badly damaged minaret rising from the battlements. The building on the right [the castle keep] has been completely restored but the damage line [so evident in Lambert's painting] is still visible in the stonework. The minaret has also been rebuilt and looks oddly new and somewhat incongruous amongst the stone battlements.

Lambert’s painting must have been quickly sketched in on a cold and bleak day but captures superbly the tone and atmosphere of the fort complex. John Lafferty has taken this great photo from a similar vantage point to Lambert’s painting to show how it was this afternoon!

Lenore Heath who works in the Photographs section at the Memorial has an interesting link to George Lambert. Lenore’s grandparents, Ben and Alice Heath, owned the guesthouse ‘Windamere’ where Lambert died in May 1930.

Ben was born in Slough, England in 1887 and migrated first to New Zealand and then Australia, settling in Sydney. He married Alice Ward in 1915 and shortly after enlisted in the Australian Flying Corps, serving three months in Egypt as a sergeant air mechanic before being invalided back to Australia after being diagnosed with an ‘irritable heart’.

Ben and Alice bought the property in Cobbitty in late 1925. It backed onto the Nepean River and was ideal for a guesthouse. In 1928 they built ‘Windamere’ that boasted facilities including its own electricity plant (bought from a Kings Cross theatre), a nine hole golf course and polo ground, dining, lounge and dance rooms, and a resident pianist. Activities advertised included billiards, tennis, table tennis, shooting, horse riding, swimming, and fishing. Ben and Alice were helped by their four children one of whom was Jeffrey, Lenore’s father.

In May 1930 Lambert stayed at ‘Windamere’. Lambert had contacted his friend Brigadier General George Macleay Macarthur-Onslow to ask about horses he could ride during his rest break. Macarthur-Onslow suggested that the owner of ‘Windamere’, Ben Heath would have some good horses, but Lambert decided to take his own horse ‘Old Iron’. Although Lambert was under medical instructions to have complete rest, this did not stop him from riding ‘Old Iron’.

It was at ‘Windamere’, that Lambert, while repairing a feedbox had a heart attack and died. A newspaper reported the incident: “Yesterday morning he [Lambert] took some light exercise, and, in the early afternoon, he decided to get a piece of timber to mend a feed-box. He walked directly to the wood-heap, and as he was about to split a piece of wood he fell forward unconscious. Help was quickly forthcoming, and Dr. Crookston, who was summoned, made a hurried journey to Windamere, but the famous artist was then beyond aid.”

‘Windamere’ continued operating for some years but business declined and the Heaths sold it. During the Second World War Ben enlisted in the US Army Small Ships Division and served in the South West Pacific for ten months. His son Jeffrey served in 30 Squadron, RAAF in Papua New Guinea and fortunately father and son were able to meet in New Guinea twice during the war.

Today, the 100 acre Windamere property is surrounded by the rapidly growing outer suburbs of Sydney’s south west. 

Lenore Heath and Janda Gooding