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Outside the Wire – Photographs from Afghanistan

01 August 2011 by Lauren Hewitt. No comments
New acquisitions, Afghanistan, Collection, Frontline troops, Landscape, Photographs

The AWM has recently acquired a significant set of photographs taken by photographer Gary Ramage in Afghanistan in 2010. Photographs such as these, of Australian Defence Force personnel on patrol ‘outside the wire’ in Afghanistan, are a first for the AWM. 

For visiting media, commissioned artists and photographers, the ADF generally permit only a few days on the ground, usually in the relative safety of established bases, and they are escorted at all times by an officer from Defence Public Affairs. These measures help protect the safety of the visiting journalist and our ADF troops, but limit access to the work the ADF is doing in the more remote areas of Uruzgan Province.

The newly formed Mentoring Team Delta (MT-D), as part of the ADF 1st Mentoring Task Force (MTF-1), began operations in the Deh Rawood Valley Region (otherwise known as the Deh Rawood Green Zone), approximately 60km west of Tarin Kowt in July 2010. Key to these operations was the mentoring of the Afghan National Army 4th Brigade, 205 Corps.

The Company was based at Patrol Base Razaq, its first priority being the movement of stores, equipment and supplies, and the establishment of security points. Ramage accompanied MT-D on several patrols in the Deh Rawood region focussing on the crucial task of clearing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from the area.

 

Previously a member of 6RAR, and a long serving military photographer with the ADF’s 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit, Ramage is afforded the freedom that many other photographers aren’t when in Afghanistan. As such, we are given a rare insight into the harsh and primitive living conditions experienced by Australian personnel at remote base locations.

Mentoring Team Delta made their way from Tarin Kowt, to Patrol Base Razaq via an overnight stop at Forward Operating Base Hadrian. You can see in this small series, the rough sleeping conditions endured by the unit; wedging themselves between the fortified HESCO wall and the solid bulk of their bushmaster patrol vehicles.

 

These photographs also show us the dangers that landscape and environment pose on Australian and Afghan troops. A single patrol route can cover ground that takes them from the sweeping, exposed landscape of the desert mountain ranges, to the dense, vegetation of the green zone in the lower valleys, each terrain posing differing threats and security risks. Patrols often pass through small villages and inhabited areas in the green zone, which is a rich agricultural area. The inherent vulnerability of the patrol group is emphasized by the backdrop of the towering mountain expanses.

 

 

Between June and August 2010, whilst Ramage was in Afghanistan, MTF-1 was to suffer the deaths of 6 of its members, several from IED explosions and one in the Battle of Derapet. This collection of images puts into perspective the conditions faced by ADF troops in Afghanistan every day and we get an insight into how troops on the ground cope with and commemorate the loss of their comrades.

Gary Ramage served 20 years with the Australian Army and was the chief photographer when he left. He is now Chief Photographer for News Limited at the National Press Gallery in Canberra. He travelled to Afghanistan independently.

This acquisition will greatly enhance the Memorial’s growing collection of material related to current conflicts. You can view the photographs online at: http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?q=P09971*&conflict=all

ANZAC Cove

10 May 2007 by Janda Gooding. 2 Comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Battlefield Tours, Exhibition, Gallipoli Mission, Janda's Blog about Gallipoli, Landscape, Landscapes of war

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.

Natural history

08 May 2007 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Janda's Blog about Gallipoli, Landscape, Landscapes of war

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.

The rail journey from Gallipoli to Cairo

12 December 2006 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition, Gallipoli Mission, Landscape

When the Australian Historical Mission left Gallipoli on 10 March 1919 they sailed up to Constantinople (Istanbul) before embarking on a 1500 mile rail journey that would take them across Turkey, Syria, Palestine and Egypt and into Cairo where they dispersed. The rail link through the Taurus Mountains had only been recently opened and was being used to transport Tukish and Allied troops back and forth across Asia Minor.

For their overland journey the party was assigned two long enclosed horse or cattle trucks in the train. One truck was converted to a mess room and kitchen where Lambert with the help of Sergeant G Hunter Rogers cooked the meals and slept. During the trip Lambert and Rogers frequently served up three course meals and Lambert regaled the group with impersonations of British officers and stories of his time in the Sinai with the Light Horse.

Charles Bean in Gallipoli Mission described the journey as one of “extraordinary interest and, in parts, through scenery both grand and beautiful, in country with a history going back much farther than St Paul; where Assyrians, Lydians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Arabs, Turks, Crusaders – and in these modern times Napoleon and ourselves – had marched and fought.” Along the way they passed trains crowded with Turkish troops who were demobilising.

Lambert described the rail journey (through the Taurus Mountains) as taking them through “what I think is the most spectacular country in all that part of the world that I have travelled in.” Fortunately, we have one image from this part of the trip that indicates how Lambert responded to the landscape. At one point the train made a brief halt high up in the mountains. Lambert was able to make a quick sketch of the landscape on the back of one of his Gallipoli paintings. The painting (right) was only roughly sketched in but clearly outlines the form of the place and the distant peak of the Taurus Mountains covered in snow.

As the train wound down from the mountains it passed through Adana and then Aleppo where Lambert was able to make another quick study (left). Changing trains the group passed through Jerusalem and then onto Cairo where they dispersed in early April. Throughout most of April and May Lambert was confined to a Cairo hospital with dysentery and malaria. On 31 May he was discharged from hospital and travelled to Semakh where he resumed his work as a war artist.

Janda

Gallipoli wild flowers

07 December 2006 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Exhibition, Gallipoli Mission, Landscape

Lambert was interested in the small details of the landscape just as much as the grand vistas. By painting studies of the local flowers and bushes he was able to understand more thoroughly the character, form and colours of a particular site. When he arrived on Gallipoli he made notes about the local plants: “The scrub is greenish with nice dead stuff showing grey purple here & there. I propose getting a record of the various plants & flowers.” 

 

Lambert picked these flowers from the site of a Turkish artillery battery called ‘Beachy Bill’ that had regularly shelled Anzac Cove. On 27 February 1919 he wrote that “we discovered quite a wild garden to-day and I am fixed for a flower-piece if it rains.” The following day it did rain and it was cold and bleak with intermittent showers. With the flowers to hand, Lambert was able to spend the whole day and the next painting this still life. On 1 March he commented: “Again the rain and therefore the account of the day is easy. The flower-piece is finished … The flowers are in a biscuit tin on top of a bed for a tentpole.” He was pleased with the result but felt that he should be painting up at the Nek where the tragic charge of the 3rd Light Horse had taken place in August 1915.

Janda

Landscape and memory

03 November 2006 by Janda Gooding. No comments
George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine Landscapes, Landscape

All of us live with landscape all the time. It surrounds us and is part of our lives. This section looks at some different aspects of art, landscape and how these two things can help shape our memories and our view of the world.