Australian War Memorial Logo
Search

Donate Today

  • Collection Open Information Close Information
    • Official Histories & Unit Diaries
    • Understanding the Collection
    • Research at the Memorial
    • Donating to the Collection
    • National Collection Loans
    • Projects
  • People
  • Visit
  • Commemorate Open Information Close Information
    • Last Post Ceremony
    • Honour Rolls
    • Anzac Day
    • Remembrance Day
    • Customs & Ceremony
    • Speeches
  • Learn Open Information Close Information
    • Schools & Teachers
    • Memorial Articles
    • Encyclopedia
    • Understanding Military Structure
    • Podcasts
    • Glossary
    • Magazine
  • Get Involved Open Information Close Information
    • Donations & Bequests
    • Corporate Partnership
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Volunteer at the Memorial
    • Friends of the Memorial
    • eMemorial Newsletter
    • Grants, Scholarships & Residencies
    • Research Papers
  • Shop Open Information Close Information
    • Memorial Shop
    • Images, film and sound
    • Lone Pine Seedlings

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Memorial Articles
  3. blog
  4. 'It’s a really lovely work to have'

Main navigation

  • Our People
  • Our Work
  • Our Organisation
  • Media Centre
  • Memorial Articles
    • Australians and Peacekeeping
    • Australians at war
    • Gulf War 1990-1991
    • Journal of the Australian War Memorial
    • Korean War 1950 - 1953
    • NAIDOC Week
    • RAAF Centenary
    • Victory in the Pacific Day
  • Speeches

'It’s a really lovely work to have'

Claire Hunter

11 November 2023
Curator Alex Torrens

Curator Alex Torrens with Iso Rae's Boiling the Billy, 1915. Photo: David Whittaker

Alex Torrens couldn’t believe it when she opened her email at the Australian War Memorial.

It was just before Remembrance Day, and there, hidden amongst the messages in her inbox, was a message offering the Memorial a rare pastel drawing from the First World War.

The art curator had missed out on the chance to acquire a drawing by the same artist just months before.

“It was very exciting,” Torrens said. “It was an unsolicited email, completely unexpected, out of the blue, basically offering this wonderful drawing to us. And so it just made my day.”

The drawing was by the Australian-born impressionist painter Iso Rae who was living and working at an artists’ colony at Étaples in northern France when the First World War broke out.

Iso Rae

Iso Rae photographed with British soldiers outside the Cinema Office. This is the building depicted by Rae in her work Cinema queue. Photo: ©Quentovic Museum-City of Étaples-sur-Mer. Caron Collection.

Most artists left, but Rae refused to leave. She remained at Étaples for the rest of the war and was one of only two Australian women artists who were able to depict the war at such close quarters.

Although she was not an official war artist, Rae produced some 200 pastel drawings while working for the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross (VAD) in the large army camp at Étaples from 1915 to 1919.

Her 1915 work, Boiling the Billy, depicts a group of soldiers relaxing around a small campfire.

It was donated to the Memorial by the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters in Brisbane. The Holy Spirit Sisters have their own remarkable war history from the Second World War.

In May 1944, 18 Holy Spirit Sisters, who survived Japanese prison camps and death ships in Papua New Guinea, arrived in Brisbane. They joined five other sisters who had trekked for months across the mountains and valleys of Papua New Guinea. They were sick and weary, but grateful to be alive. Fifty-four of their Sisters had died. The Sisters set up a convent at Raff Farm in the Brisbane suburb of Apsley in March 1945 and were the beneficiaries of several artworks from the estate of the well-known Queensland art collector and patron of the Art Gallery of Queensland, Sir Leon Trout.

Boiling the Billy

Iso Rae's Boiling the Billy, pastel, gouache on grey laid paper mounted on buff paper, 1915.

Torrens said the Sisters wanted the Iso Rae drawing to be part of a public collection.

“Her work is incredibly rare,” Torrens said.

“The Memorial only has three other of Rae’s drawings from 1915, so it’s added another vignette from that time period, and is a significant addition to the collection.

“The drawing is one of 75 which are known to have been brought out to Australia from Europe in the 1970s. At the time the Memorial was able to purchase a small selection. But until then, Rae’s work was little known, as she never returned to Australia.

“It’s an incredible private record of what life was like ... and although she wasn’t an official war artist, it’s just as authentic.

“First World War works, in particular, rarely come up, so donations like these are incredibly important. They enables us to really develop that collection in a way that just wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of these owners and private collectors.

“It’s a really lovely work to have.”

Read more about Iso Rae's life and work here.

Author

Claire Hunter

Last updated: 19 December 2023

  • Back to Articles
1 The Donations and bequests

Donations & Bequests

Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future.

Find out more
2 Visit Transcribe.awm.gov.au

Transcribe

Help preserve Australia's history by transcribing records from the National Collection. Enhance accessibility and discoverability for all Australians.

Find out more
The placesofpride

Places of Pride

Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial across Australia.

Find out more
Visit the Australian War Memorial

Visit the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is open for visitors as we work to expand our galleries. Entry is free and tickets are not required.

Find out more
Canberra Highlands in Grayscale

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS

The Australian War Memorial acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and waters. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
Location map of The Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial building

The Australian War Memorial

Fairbairn Avenue
Campbell ACT 2612
Australia
View on Google Maps (opens in new window)
Google Map data ©2025 Google
Australian War Memorial Logo
  • Go to AWM Facebook
  • Go to AWM Trip Advisor
  • Go to AWM Instagram
  • Go to AWM Youtube

Footer

  • About
  • Contact
  • Venue Hire
  • Media
  • WM Magazine
  • Donate Today

The Australian War Memorial

Fairbairn Avenue

Campbell ACT 2612

Australia

 

Opening Hours

10 am to 4 pm daily (except Christmas Day)

 

In preparation for the daily Last Post Ceremony,

galleries are progressively closed from 3:40 pm.

 

Public entrance via Fairbairn Avenue, Campbell ACT 2612

Sign up to our newsletter

Subscribe

Legal

  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Freedom of information

Copyright 2025 Australian War Memorial, Canberra. All rights reserved