'K' column, Mobile workshops, Morbecque

Depicts a number of covered trucks and tents, set up in a square, at K Supply Column's Mobile Workshops, near the town of Morbecque, France. The town's buildings and cathedral can be seen in the background. Dyson noted on this work; '"K" column (1st Anzac). Mobile workshop near Hazebrouck Capt. 'Sis' De Fraga - foreground'. ‘K’ Supply Column looked after mechanical transport for the 1st Anzac Corps and these workshops looked after the cars, motorcycles and trucks used by the whole Corps. Stationed in the town of Morbeque in August 1917 whilst 1st Anzac Corps was in reserve, they were able to attend to servicing the vehicles attached to the supply column ‘under conditions of comfort.’ Captain Cecil De Fraga, a qualified mechanic, enlisted in the AIF Mechanical Transport Corps in Creswick Victoria in September 1914. He died after receiving a compound skull fracture in a motorcycle accident on 23 October 1917.

Will Dyson was the first Australian official war artist to visit the front during the First World War, travelling to France in December 1916, remaining there until May 1917, making records of the Australian involvement in the war. He was formally appointed as an official war artist, attached to the AIF, in May 1917, working in France and London throughout the war. His commission was terminated in March 1920.