Shell pack horses, the Somme

A soldier carrying a pack and wearing a tin helmet pulling at the bridle of a shell pack horse to encourage the animal to walk down a pathway and onto the duckboards. Behind the soldier and horse is a war damaged landscape and another soldier and his horse. Shell pack horses each carried eight shells for 18 pounder field guns, on either side of the saddle and the shells were placed in canvas holders. Mervyn Napier Waller (1893-1972) was a printer, painter, mosaicist, teacher and designer. In August 1915 he enlisted in the 22nd Infantry Battalion, AIF and trained at the Royal Park Camp in Victoria before subsequently being transferred to the Artillery. In May 1916 he embarked on HMTS 'Medic' to England via Durban to complete his military training on Salisbury Plain. At the end of 1916 he left for active service in France, serving with the 111th Howitzer Battery, 4th Division, AIF. He took part in a number of battles on the front line before being severely wounded in May 1917 at Bullecourt. His right arm had to be amputated at the shoulder and during his convalescence in France and England learnt to draw and write with his left hand. He returned to Australia in November 1917 and completed a series of 'War sketches in black and white, watercolour and oil', mostly done while on active service and in camp, some made after his injury and based on earlier sketches. These works were exhibited in 1918 and 1919 in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart. This work may have been included in this exhibition, with the title' Pack-horses carrying Ammunition to the Guns'.