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Accession Number | ART41022 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Overall: 400 cm x 730 cm x 215 cm |
Object type | Diorama |
Physical description | figures: painted composite lead; background: synthetic polymer paint on fibreglass; modelling: plaster over wood and wire with wire, metal and paint |
Location | Main Bld: First World War Gallery: Western Front 1917: Bullecourt |
Maker |
Bowles, William Leslie McCubbin, Louis Frederick Modelling Sub-section, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne |
Place made | Australia: Victoria, Melbourne |
Date made | 1930 |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain |
Bullecourt
This diorama depicts events relating to 11 April 1917 when the 4th Australian Division attacked the Hindenburg Line near the village of Bullecourt. The tanks that were to have broken a way through the wire failed badly and the infantry, with great gallantry but no support, flung themselves against the uncut wire, which many actually succeeded in crossing. As neither reinforcements nor munitions could be brought to them, the remnants had to withstand fierce counter-attacks, until finally obliged to fight their way back through the enemy to No-Man's Land, across which they straggled under a withering fire. Louis McCubbin painted the original figures, background and modelling. The figures were cast in 1931. The background was later repainted by George Browning in 1969-70.