Industrial interlude (Loan rally at Small Arms Factory, Lithgow)

Depicts the Third Victory Loan Rally (floated in March 1945) at the Small Arms Factory, Lithgow, end-March 1945. Catalogue No. 38 of Hawthorne's 'Factory folk' series, the work was titled "Papuan band at loan rally" and described by the artist in the following way: "It was a sunlit revel of two hours on full pay and those, including the artist, obliged to 'terminate their employment' on that Easter Tuesday, accepted the occasion as a fitting send-off. The Papuan Constabulary played 'Venus on Earth' and 'Old Black Joe' and it would be interesting to know what went on in those black minds concerning the Third Victory Loan." Hawthorne's 'Factory folk' series is based on her own wartime experiences as a factory worker. Between 1942-45 she worked the gruelling night shift, applying precision gauges to components of the Bren Gun. As an individual work, "Industrial interlude" is a rich cultural artefact, and references end-of-war retrenchments of female factory workers, the Third Victory Loan Campaign, and the Royal Papuan Constabulary Band. Hawthorne also included herself sketching (pictured wearing a blue blouse, standing in the crowd mid-right of the composition).