Sketchbook conatining 56 pages of caricatures of the Royal Australian Artillery at Fort Queenscliff

Sketchbook containing 56 pages of caricatures of members of the Royal Australian Artillery at Fort Queenscliff before the First World War. Makes references to Nepean and Thursday Islands.

Members of the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), located at Queenscliff, Victoria, are depicted in this work dating from 1909-1910. Referred to as the budget of the regiment and located in what once appeared to be an accounting book, the works were created by an anonymous artist using the name Zif. At the beginning of the book, Zif ascertains that 'You may rest assured that if you have anything meritorious in your composition, or disposition, we will faithfully portray it; on the other hand, if you incur our disfavour, you may expect no mercy'. The caricatures attempt to encapsulate the essence of the individual and some depictions are quite unflattering. 'Bummy Brown' is portrayed as a stein of beer, Phil Cray as a crayfish (a simple play on words presumably), and another RAA gentleman as a dachshund. On the other hand, Charlie Hudd, a man who went on to serve in the First World War as a gunner in the Siege Artillery Brigade, is depicted as the regiment's champion rugby player. Interspersed with verse by 'Absolam', the sketchbook contains over 50 caricatures, and several works identify the individual portrayed. This would leave those men in no doubt about how their fellow RAA members perceived them.

• 'Zif'
• Teddys dream
• not titled [text]
• Finis
• Our sea dogs
• The adventures of 'Phil Cray'
• not titled [Dear reader]
• not titled [Dad Winter AAMC]
• Finis
• Jippery Bung
• Bung
• We have a chef
• Sciatica Frank
• Johnah Bill
• Aerated Jack
• The dreams of Quill Butler
• W.O.W
• What we think of our RSM
• Lard oil Jim
• Master gunner at Queenscliff
• Bummy Brown
• David and Goliath
• 'Gymmie' Whittle
• Thursday Island
• Our sleuth hounds
• Wowser
• Our sleuth hound
• Scene of the accident
• How McConnell milked the cow
• If a worm will turn what will a cow do
• Tink of the profits
• I aint such a lamb as what I look
• Just as well there aint m(o)uchmore of it
• Snowy
• Cigars a la cheapside
• I've got no time for pantomime
• Prof. Williamson's comet
• Don't argue
• Absolam waxes wroth
• Devilish Dan
• Our new I of O and A
• The angle of inclination
• Alf Bishop
• Our new arrival
• Busy Wally
• In days of yore
• The dog and the halfpennies
• Dick's dodge
• Jock's new satellite
• Brainy Dick
• Tommy Mac
• Squeaky Tom
• The early bird
• Handy Donald
• Another of the dry land sailors
• Suck the tooth