Cover design for 'The ANZAC Magazine'

A cover design for 'The ANZAC Magazine'. This work was a candidate for gracing the cover of what became 'The ANZAC Book'. It was eventually included at the back of the book as one of the better cover designs. 'The ANZAC Book' was initially thought of as a New Year magazine for the troops on the Gallipoli peninsula, however, the evacuation of the forces lead the editor, CEW Bean, into creating a book to commemorate the time spent by the ANZAC troops at Gallipoli. A £5 monetary prize was offered for the best design for the cover, which was won by David Barker. This work was still included in the back of the book, along with three other designs, as some of the better submissions in the competition. 'The ANZAC Book' was published in 1916 from illustrations, poems, stories and other creative works from the soldiers on the Gallipoli peninsula. In November 1915 CEW Bean, an official war correspondent and eventually official war historian, called for contributions for the publication. Bean edited the work on the island of Imbros and after the Greek publisher fell through, arranged to have the work published in London by Cassell and Company. The book is composed of satirical and sombre pieces about the conditions of life at Gallipoli. It also provides a general outline of the April 25 landing at ANZAC Cove and the military advances, offensives and defensives undertaken in the following months until the eventual evacuation of the Allied forces at the end of December 1915. The introduction was written by General Sir W Birdwood, who explains how he named ANZAC Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula after the ANZAC forces. Bean contributed an editor's note in which he outlined the harsh conditions that the book was produced in, the significance it had taken on, and acknowledged the contributors.