Place | Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli |
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Accession Number | ART00022.003 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Overall: 7.4 x 13.9 cm (irregular) |
Object type | Work on paper |
Physical description | pen and ink on paper |
Maker |
Bean, C E W Bean, Charles Edwin Woodrow (C E W) |
Place made | Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli |
Date made | 1915 |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Unlicensed copyright |
A very present help in trouble
An illustration of a warship. It was used for 'The ANZAC Book' and depicts a heavily armed naval vessel and the quote, 'A very present help in trouble', which is from the first verse of Psalm 46 (God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble), and in this context refers to the Navy's role. '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 what was initially to be an ANZAC New Year magazine. 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.