Place | Oceania: New Guinea1, Huon Peninsula, Ramu River Finisterre Ranges Area, Finisterre Ranges |
---|---|
Accession Number | ART22090 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Overall: 17.8 x 20.5 cm |
Object type | Work on paper |
Physical description | pen, ink and wash on paper |
Maker |
Dargie, William |
Place made | New Guinea1: Huon Peninsula, Ramu River Finisterre Ranges Area |
Date made | March - April 1944 |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Great ----- sense of humour you blokes've got!
Sketch of an Australian soldier standing in a pool of muddy water, holding a rifle and waving his fist at his fellow soldiers who are all sitting around laughing. Dargie noted:
"The essence of slap stick humour is still the dignified gent who steps on a banana skin. We were resting near the top of Casey's Knoll, and on the other side of a deep mud pool, when we saw an overloaded straggler making his way with grim earnestness up the greasy slope toward us. We all watched him in silence, but with great interest; all of us had come to grief, more or less, in that mud pool, and we wanted to see what sort of a crossing he made. He came to the edge, looked for a way round (there wasn't any. We knew!) stepped gingerly forward --- and fell flat on his face. That pool was three feet deep. He broke surface again, looked at his heartless cobbers splitting their sides, and made his comment".