Jaba River, building a boom

Depicts a group of sappers preparing to construct a boom across the Jaba River to arrest the force of logs coming downstream that could damage the piers of the bridge. Mt Bagana, an active volcano nicknamed "Smokey Joe" by the lads, is seen steaming in the background. Sapper Pinchen is the artist in the foreground and the nude in the mid-ground is Sapper David Ramsay Waller (SX38044). This river mouth is a well known point on Empress Augusta Bay, as it was here for many months that the US troops had their perimeter, prior to the Australians taking over. In the trees to the right the Americans had 15 heavy machine guns whilst the Japanese held the bank in the foreground, their forward position being back 100 yards or so from the logs in this painting. The bridge had been open for less than a fornight when this painting was commenced. Previously there had been a ferry service. The sappers in the foreground are 'jetting out' holes for posts. The trees on the right, casuarinas, grow all round the bay and give at times, as in a scene such as this, a surprisingly untropical atmosphere. On the extreme left are the lower of the shoulders of Mount Balbi.