Distribution of rations at a 39th battery FA position, Vaire-sur-Somme

Depicts a standing soldier and other soldiers unloading supplies and rations from a wagon, pulled by a horse, on the Somme. A Nissen hut is visible in the background on a ridge. George Courtney Benson (1886-1960) was a painter and muralist. He studied at the National Gallery School, Melbourne from 1903 and later worked for the 'Bulletin' in Sydney, then as an illustrator and cartoonist for Melbourne 'Punch'. As a result of his drawings at Gallipoli and in France during the First World War, he was appointed official war artist in 1918. He studied in London after the war, returning to Melbourne in 1919 to complete works for the War Memorial and spent the next decade painting watercolour landscapes and working as a book illustrator. In 1931 he moved to Western Australia to undertake work on murals. Benson enlisted in the Australian Citizens Military Forces from 1940 to 1943, working in camouflage.