The scarecrow: 'It's a bloomin' civvy!'

Depicts two soldiers, one wearing a tin helmet and rain cloak, the other with a bandaged head, encountering a scarecrow in a field. A wrecked and overturned canon appears in the background. The irony is that the soldiers themselves appear as tattered as the scarecrow and expected it to be a fellow soldier. Will Dyson was the first Australian official war artist to visit the front during the First World War, travelling to France in December 1916, remaining there until May 1917, making records of the Australian involvement in the war. Dyson was appointed an Official War Artist, attached to the AIF, in May 1917, working in France and London throughout the war. His commission was terminated in March 1920.