Cenotaph, Whitehall

Depicts the war memorial known as The Cenotaph in London's Whitehall with a crowd of people around it. The Cenotaph was first prepared as a temporary wood and plaster structure for use as a saluting base in Whitehall during the First World War Victory Parade, held on the 19th July 1919. The immediate and overwhelming public acclaim for this hurriedly prepared design of Edwin Lutyens afforded the Government a ready solution to the potential problem of providing a suitable national memorial to the war dead. A swift decision was taken to re-erect the Cenotaph in a permanent form on the same site. The unveiling of the stone structure on the 11th November 1920 was combined with a ceremony to mark the passing of the body of the Unknown Warrior for re-burial in Westminster Abbey. The first of the annual ceremonies of remembrance took place at the Cenotaph on the same date the following year. The inscription simply reads "The Glorious Dead" and the flags and emblems of the army, air force and royal and merchant navies are inscibed on The Cenotaph. The painter, teacher and etcher John Goodchild was born in London and arrived in Adelaide in 1913. He was initially employed as a sign writer and draughtsman before studying at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts in 1920. From 1934 he taught there, becoming its principal from 1941-45. During the First World War Goodchild joined the AIF, serving in France where he contributed drawings to the field paper, 'The Digger'. This resulted in him being commissioned to do 36 drawings of the war cemeteries in France for the 1920 publication 'Where the Australians Rest'. During the 1920s he studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and taught there form 1928-29. Throughout his life, Goodchild travelled extensively, visiting Europe, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hong Kong and Japan. In 1930 he returned to Adelaide and in 1934 was appointed a member of the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts. In April 1945 he joined the AIF as a Lieutenant and was appointed an official war artist. During his commission, Goodchild was initially located at Point Cook, Jervis Bay and in Sydney. From June 1945 he was sent to the South-West Pacific area and went to Japan in 1946, particularly Ofuna, to cover the 'Japanese surrender and the activities of the allied occupation forces'. From 1940-53 he was a member of the Board of the Art Gallery of South Australia and again from 1961-68. He died in Adelaide in 1980.