Clock tower at Victoria Town, Labuan

Drawing of the clock tower at Victoria Town, Labuan, which was one of the three surviving structures after the Japanese evacuated the town in 1945. Writing for the Australian Women's Weekly of his travels in Borneo Wep commented ' One can only guess what must have been the beauty of this pre-bombardment Victoria Town on Lauban Island. The fragments of pale blue plastered walls, the heaps of bright red bricks and tiles, the remains of Chinese architectural devices, the broken retaining walls of the canal behind the shops, the gaunt and shattered trees, the only two surviving buildings, the isolated clock tower, an aloof and well proportioned symbol of the town, remain to testify to its one time charm. What is left is just a ghost...'. William Edwin Pidgeon (1909-1981) was a painter, cartoonist, illustrator and newspaper critic. Working with Consolidated Press, he was appointed a war correspondant and artist in 1943. He became renowned for his cartoons signed with his initials, 'WEP'. During the Second World War many of his illustrations were published in the 'Australian Women's Weekly' and on the cover of the magazine. His humourous works conveyed the lives, personalities and conditions under which Australian troops served in Darwin, New Guinea and Borneo. During the Second World War he also contributed cartoons to the Army periodical, SALT. After the war he continued to provide illustrations for books during the 1950s, but mainly concentrated on portrait painting. He won the Archibald Prize in 1958, 1961 and again in 1968 for a portrait of fellow artist Lloyd Rees. From 1974-79 he served as the art critic for the 'Sunday Telegraph' newspaper.