Fate tutti il vostro dovere! Italian Red Cross Day...

A billboard poster promoting Italian Red Cross Day in Sydney on 28 June 1918. It features the iconic Italian poster design of the First World War by Luciano Mauzan (1883-1952). The artist produced it for the Credito Italiano bank's war loan campaign in 1917. A single Italian soldier looks out at the viewer, pointing directly at them appealing directly from the battle field. Reproduced countless times its success in Italy, a country generally mistrusting of state authority, was due to the use of an ordinary soldier instead of a military leader or national allegorical figure (unlike the British and American versions which feature Lord Kitchener and Uncle Sam respectively). The title 'Fate tutti il vostro dovere!' translates as 'All of you will do your duty'. The bottom third of the image has been pasted over with text in english providing details of the fundraising day for the Sydney audience. The poster is significant as an example of international propaganda posters being used and viewed in Australia during the First World War.