Operations room, HMAS Kanimbla

Three men wearing headsets seated in front of computer screens in the operations room of HMAS Kanimbla. Peter Churcher recalled, "This room was in a sense the strategic heart of the ship containing all the radio and radar tracking devices for the whole Gulf area. I was taken with the cramming together of the people in the confined space with all the technological equipment creating an amazing composition of dark shapes and brilliant lights and colours".
Peter Churcher was appointed official artist in January 2002 to record Australia's involvement in the International Coalition against Terrorism. He travelled to the Middle East and spent three weeks with the RAN on board HMAS Kanimbla and Adelaide in the Persian Gulf. Leaving the Middle East, Churcher spent time on Diego Garcia, a US military base in the Indian Ocean with the RAAF. In September 2002 he completed his commission in Afghanistan, recording the activities of the SAS at Bagram.