'A suitable memorial?': Painting, memory and the great war

[Excerpt] No one could accuse the Australian government of failing to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. It allegedly spent around $600 million on centennial events between 2014 and 2018.1 This orchestrated campaign of state commemoration contrasts with government attitudes during the war itself, when commemorative practices developed haphazardly, amid continual debates about which aspects of Australia’s participation in the war should be remembered.

Australia’s first official war art scheme was among these initial commemorative practices. It emerged in 1916 during a year of increased commemorative activity, sparked by events such as the celebration of the first Anzac Day.2 Like much of the commemorative effort that would later lead to a national war records collection of artifacts, diaries and images – which still fills the Australian War Memorial in Canberra – the art scheme was managed by military officers and public servants working in London.