Convalescent soldiers at 2/14 Australian General Hospital Accession Number: ART23378

Description

Ernest Buckmaster was born in Hawthorn, Melbourne on July 3 1897. After being rejected for military service due to his physical frailty Buckmaster attended the National Gallery Art School from 1918-24. Ernest Buckmaster was first offered a position as an official war artist on January 20 1945, following the recommendation of the previous Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, James Stuart Macdonald, though he did not accepted his appointment until August 24 1945, following the completion of a commission in New Zealand. Due to his age of 48 and poor health Buckmaster was not enlisted in the army and was accredited as a war correspondent. Despite being commissioned to paint the Japanese surrender, after a lengthy process preparing to be transported to Singapore, Buckmaster, along with a group of correspondents and photographers arrived two days after the surrender ceremony.

In this painting Buckmaster depicts rows of convalescent soldiers resting in a tent ward at the 2/14th Australian General Hospital, Singapore. The patients had recently been liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, and were hospitalised to ensure they were fit for the sea journey home to Australia by hospital ship.

Details

Conflicts

• Second World War, 1939-1945

Places

• Singapore

Units

• General Hospitals
• Convalescent homes

Tags

• Medical services
• Patients