The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Depicts an engineer who is identified as a Colonel at other points in this series. He is in a singlet and shorts, which gives a strong indication of how hot the environment is, as in other drawings he is formally attired. His nose is reddened with sunburn. He is standing on an engineers' bridging pontoon, probably at the Suez Canal, as the pontoon is Turkish. The pontoon is filled with planks, and the engineer is holding two in his arms. The piebald horse, who appears elsewhere in the series, is standing in front of the pontoon in the water. He has an anchor hanging from his bit. In the background is a British bridging pontoon.
This scene most likely depicts the Allies' building a pontoon bridge to defend the Suez Canal in 1916.
This engineer is a recurring character in this series. Bespectacled and bearing a look of smooth arrogance on his face, it is possible he is the artist's direct commanding officer. The 17th FC, which was the company the artist was in, was composed of men from other units of engineers and had the nickname "The Fragments of France".
Depicts a Colonel of the 17th FC Australian Engineers with his colour patch visible on his right arm. He is dispassionately observing a starved piebald nag, whose eyes are closed. The head of the nag
Depicts an engineer being thrown from a thoroughbred horse. A mounted soldier is observing from a distance in the background. The man being thrown has an odd expression on his face, seemingly unconcer
Depicts an officer, most likely a Colonel of the 17th Field Company Australian Engineers. Behind him is his piebald horse, who is mangy and half-starved. The benighted horse is having his tail docked
Depicts an engineer from the 17th FC AE seated on an emaciated horse, luring it forward using the ploy of a carrot on a stick. The hoof, saddle and rump of the horse are branded with '17th F.C'. The
Depicts a Colonel from the 17th FC AE riding through a desolate and dry terrain. A biplane hovers in the upper left corner, and crows fly in the upper right corner. The officer is riding a piebald hor
Most likely a self-portrait of the artist. He has the rank of lieutenant. He is prodding a dead piebald horse with a riding crop. Crows gather ominously in the sky, and another crow sits atop a pil