Life on the Jamestown line
For the Australians serving on the Jamestown line during the ‘static war’ period of the Korean War ‘It was a life of patrolling and raids, wiring, mining, of being constantly shelled and mortared and fighting off local enemy attacks … There was a steady build-up of casualties. It was dangerous, onerous and lacked the excitement of significant achievement...’ [Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hassett, Commanding Officer 3RAR]
Official war artist Ivor Hele (1912-1993) vividly depicted this life and men of the Royal Australian Army Regiments in his drawings and paintings.
Hele was an academically trained figurative artist who excelled at portraiture. Already Australia’s longest serving official war artist[1] he arrived in Korea knowing exactly the type of images the Memorial expected. Frustrated to have missed the major battles of 1951 he focused on the men and their daily activities, making over 70 sketches in pencil, pen and ink, carbon, and crayon for the Memorial’s collection.
[1] Hele was appointed as an Australian official war artist during the Second World War. Commissioned in 1941 he worked for the Memorial for the next ten years.