"Were you there then?"

Place Oceania: Australia
Accession Number ARTV08838
Collection type Art
Measurement sheet: 90 x 56.2 cm
Object type Poster
Physical description chromolithograph on paper mounted on linen
Maker Weston, Harry J
Unknown
Gullick, W A
Place made Australia: New South Wales, Sydney
Date made 1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Australian First World War recruitment poster printed in 1916 most likely referencing the Gallipoli Campaign. It features the image of a woman in a white dress standing in front of a tattered Australian flag against a yellow background. She is pointing to it with her left hand as if asking the viewer if they were there when the flag was damaged. It appeals to the guilt of the viewer that they had not enlisted to help defend Australia at Gallipoli and to their sense of patriotic duty to enlist. The image is in the upper half with the text beneath both set against a red background.