Police boy "Hauko" Kokoda

Portrait of Hauko, from Kokoda. Hauko worked for the Royal Papuan Constabularly. This portrait was one of two drawn by the artist on a visit to a prison camp while on active service with the Camouflage unit. Reproduced in R Curtis, 'Papuan Profiles: inside a Prison Yard', Walkabout, 1 January 1945, pp.22-21 along with a portrait of Abaya (see ART96168). ' "Hauko"...is a Papuan policeman or, to use a native expression, a "shoot boy". I had no trouble getting Hauko to sit for his picture. He was all eyes and smiles when he saw me wandering about the prison yard making pencil notes of the various inmates...Hauko squatted in a clump of Kunai grass, the prisoners gathered around, and I made this sketch. Hauko is a Kokoda boy and belongs to the Orokaiva tribe - a mountain people with a war like tradition.' In his article Curtis compares his profiles of the two men from an anthropologist's point of view.

In 1942, Curtis was appointed Officer in Charge of Camouflage in New Guinea. As well as recording the activities of the Australian and American troops, Curtis took every opportunity to visit local villages, creating a series of portraits of Papuan Islanders. Several of these drawings were used to illustrate short articles Curtis contributed to the Australian magazine 'Walkabout', and provide insight into the experiences of local civilians working for Australian troops or displaced by the conflict. Generally, the articles were observations on 'native' life, including marriage, wood carving, and body adornment, however Curtis also commented on distinguishing physiological features of individuals from different tribes.

Curtis was appointed as an official war artist in March 1945, covering the civil and industrial war effort in Australia.