Digger departs (Dinkum Aussie issue)

Background information

Gladys Blaiberg was an English artist who volunteered in a London canteen for Australians serving in the First World War. There she got to know many of the soldiers and decided to make sculptures about them, because she liked the Australian sense of humour and fun.

This sculpture shows an Australian soldier with his family boarding a ship to Australia. Beneath the sculpture Gladys has written ‘Digger (Australian soldier) departs with some things he’s accumulated whilst waiting to be demobbed (sent home).’ This tells us that the soldier met his wife and had children while waiting to return to Australia. For many families, England was their home, so joining their husband or father in Australia was a great adventure.

As many products were being used to fight the war, materials for art were scarce. Gladys used whatever she could find to make her sculptures, such as metal, cotton, wood, paper, and pencil. View photographs of Gladys and her works here.

Questions

1. How many children and toys can you see in the sculpture? What else might the family take with them for their journey to Australia? Think of three things they might need.
2. Look at the clothes that the people are wearing. What might the clothes tell you about the way people dressed 100 years ago? What has changed or stayed the same today?
3. The sculpture shows people who travelled around the world a long time ago on a ship. What ways do people travel now?

Activities

1. Just as Gladys used items that she found and recycled, find some leftover items around your house or classroom that you can recycle to make a sculpture or collage of your own family. You might want to use pencils for legs, a bottle cap for a head, or coloured paper for clothes. The finished piece could be flat or standing up. If you have extra time, you may want to include some of your family’s favourite things, like your pets or toys.
2. Imagine loved ones are waiting to greet the family in Gladys’s sculpture when they arrive in Australia. Create a “welcome home” poster with symbols of Australia, for example native animals or flowers.
3. Think about what might happen on this family’s journey. Draw their experiences in a comic strip.