From the Australian Front

Mud, frozen boots and hot coffee in jam tins give this wartime collection a close view of Australian soldiers' daily conditions in France. Published in 1917, it brings together official photographs, drawings, captions and comic exchanges. The introduction addresses people at home in Australia and explains the contributors' wish to show the surroundings in which the troops live and fight.

Scenes at Pozières, Bapaume and Messines place military operations alongside the practical work of moving supplies, building tracks and caring for the wounded. Duckboards and tramways offer relief from the mud, while cookhouses, canteens and winter billets show how men manage between periods of fighting. Jokes about cold weather and army routines appear beside pictures of damaged villages and field hospitals. For readers interested in Australia's part in the First World War, these small details make the collection a record of working conditions as well as battlefields.