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First World War Card “Coo-ee to Australia” sent by Sergeant Frederick Ernest BRUCE 243

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Albert Henry FULLWOOD

1915

Overview

A coloured card depicting a soldier calling to a woman in Australia. The soldier stands on the LHS of the card dressed in a brown army uniform and slouch hat. He has his hands cupped to his mouth and his rifle is propped against a large rock that is behind him. To the right of him the card shows an Australian “rising sun” badge with a sprig of wattle above it. Further right is a small image of Australia (including Tasmania) surrounded by the ocean. Standing on the mainland of Australia is a small image of a woman dressed in white wearing a brimmed hat. She has her arms raised towards the soldier. The card also depicts ships on the horizon of the ocean. The reverse of the card is plain and includes a message written in black pencil. The card has been folded in 2 and the fold has torn at either end. There is also some damage to the edges. The image remains bright and undamaged.

Historical information

This card was sent by Sergeant Frederick Ernest BRUCE to his mother Mrs RAMIREZ in Western Australia. Frederick came from Cossack in the north of Western Australia and enlisted on 4 November 1914. He joined 10th Light Horse Regiment as a Private and his unit sailed from Fremantle aboard the HMAT A47 Mashobra on 17 February 1915. Frederick (Ernie) served as part of the 3rd Aust Machine Gun Squadron at Gallipoli and then in Palestine. He was promoted to Sergeant in January 1918 and returned to Australia on 10 July 1919. Frederick died in 1955 aged 66 and is buried in Perth.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-12-2022.1.36

Item type

Postcards

Themes

War and Conflict > World War 1

Material

Card

Width

197 mm

Height or length

145 mm

Weight

5 g

Inscriptions and markings

Front “Coo-ee / To AUSTRALIA / AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH / MILITARY FORCES / CORPL Fullwood / LONDON” with “Mrs E. Ramirez / Roebourne / From F. E. Bruce / 10th Reg ALH 3rd Bgde / Machine Gun Section” on reverse.

Contextual information

Cooee’, water-colour on card, by Corporal FULLWOOD, was an illustration for General BIRDWOOD's Christmas message to the Anzacs in 1915. This illustration shows an Anzac at Gallipoli sending a sentimental greeting to a woman in faraway Australia. He is heroic in size, she is diminutive in scale being so far away and out of reach to him. The Australian army ‘Rising Sun’ badge is shown and the quintessentially Australian flower, the Wattle, both divides and connects them. The great battleships of the Royal Navy and the skyline of Anzac appear in the background. Even the New Guinea landmass is depicted.
This water-colour illustration is by English-born Australian commercial artist Albert Henry FULLWOOD (1863-1930), who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps between 1915 and 1917. This illustration was printed as a greeting card for a wide distribution in 1915.
In 1918, FULLWOOD was commissioned as an Honorary Lieutenant and appointed an official war artist, attached to the 5th Australian Division AIF, working in France between May and August 1918, and in France and Belgium from December 1918 to January 1919. He was given the rank of honorary lieutenant, and he spent four months in all on the battlefields. He returned to Australia in 1920.

Keywords

First World War

10th Light Horse Regiment

Christmas

Place made

London, United Kingdom

Year

1915

Primary significance criteria

Artistic or aesthetic significance

Social or spiritual significance

Comparative significance criteria