Oil on canvas board, ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

This artwork comes with an external frame

A section of Australian Light Horsemen are relaxing and happy, but alert as they boil their quart billy on a small fire, enjoying the small quiet oasis all by themselves, while battle rages elsewhere. This is how this event happened as related by trooper Ion Idriess of the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment in his diary in 1916: “The 11th of August was a happy day for the section....The 2nd Brigade was moving somewhere to our left among sandhills. The section was sent out to find them, so trotted away well content at this little stunt on our own. We pulled the horses up into a walk and dodged out for a mile, edging into the desert....We rode on, sharply alert for sniper or Bedouin... A mile further on, we met two En Zeds riding with Turkish prisoners. The En Zeds pointed out the whereabouts of their brigade to us... We rode up to the Wellington Regiment and delivered our message and then rode away in high spirits... Presently, as there was nothing doing for us, we sneaked away, mounted and went for a good long cruise entirely on our own, scouting and then galloping into every oasis we came across. We got no prisoners, only old Bedouin belongings hidden under bushes. We hunted for water-melons and ripe dates. We boiled our quarts in a quiet little oasis and enjoyed our bully-beef and biscuits, but we were hungry. We felt we ought to find something on a day like this. In this particular oasis grew fig trees but, like everything else in the blooming desert, the figs were poor. That was one of the good days the four of us had together. We were glad to be alive, glad to be in each other’s company.”
This painting of a section of Australian Light Horsemen are relaxing and happy, but alert as they boil their quart billy on a small fire, enjoying the small quiet oasis all by themselves, while battle rages elsewhere. It was inspired by an account of an event that happened as related by trooper Ion Idriess of the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment in his diary in 1916: “The 11th of August was a happy day for the section... The 2nd Brigade was moving somewhere to our left among sandhills. The section was sent out to find them, so trotted away well content at this little stunt on our own. We pulled the horses up into a walk and dodged out for a mile, edging into the desert... We rode on, sharply alert for sniper or Bedouin... A mile further on, we met two En Zeds riding with Turkish prisoners. The En Zeds pointed out the whereabouts of their brigade to us... We rode up to the Wellington Regiment and delivered our message and then rode away in high spirits... Presently, as there was nothing doing for us, we sneaked away, mounted and went for a good long cruise entirely on our own, scouting and then galloping into every oasis we came across. We got no prisoners, only old Bedouin belongings hidden under bushes. We hunted for water-melons and ripe dates. We boiled our quarts in a quiet little oasis and enjoyed our bully-beef and biscuits, but we were hungry. We felt we ought to find something on a day like this. In this particular oasis grew fig trees but, like everything else in the blooming desert, the figs were poor. That was one of the good days the four of us had together. We were glad to be alive, glad to be in each other’s company.” THE DESERT COLUMN Ion L Idiess, Angus and Robertson, Australian Classics Edition. P. 139,140