[Anzac Day]

Anzac Day. April 25th 1919. Souvenir Programme. Australian Base Depots, France [cover title]. Anzac Day Sports held at Australian Base Depots, Rouelles, April 25th 1919 ...

[Rouelles? probably in-house], 1919.

Large octavo, 8 pages plus a plate (verso and conjugate leaf blank) showing the 'Canteen, Concert, Educational and Service Huts presented by The People of Mildura, Victoria, Western Australian Civil Servants, and El Dorado, New South Wales'.

Colour-pictorial card covers a little foxed and rubbed at the extremities; light creases to the entire pamphlet; overall, in very good condition.

The beautifully-produced cover carries the imprint of Raphael Tuck and Sons, London, at the rear. The centrepiece of the front cover is by the (South) Australian artist John Charles Goodchild, at that stage a twenty year-old private in the 9th Field Ambulance. It depicts a French woman with the Tricolour around her waist, handing a Digger a wreath with a banner 'Victoria et Pax'. By way of contrast, the rear cover features a series of vignette sketches of life awaiting demobilisation at [Le] Havre. These include an Australian soldier attempting to chat up an attractive local girl: the caption 'No Compree' clearly applies to both of them.