Exhibition Theme - Captivity

Roberts Hospital, Changi

The battle casualties, some desperately ill, many minus a limb, were quartered on the ground floor, the "less" sick on the upper floors. With the septic system damaged and with no water for flushing anyway, men suffering from dysentery had to stagger down several flights of stairs to an outside latrine . Doré's illustrations of hell seemed mild with the living nightmare of the dysentery ward.

Oil on hardboard 64 x 82.1 cm
Painted in Changi, Singapore, 1943
Acquired under official war art scheme in 1946
Australian War Memorial
ART24491

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