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The Storming of Mont St Ainslie - an old Canberra Times cartoon about the AWM, by Geoff Pryor, first published 18 December 1984.
GEOFF PRYOR'S CARTOON
Geoff Pryor's cartoon used the Australian War Memorial's diorama Mont St Quentin, 1918 as the basis of his satire - the oldest and most treasured of the Memorial's dioramas: www.awm.gov.au/visit/dioramas/. The name "Mont St Ainslie" is in reference to Mount Ainslie, in the shadow of which the AWM lies.
The brilliant and prolific cartoonist Geoff Pryor was for many years a mainstay at The Canberra Times newspaper, where this cartoon first appeared. It was reproduced again in the book Here Is Their Spirit: a history of the Australian War Memorial 1917-1990, by Michael McKernan (1991), and again in Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape By Ken Inglis (2008), from whence this google screen shot came: books.google.com.au/books?id=4YWbbE5KpRIC&pg=PA380&am...
The cartoon encapsulated a political, philosophical and ethical conflict which had developed between the then management of the AWM (the so called "Young Turks") pitted against Australian Defence Force veterans, chiefly those associated with the Returned and Services League (RSL). It all came to a head about 10 years later in the mid-1990s, when the senior figures in the "Young Turks" management team were stood down by the Australian Government, amidst a litany of complaints by staff, including workplace harassment, nepotism and alarming flaws in the security and management of the institution's relic collection.
Eventually the acrimony ebbed away under new leadership, however, not content with this outcome and apparently devoid of any remorse, the former management took their case High Court of Australia, eventually and inexplicably winning a handsome 6 figure payout, courtesy of the Australian tax payer.
This saga later became a case study in how not to manage a cultural institution for students at the Australian National University.
The Storming of Mont St Ainslie - an old Canberra Times cartoon about the AWM, by Geoff Pryor, first published 18 December 1984.
GEOFF PRYOR'S CARTOON
Geoff Pryor's cartoon used the Australian War Memorial's diorama Mont St Quentin, 1918 as the basis of his satire - the oldest and most treasured of the Memorial's dioramas: www.awm.gov.au/visit/dioramas/. The name "Mont St Ainslie" is in reference to Mount Ainslie, in the shadow of which the AWM lies.
The brilliant and prolific cartoonist Geoff Pryor was for many years a mainstay at The Canberra Times newspaper, where this cartoon first appeared. It was reproduced again in the book Here Is Their Spirit: a history of the Australian War Memorial 1917-1990, by Michael McKernan (1991), and again in Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape By Ken Inglis (2008), from whence this google screen shot came: books.google.com.au/books?id=4YWbbE5KpRIC&pg=PA380&am...
The cartoon encapsulated a political, philosophical and ethical conflict which had developed between the then management of the AWM (the so called "Young Turks") pitted against Australian Defence Force veterans, chiefly those associated with the Returned and Services League (RSL). It all came to a head about 10 years later in the mid-1990s, when the senior figures in the "Young Turks" management team were stood down by the Australian Government, amidst a litany of complaints by staff, including workplace harassment, nepotism and alarming flaws in the security and management of the institution's relic collection.
Eventually the acrimony ebbed away under new leadership, however, not content with this outcome and apparently devoid of any remorse, the former management took their case High Court of Australia, eventually and inexplicably winning a handsome 6 figure payout, courtesy of the Australian tax payer.
This saga later became a case study in how not to manage a cultural institution for students at the Australian National University.