PHILIP MEATCHEM
“The Frontline Worker.” Portrait of a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel
Charcoal and acrylic on paper
120 x 183cm
Where would we be without the frontline workers and first responders?. Even today these brave and compassionate people put themselves at risk in order to help others in need.
The New Guinea tribesmen and women played a huge part in assisting our diggers on the Kokoda Track and other campaigns during the Second World War.
This is a portrait of just one of so many, from a photograph taken in 1944. He’s around 20 years old and it was said that in ten years’ time, through tireless work, he’ll look like an old man of eighty.
“May the mothers of Australia
when they offer up a prayer
mention those impromptu angels
with their fuzzy wuzzy hair.”
Excerpt from a poem by Sapper Bert Beros, A.I.F.
