Peter Cochrane Tobruk 1941.

Peter Cochrane Tobruk 1941. ABC Books, 2005, Hard cover dust wrapper 116 pp. RRP $49.95

This well-illustrated portrayal of the siege of Tobruk uses photos from the Australian War Memorial's collection to provide an intense view of everyday survival in difficult circumstances. The majority of the photos were created by the cameramen of the Department of Information's Cinematographic and Photographic Unit: Frank Hurley, Damien Parer, Ron Maslyn Williams and George Silk. The photographic styles range from the cheerful and casual, such as George Silk's record of typical Australian innovation on page 50 to Frank Hurley's contrived, yet powerful heroic renditions. For the photographers, Tobruk was the new Gallipoli. An opportunity to record achievement, heroism and triumph--a particular Hurley theme--for those at home.

Many, many photographs were taken by Silk et al, but only a small selection appears here. These photographs cover a broad range of activities but they present only a partial record of Tobruk. For the main part, it was not possible to record battle action, and the closest the official photographers got were Hurley's deliberately staged productions, or perimeter shots. In addition, they had been ordered to ignore scenes of carnage and so, only rarely, such as Hurley's shot on page 3, does one of these slip through. But the photographs that they were able to take convey wonderfully the life and conditions of the 'Rats of Tobruk.'

The introductory essay, chapter introductions, photo captions and excerpts from battalion and private diaries explain the conditions, but sometimes the impact of words are limited by faults in imagination. These photographs make up for any imaginative faults. We can see the appalling conditions of ruin in which the men lived: pockmarked walls, rubble everywhere, 'the bathroom' of page 42, and the effect of a thousand-pound bomb on a small ship on page 35. The blurriness in the 'bakery' shot on page 55 depicts a certain freneticism as the bakers work to feed the men their daily bread, but it also shows the rubble behind the Aldershot ovens, indicating all too clearly the close proximity of shelling and difficult living and working conditions. This photograph, without a doubt, highlights that life must and does carry on despite the privations of location and circumstance.

Life was not easy for the AIF's 9th Division once it withdrew to Tobruk. Lieutenant Tas Gill recorded on 1 June 1941 that it had been 'distressingly hot' and considered his plight: 'living in shallow holes in rocky ground, not a tree with[in] hundreds of miles, no shade except what we make with bits of wood and so on, none of the luxuries of life such as eats and drinks, and nowhere to go and no respite.' This photographic collection perfectly illustrates Gill's plight, and the plight of the many others who endured the Tobruk siege: never enough water to remove the dust ingrained in face and hands and the ever-mucky fingernails never enough to clean boots or adequately wash uniforms; the reliance on the 'Tobruk ferry service' for supplies; the underground regimental aide post and the outdoor cookhouse and officers' mess. But, heroic stances aside, they also reveal the resilience of the Australians: the cheeky grin to camera, the plucky soldier carrying a mate on his back though a gap in the wire entanglements, the patented water still, the cave classroom for the signals refresher courses, and the commitment of those responsible for the Tobruk Truth, despite the bombarded building so close to their own 'office.' These sorts of photographs would have done much to bolster the morale of those at home, but some that would have proved distressing were those depicting the dying minutes of British sloop HMS Grimsby, (probably) tanker Helka, HMS Defender and HMAS Waterhen, just a few of those vessels who participated in the 'spud run' to supply the 'Rats'.

The often contrived official photographs form the bulk of this record, but these are juxtaposed against a selection of private photographs, mainly from the camera of Gunner R K Bryant. His photographs depict a careful but casual use of a captured Italian Breda 20mm cannon on page 82, which contrasts significantly with the 'heroic', posed photographs on pages 32-33. His photographs show the more carefree moments of rest, such as Gunner Buntz on the portable latrine and his mates having a cuppa in the outdoor mess. We are poignantly reminded that his friends are real people who are not just photographic heroes for posterity. They are smiling now, but, like Gunner Jim Cowrie, they may not return.

I enjoyed this collection. I have no problem with the contrived nature of many of the photographs, or, indeed in Hurley's recreation of events for the lens, because through them, we see how the war was depicted to those on the home front. To me, this collection is as much a record of wartime propaganda as it is a record of the Tobruk experience. Thanks to Cochrane's commentary and captions, and his use of Gunner Bryant's photos, we can tell the difference easily and thus appreciate this dual wartime perspective.