A CHANCE encounter on Anzac Day two years ago led to Tim Fischer taking delivery of a special painting in the car park of an Albury club on Wednesday.
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The former deputy prime minister struck up a conversation with artist Kieren Marcombe who was on a pilgrimage to the Western Front battlefields with his father and grandfather.
From that meeting came a painting of 16 generals and the French prime minister and finance minister lined up against a wasteland generated by trench warfare.
Crucially for Mr Fischer it features Sir John Monash, the Australian lieutenant general that he believes has been neglected in histories of how the Germans were defeated on the Western Front.
“It’s a moment in history underheralded and a significant moment in history reflecting the standing of John Monash as AIF commander on the 11th August 1918,” Mr Fischer said.
“Winston Churchill as minister for munitions called on him that morning and King George V knighted him the next day.
“I think there are still moments on the Western Front that even official historians are jumping over.
“This was one of those moments.”
Mr Marcombe, an Australian who now lives in the US, returned to his home in North Carolina and spent 18 months on the painting.
After numerous reworkings, the fine arts graduate from Perth’s Curtin University travelled 15,000 kilometres with the rolled up canvas to present to Mr Fischer at Albury’s SS & A Club car park.
With a war memorial fountain cascading in the background, Mr Fischer was rapt with the work which he had previously seen via emails.
“I’m particularly pleased with the overall colourings, the actual portraits of the 18 and the depth,” he said.
Mr Fischer noted to Mr Marcombe “you’ve taken a bit of weight off Monash” as he admired his commission.
“I invite readers of The Border Mail to consider where best I might gift this painting in due course,” Mr Fischer said.
“Remembering that John Monash went from pre-embarkation leave from the Bright railway station in October 1914 to join his ship convoy in Melbourne and sail to the war.
“So there’s the possibility of Bright or there’s the possibility of MAMA in Albury, I’ve got an open mind.”
Mr Marcombe was pleased with Mr Fischer’s reaction.
“I know how important this is to him, so it was an honour to be able to do this for him and to document for the first time this event,” he said.
The painting includes the Red Chateau, at Villers-Bretonneux, the base for the 1st Australian Division.
