Max Dupain
1911 - 1992
"Tired soldier in train, North Queensland (The Dozing Digger)" 1943/2004
gelatin silver photograph, edition 13/90
Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2005.
The title of this artwork is ‘Tired Soldier in train, North Queensland (The Dozing Digger)’ by Max Dupain. It is a gelatin silver photograph edition 13 of 90 that was originally taken in 1943, and this edition was reprinted in 2004. The photograph is almost square and measures 36 centimetres high and 35.3 centimetres wide unframed.
The photograph is black and white and features a young male soldier in the centre, slumped back sitting in the corner of a dark train carriage to the right of a window. The image is tightly cropped, with a small amount of space around the soldier and the image ending just above his knees at the bottom. The soldier has a slender face with sharp and slightly sunken facial features. His mouth is closed, and his eyelids droop with a soft downward gaze. He is clean-shaven with short wavy hair shaved above his ears, and he is wearing an army uniform with a button-up collar shirt and buttoned breast pockets. A wide brimmed hat rests on his lap.
In the top left of the artwork, there is the bottom corner of a glass window. Outside, blurred foliage indicates movement. Light from the window illuminates the left half of the image, including the left side of the soldier’s face and body. Along the left edge of the artwork, below the window, is another soldier’s arm and shoulder. The top of the shoulder is above that of the slumped soldier, and their arms are alongside each other. The right half of the image, including the right side of the soldier, is dark and in shadow. Slithers of diagonal light come through the wooden planks of the train carriage wall along the entire right edge.
The late Max Dupain was a photographer and from 1939-43 during World War 2 he served as a Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) camouflage officer in Australia and New Guinea. During this time, he took this photograph in a railway carriage of a troop train that was likely bound for Townsville, Australia. The soldier was Sergeant Kevin Williams, Australian Army Pay Corps who was 34 years old when this photograph was taken.