From the Dat

From the Dat
Graphite on Illustration Board

1997

"When I decided to do a tribute to Australia's Vietnam veterans, I looked around for appropriate inspiration. It was just before the 1996 Vietnam Veteran's Day which falls on 18 August, the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. It was at a display of Vietnam veterans' memorabilia that I stumbled upon the history of 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment."

"In it was the story about Operation Mundingburra where the battalion was inserted into the Long Hai hills in the south of Phuoc Tuy. The various areas of operations there were labelled AO West End, AO The Strand, suburbs of Townsville (as is Mundingburra) and suburbs of my hometown."

"What was even more eerie was the detail about members of the battalion who stepped on a mine the same day mankind stepped on the moon. This was straight out of the Redgum song 'I was only 19", a song about a Vietnam veteran's time in Vietnam which was released in 1983, and was inspirational to me when I was young and encouraged me to join the Army and become a helicopter pilot."

"And so was born 'From the Dat - Insertion on Operation Mundingburra'.

Independent Productions and Aviation Services is the website of Conway Bown, Australian Army Official War Artist and Aviation Consultant. Services include portrait painting and other portraiture, aviation services such as CRM - Crew Resource Management - and Helicopter Underwater Escape Training - HUET - which may include Emergency Breathing Systems - EBS - training using Helicopter Aircrew Breathing Devices - HABD - or Helicopter Emergency Egress Device - HEEDs.

During 2006, Conway Bown deployed to the Middle East as the Australian Army's Official War Artist, what the US Armed Forces call Combat Artist. This website features the artwork created during this project as part of the Australian Army's Official Art Scheme.

For more information on War Art, Combat Artists, Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), Emergency Breathing Systems (EBS) or Crew Resource Management (CRM), please visit the relevant webpages: