About this record

This is a black-and-white recruitment poster designed to encourage Australian men to enlist in the army during World War II. It has an illustration of a person's hands holding a notice with the heading 'WANTED - THESE MEN TO FIGHT FOR AUSTRALIA'. There are photographs of six men, text outlining why each has not enlisted, and a counter argument for why each should.

Educational value

• Is an example of the use of a poster to deliver war-related messages from the Australian Government to its citizens during World War II (1939–45) – Australia joined the war in 1939, declaring war on Germany; in 1941 it declared war on Japan.
• Is an example of a recruitment poster designed to encourage men to volunteer to join the army – Australia's policy at the beginning of the war was to seek recruits rather than introduce conscription (compulsory enlistment for overseas service); however, conscription was introduced in 1943.
• Indicates the difficulties the Australian Government faced at this time in encouraging men to enlist, as news of war casualties filtered back to Australia – Australian men were not as keen to enlist as they had been in World War I, and as World War II progressed, convincing men to join up became increasingly difficult.
• Refers to the AIF – the First AIF (Australian Imperial Forces) was formed in World War I; in World War II, the Second AIF fought in North Africa, the Middle East, Greece and Crete before being called back in 1942 to defend Australia against Japan.
• Shows that Australia's primary war efforts were still directed overseas at the time - the phrase 'Australia's frontier is overseas with the A.I.F.' suggests that this poster was probably produced between 1941 and 1942, prior to the Japanese attack on Darwin in February 1942.
• Is an example of the work of the Commonwealth Advertising Division, which was set up in 1941 within the Department of Information, primarily to advertise recruitment drives for men's and women's services, munitions work, war loans and national savings campaigns.
• Is presented as a 'wanted' notice, a type of document used by police to appeal to the public to help find criminals – by using this metaphor, the poster associates non-enlistment with criminal behaviour and appeals to the public to pressure men to join up.
• Personalises the reasons men commonly gave for not enlisting, while countering each argument – some of the men are characterised as selfish cowards who are profiting from the war while others do the work.
• Portrays a conscientious objector, a person who opposed war on religious or other grounds relating to conscience – at the same time, the text justifies World War II as a religious crusade, calling it a 'war to defend the Christian ideal'.
• Appeals to Australians' love of democracy with the phrase 'the right to live and think freely' – the theme of defending freedom and democracy was often used in war propaganda.
• Is an example of the use of photographs in war propaganda to add realism to the message – photographs were increasingly used in propaganda posters during World War II and were often juxtaposed with drawings, as is the case here.
• Uses actors to portray the six 'wanted' men, in poses that emphasise that these men are dodging their duty – while two men look defiantly at the camera, the downwards or sideways glances of the others make them look shifty and evasive.
• Depicts the intended reader – the artist has drawn a person's hands holding or pinning up the notice to make the message more personal and therefore more powerful.