In Australia, great sums of money were raised by civilians for the 'war effort'. Concerts and fairs were organised, and buttons were sold. The symbols and slogans reflect some of the ways that the war was being depicted for the audience at home.

During the First World War, the main images of battle were sombre black-and-white photographs showing the horror of the trenches. From 1917, the government comissioned a series of large war paintings to memorialise the sacrifices of the ANZACs in a more permanent form. Charles Bean, the Australian war correspondent and historian, wanted the paintings to be 'moving panoramas of heroism and suffering' to inspire future generations. He thought that the artists' task was 'almost sacred'.