A Newcastle artist's painting of a sword and an item she mistook for a small whip used in World War I Australian Light Horse battalions, has won the 2022 Gallipoli Art Prize.
Deirdre Bean's oil painting, "Along the Ride to Damascus", depicts the sword, a sheath, and a leather bound 'swagger stick', loaned from a private collection so she could paint them in place.
The 'swagger stick' wrapped in plaited leather, was picked up by the soldiers while they were on R&R in Paris, Bean told AAP.
When loaned the item, Bean said it was labelled "whip", and she was also told it may be a baton, but discovered it was a small, leather-bound accessory.
Swagger sticks were a part of non-commissioned officers' non-fighting uniform and added gravitas to their outfits.
"The non-commissioned officers tucked it under their arm, and they had a fancy uniform, with a monocle."
"They used to walk around with swagger sticks and it was like part of their uniform, but not part of their fighting uniform, sort of like for the officers to walk around looking important."
The Australian Light Horse were mounted infantry who fought at Gallipoli and served throughout Egypt and the Middle East.
Their campaigns contributed to the Allied victory in World War I.
Bean, who is also a well-known botanical artist, with works in the Royal Botanical Gardens in London and Sydney, said military weapons and paraphernalia are littered with markings and personal histories.
"My idea to is to bring (these items) out of the museum and bring it to life by making a painting of it, so everybody can look at it."
Her win this year secured her $20,000 in prize money.
Her 2020 entry into the Gallipoli Art prize, Major Smith's Petrichor, saw the judges grant her a high commendation.
Geoff Harvey's painting Lest We Forget, a four panel depiction of a war memorial across the seasons, was highly commended by the judges.
Harvey is the only artist to have won the Gallipoli Art Prize twice in its 17 year history, once in 2012, and again in 2021.
