Tommy
Artist
Robert Thomas Boland
(Australian, 1922 - 1985)
Date1942 - 1945
Object number00000669
NameCartoon
MediumPencil on paper
DimensionsOverall: 165 × 101 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA hand drawn cartoon in ink titled 'Tommy' and depicts the head and shoulders of a man smoking a cigarette.
It was most likely drawn by Stoker Robert Boland whilst aboard the HMAS QUICKMARCH.
Robert Thomas Boland enlisted in the RAN in November 1942 at the age of 18 and remained in naval service until May 1950. At the time of his discharge he was serving aboard HMAS KUTTABUL as a stoker mechanic.HistoryHMAS QUICKMATCH was one of eight Q Class destroyers built for the Royal Navy, although QUICKMATCH was commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy at Cowes, Isle of Wight, on 14 September 1942. In May 1944 Quickmatch was included in the main force of the British Eastern Fleet, based on Ceylon, which carried out a successful carrier borne air attack on the Japanese base at Sourabaya on 17 May. This action was followed on 21 June by a similar assault from the air on Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. During these operations QUICKMATCH was a unit of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, Eastern Fleet. On 25 July 1944 Quickmatch, as part of an inshore force, entered Sabang Harbour, Sumatra, and carried out a close range bombardment of Japanese installations.
In October 1944 QUICKMATCH arrived in Australian waters for the first time. After visiting Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides she commenced her annual refit at Sydney (November to December 1944). Following the refit QUICKMATCH served mainly in Australian waters, with a visit to New Zealand, until March 1945. She then proceeded to the Far East as a unit of the British Pacific Fleet as one of the ships screening the Royal Navy carriers whose task it was to neutralise Japanese air fields in support of the United States invasion in Okinawa (Operation Iceberg). In July, again screening carriers of the British Pacific Fleet, she took part in further assaults on the Japanese home islands. When hostilities ceased on 15 August 1945, QUICKMATCH was en route to Manus after operating in support of attacks on the main Japanese island of Honshu. She had steamed some 224,000 miles on war service.SignificanceThis drawing is part of the Stoker Robert Thomas Boland collection of items relating to his life aboard RAN ships 1939 - 1945 (WWII).