Cartoons of the Moment – The War Zoo (c1915)

Curator’s clip description

This clip begins with the hand of the artist (Harry Julius) drawing seven animals including a bear, bulldog, turkey and daschund, which surround a title card ‘the war zoo’. Three of the animals are introduced through a brief sketch: ‘the weeping turk’ shows a battered and bruised turkey behind a fence being assaulted with boomerangs; ‘the kultur eagle’ shows a large bald eagle reluctantly sharing an enclosure with a peace dove; and ‘still king of them’ shows a pipe-smoking lion wearing a Royal Navy uniform bearing the St George’s Cross.

Curator’s notes

Julius regularly characterised the wartime countries as animals in editions of Cartoons of the Moment. The battered turkey (representing the Ottoman Empire) is the most pitiable of all, and is often depicted as a fez-capped turkey covered in bandaids and bruises. In this clip, the sign ‘do not throw boomerangs at the bird’ is a reference to Australian troops fighting the Turks.

Lauren Williams, curator

Teachers’ notes

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This black-and-white clip of an animated cartoon shows warring nations of the First World War as animals. It opens with the artist sketching six animals as part of a title card. Three cartoon segments depict cut-out animals. A weeping injured turkey is hit by a boomerang. A sign warns ‘DO NOT THROW BOOMERANGS AT THE BIRD’. ‘THE KULTUR EAGLE’ of Germany curses the Allies for caging him with the dove of peace. Finally, a pipe-smoking lion in English naval uniform appears with a caption that reads ‘STILL KING OF THEM’.

Educational value points

• This clip is an example of war propaganda to reassure viewers of an Allied victory. The first sketch implies Turkey’s defeat by ANZAC forces. The second ridicules Germany with the German eagle caged with the dove of peace, protesting ‘THEY MADE ME LOVE YOU AND I DIDN‘T WANT TO DO IT’, words from a hit song of 1913. The third is designed to raise public morale by suggesting that Great Britain, the ‘king of the beasts’, will ultimately prevail.

• Cartoonists often rely on preconceived symbols and animals to convey their message. By using character stereotypes countries can be ridiculed, as is the Ottoman Empire in this cartoon by being depicted as a battered and weeping turkey, or the predatory ambitions of Germany being characterised and represented as the bald eagle. The lion of England is supposed to represent national qualities such as dependability and steadfastness.

• The clip gives an example of First World War (1914–18) propaganda ridiculing the enemy to shore-up a wartime audience’s morale and encourage confidence in victory. Turkey appears as a weeping turkey clearly coming off badly due to the boomerang assault, a reference to the ANZAC forces attacking Turkish troops in the Dardanelles. Contrary to this characterisation, however, the conflict that began in April 1915 ended with an Allied defeat.

• The effectiveness of cut-out animation is shown well in this clip. By reducing the elements of the cartoon its message is conveyed economically and directly. The white figures and text on a black background are intended to focus the audience’s attention. Stop-frame photography creates movement of the cut-out figures against the sketched-in backgrounds. The captions and titles frame and comment on the action.

• The style of this animated cartoon supports the multiple roles it had to fulfil as one segment in a silent newsreel. It had to convey timely information, entertain and make a point without a spoken commentary. In some cases cartoons were designed to inflame emotions. The simple white-on-black cut-out images quickly establish a point of view. The jerky animation and ironic captions provide comedy.

• The clip provides one of the earliest examples of Australian animated political cartoons seen widely by Australian audiences. The cartoonist Harry Julius (1885–1938) was employed to produce a weekly segment shown as part of Australasian Gazette newsreels from about 1914 to 1918. The tradition of Australian political cartooning began in the print media in 1835 and was continued by The Bulletin magazine, first published in 1880.