190 Years of The West: Anguish of war etched in memory

Each Anzac Day, as Western Australians prepare to head to dawn services across the State, waiting in The West Australian is Dean Alston’s annual tribute. And each year, Alston tackles our most sombre day with detailed and delicate depictions of those Australians who have served their country. This cartoon, from 1994, almost 80 years on from the Gallipoli landing, shows a family at home receiving the telegram confirming the death of a husband and father on the front line. “It struck me — there was such a large death toll, a dreadful death toll that every family was affected,” Alston said. “The war destroyed whole families.” In 2023, his cartoon marked 50 years since Australian troops left the Vietnam War. In 2020, amid the pandemic, his cartoon drew on the 100 years since the Spanish Flu. It ranks for Alston as one of his more important cartoons annually — linked by the simple Anzac Day pledge, “Lest We Forget”. This Saturday’s magazine is the first of two 48-page magazines presented by Roy Hill as part of our celebrations to mark 190 years of The West Australian and to recognise almost 40 years of amazing cartoons by Alston.