World War I made an extraordinary demand on the resources of the combatants: paying for manpower, munitions, transport, weapons, foodstuffs, all on an unprecedented, global scale was an overwhelming challenge. Paying for the peace was no less complicated.

AC0433-0001774Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Australian troops (colloquially known as "diggers") served in all theaters of the war. The various states and the Commonwealth as a whole sold bonds first to pay for the war, then for the peace.

AC0433-0000211Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

The Peace Loans were represented as a return to "normalcy," the unmasking of the wartime representations to reveal the peacetime Australia beneath.

AC0433-0000210Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Similarly, the soldier returns to a verdant farm, the plough promising a new crop, his sweetheart, framed by doves (peace? marriage?) welcoming him home.

AC0433-0000204Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

"His future:" stepping over the plea to buy peace bonds, into the frame of an agricultural paradise, a boundless horizon of opportunity.

AC0433-0000215Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

"The fighting Australian has cleaned up his job in a workmanlike manner. Now the stay-at-home must get to work and discharge his obligations to the men who kept him from knowing a was was on."

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