Arunta (ll) berthing at Kuwait Harbour
This oil painting depicts the ANZAC class frigate HMAS Arunta (CMDR Tim Brown) berthing in Shuwaikh port in Kuwait Bay during its Middle East deployment in 2008. The Bahman 1 tug is shown manoeuvring Arunta into its berth.
During the visit to Kuwait City (Al-Kuwayt), the commanding officer was requested to visit General Ahmed Al Mulla, chief of the Kuwaiti Navy, to explain Arunta’s presence in the Gulf.
- About Robert McRae
Bob was born in New South Wales and attended the Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education and Sydney Teacher's College during the 1970s. Since the 1980s, he has worked as a teacher at several TAFE colleges in New South Wales, including Wollongong and Dapto.
Bob has been painting ships since the 1990s.
During a painting trip to Darwin in 1999 to sketch the Northern Territory wetlands Bob painted several vessels stationed at the naval port. These vessels were part of the multinational force preparing for operations in East Timor.
He then moved on to become an official artist with the Royal Australian Navy during various offshore exercises. June 2005 Bob drew and photographed the commissioning of HMAS Armidale at Darwin Naval Base. In February 2006 he drew and photographed on board HMAS Townsville during Operation Ocean Protector off Jervis Bay, NSW.
In 2008, Bob was appointed Official Artist for the RAN Naval History Unit in the Iraq War. His role was to draw, paint and photograph naval activities. Most of the time, he was working aboard HMAS Arunta during patrols near Iraq.
Bob is an established and accomplished watercolour painter and printmaker who has exhibited extensively in New South Wales and the Northern Territory. Works by Bob are held in the collections of the University of Wollongong, BHP (Shipping), the Australian War Memorial and the National Maritime Museum in Sydney.
- About HMAS Arunta (ll)
Arunta was built by Tenix Defence Systems in Williamstown, Victoria. Arunta is the second of eight Anzac Class frigates based on the German Meko 200 frigate. The Anzacs are long-range frigates capable of air defence, surface and undersea warfare, surveillance, reconnaissance and interdiction.
More reading
- Additional resources for Robert McRae
- Robert McRae, Australian National Maritime Museum (sea.museum)
- Robert Torrens McRae, as an artist and Official Naval Artist with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) 2005-2008, interviewed by Edith Swift. | Australian War Memorial (awm.gov.au)
- Wollongong war artist reflects on documenting the Navy at work - ABC News
- Additional resources for HMAS Arunta (ll)
