Ringed with menace! Bar the gates with 'Beauforts' (Australian aircraft-production poster)
A map of Australia, drawn with farms, mines, camels and cricket, sits inside a dark ring of warships flying the Japanese naval flag, with aircraft above and Japanese-held islands to the north. The slogan 'Bar the Gates with Beauforts' offers aircraft output as the defence; the tell is the encirclement graphic, which stages imminent invasion to drive production.
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Beaufort Division, Department of Aircraft Production (Commonwealth of Australia); artist James Northfield
- Region
- Oceania
- Country
- Australia
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Curtin Government
- Leader
- John Curtin
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Fear appeal
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Australian War Memorial, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (AWM: copyright expired; 1943 Commonwealth department poster)
Beaufort Division, Department of Aircraft Production; artist James Northfield. 1943. Australian War Memorial, ARTV09061.
Text on the object
RINGED with MENACE! BAR THE GATES - WITH 'BEAUFORTS' So that We may live in Peace [signed] Northfield BEAUFORT DIVISION DEPARTMENT OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION [map place names in very small type, e.g. Alice Springs; others illegible]
The image as supplied by the holding institution carries a white strip below the sheet reading 'AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL' and 'ARTV09061', added by the museum and not part of the poster.
