[3] He began life drawing art classes at age 16, but was forbidden by his father from continuing because the subjects were nude.

[4] Moore enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1942, where he was tasked with drawing airplane diagrams.

His earlier watercolour paintings, made in Milne Bay and Goodenough Island, were destroyed by wet weather and humidity; he subsequently changed to working with oils, which were more suitable for the tropical environment.

[2][14] In 1945 Moore accompanied the British 11th Armoured Division when they liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

[4] He spent three days sketching and painting the state of the camp, its prisoners and their captors, including Fritz Klein.

[11][15] The War Memorial also commissioned Moore to paint several large portraits, including of Generals Douglas MacArthur and Arthur Samuel Allen.