The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who have died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, a suburb of the Australian capital city of Canberra. The grounds include five buildings and a sculpture garden. Most of the museum galleries and commemorative areas are contained in the Memorial Building.
Plans to build a national war memorial and museum were initiated shortly after the First World War, with the AWM formally established through federal legislation in 1925. Designs for the AWM were created by Emil Sodersten and John Crust, although the onset of the Great Depression delayed its construction. Work on the Memorial Building progressed in the mid-1930s, and the AWM was officially opened to the public in 1941. Several structures designed by Denton Corker Marshall were built on the grounds from the 1980s to 2000s, to house additional museum exhibits and administrative offices. In 1993, the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier was installed inside the Memorial Building's Hall of Memory.
Although the memorial was initially envisioned to only commemorate those who had died as the result of the First World War, the institution's scope was changed to include service-members of the Second World War in 1939, service-members from all other wars in 1952, and all Australians who died in conflict in 1975. Following a reinterpretation of the legal constraints on the Memorial's scope, the Australian Frontier Wars are to be covered for the first time as part of a gallery planned to open in 2028.
The AWM features galleries dedicated to the World Wars, and thematic exhibits such as the Aircraft Hall and the Hall of Valour. The memorial and museum is open daily excluding Christmas Day. The AWM holds several commemorative services on its grounds, including a nightly Last Post service, and national services for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
History The Australian War Records Section was formed in May 1917 to ensure the preservation of records relating to the First World War. Records and relics were exhibited first in Melbourne and later Canberra.
The idea for a national war memorial to commemorate veterans and to showcase war trophies in the Australian capital was also conceived by Charles Bean a year earlier in 1916. The Commonwealth Government was supportive of Bean's efforts and established an Australian War Memorial committee in 1919. Bean, together with John Treloar, the officer-in-charge of the Australian War Records Section and later the AWM's first director, guided the creation of AWM. A museum to display collected war relics was also incorporated into the institution, with Bean and Treloar believing that the museum was philosophically and operationally inseparable from the memorial.
In 1923, the Commonwealth Government officially announced its intentions to build a national war memorial, with the AWM being formally established through legislation in 1925. A design competition for a new memorial was held from 1925 to 1926, although no winner was selected as none were able to satisfy the competitions criteria, generally by being too expensive. Instead Emil Sodersten and John Crust were asked to collaborate and create a design that incorporates Sodersten's Art Deco style with Crust's cost-cutting approach. Construction was set to begin in 1929, although its start was delayed due to the onset of the Great Depression. The project's scope was also reduced due to the Depression and a limited budget.
By 1934, the "Lone Pine" pine, propagated from a seed brought back from Gallipoli, was planted on the property, and some construction work had started again. By 1935, parts of the Memorial Building were occupied by AWM staff, although the AWM was not officially opened to the public until Remembrance Day in 1941.
While the Memorial was initially intended to commemorate only World War I, in 1939 the beginning of World War II led to this role being reviewed. In 1941 the board of the Memorial recommended the Second World War be included and in 1952 the Australian War Memorial Act was amended to extend the AWM's scope of commemoration to include Australian involvement in all wars. Perhaps inadvertently this also narrowed the scope of the Memorial to cover only Australian service personnel, excluding Australians serving in other Commonwealth forces, Merchant Navy sailors and civilians such as members of the Red Cross and war correspondents that has previously been intended to be within the scope of the Memorial. In 1975, its scope was expanded again to allow for the commemoration of Australians who died as a result of war, even those who had not served with an armed forces from Australia.
In 1993, a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was installed at the AWM. From 1996 to 1999, the AWM expanded and upgraded its museum galleries and exhibitions, as well as create a space for temporary exhibitions.
Christopher Latham was appointed as the AWM's first musical artist-in-residence in 2017. Latham began his Flowers of War series in 2015 to commemorate First World War musicians and artists. His Gallipoli Symphony premiered in 2015 and Diggers' Requiem in 2018. The memorial commissioned Latham's Vietnam Requiem, which was first performed in June 2021, and works are planned to commemorate the Korean War (2023), the Holocaust (2024), and World War II (2025).
In 2020, a biennial literary award for military history was established by the war memorial council, named for Les Carlyon, a former member of the council.
In 2021, the National Capital Authority (NCA) approved the AWM's expansion plans for the site, which involve the demolition of the old Anzac Hall and the construction of a new building that will also incorporate the area previously between the main memorial and ANZAC Hall. These plans have been heavily criticised due to architectural awards ANZAC Hall has received, the building's short lifespan before demolition (as it was opened only in 2001) and significant cost. Also involved in the expansion is an extension to the CEW Bean Building, and refurbishment of the museum's southern entrance and Parade Ground.
In 2022 Kim Beazley, chair of the AWM Council announced that the memorial would be open to covering the Australian Frontier Wars for the first time. Calls for the Memorial to cover the conflict in detail had increased over the decades, beginning with a proposal by historian Geoffrey Blainey in 1979. This proposal was ignored, with critics arguing the Memorial was ignoring the conflict as it was "too confronting or too uncomfortable". Previous directors had argued that the story of the Frontier Wars was the responsibility of the National Museum of Australia and that the Memorial's Act, esp. "Section 5: Functions of Memorial" restricted it to cover only deployed Australian forces. The conflict is to be included in a new "Pre-1914 gallery" (which also covers colonial conflicts Australians were involved with such as the Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion), expected to open in 2028.
Directors The following individuals have served as directors of the Australian War Memorial: Name Tenure Notes 1 Henry Gullett 1919–1920 2 J. L. Treloar 1920–1952 –Arthur Bazley1942–1946Acting director 3 J. J. McGrath 1952–1966 4 W. R. Lancaster 1966–1974 – Bill Sweeting 1974–1975 Acting director 5 Noel Flanagan 1975–1982 6 James Flemming 1982–1987 7 Keith Pearson 1987–1990 8 Brendon Kelson 1990–1994 9 Steve Gower 1996–2012 Took full-time leave in November 2011 – Nola Anderson 2011–2012 Acting director 10 Brendan Nelson 2012–2019 11 Matt Anderson 2020–present
Chair of the Australian War Memorial Council The following individuals have served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial Council:
Kerry Stokes (12 November 2015–2022)
Brendan Nelson (22 April 2022–30 November 2022) Kim Beazley (2 December 2022–present)
Grounds
The Australian War Memorial is located in Campbell, a suburb of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. It is situated on the symbolic terminus of the land axis of Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, at the base of Mount Ainslie. The property is approximately and is bounded by Limestone Avenue to the southwest, Fairbairn Avenue to the southeast, and Treloar Crescent to the north. It is positioned at the northern terminus of Anzac Parade, which aligns with the land axis of central Canberra's design. This axis runs from the peak of Mount Ainslie in the northeast to Capital Hill, in the southwest, a distance of . The AWM's positioning along this axis was deliberate to reflect its national importance and provide it with a clear line of sight to Parliament House and vice versa.
The entire AWM is listed on Australia's Commonwealth Heritage List, while the AWM and the adjacent Anzac Parade are also listed on the National Heritage List. Monuments and memorials situated at Anzac Parade are maintained separately by the NCA and do not form part of the Australian War Memorial. To the north of the park is Remembrance Nature Park, the Canberra terminus of Remembrance Driveway, a system of arboreal parks, landmarks and road-side stops between Sydney and Canberra commemorating the 24 World War II and Vietnam War Victoria Cross recipients.
The southern face of the AWM grounds, the Parade Ground, includes the Stone of Remembrance, a six-and-a-half tonnes remembrance stone that serves as a focal point for major and national ceremonies at the AWM. The stone was relocated to the Parade Ground in 1962. The Parade Ground was redeveloped in 2004 to improve access for ceremonial events, with sandstone terraces and a forecourt surrounding the Stone of Remembrance. In 2021, the Stone of Remembrance was temporarily relocated to the AWM's western courtyard to accommodate construction for the museum's expansion.
The property comprises the Memorial Building, ANZAC Hall, the CEW Bean Building, the Administration Building, and a cafe. The Memorial Building houses the AWM's commemorative and exhibition spaces and was opened to the public in 1941. The Administration Building houses the AWM's administrative offices and was completed in 1988. During the 2000s, the AWM opened two new buildings to expand its exhibition and museum operations. ANZAC Hall was opened in 2001 as an exhibition space for large objects, while the CEW Bean Building was opened in 2006 to house some administrative staff and items from the AWM's collection. Poppy's Café was built during the early 2010s, replacing an older café building built in 1960. An underground parking lot is also situated under the cafe.
The design for the grounds and the Memorial Building were finalised by Emil Sodersten and John Crust during the 1930s. Designs for the AWM's newer buildings, like the Administration Building, ANZAC Hall, and the CEW Bean Building were created by Denton Corker Marshall. The latter two building was built in excavated areas or areas of lower elevation so that it sits below the bulk of the Memorial Building. ANZAC Hall is located north of Memorial Hall and was designed to resemble a battleship, with its battered walls clad with metal panels and curved turret roof design intended to appear like a battleship. However, this building is currently being demolished, to be replaced with new building with a larger exhibition space.
Memorial Building