War Memorial, Hall of Memory and Museum

The war memorial didn’t look much from the top of Mt Ainslie but was an amazing place that, along with the incorporated museum, required two visits to get around the majority of it.

The Hall of Memory is absolutely beautiful and it was quite a moving experience just being in it. Better pictures and a virtual view is at: https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/visitor-informatio…

There are stained-glass windows on three sides of the Hall of Memory, each window divided into five panels. Each of the fifteen panels features a figure in the uniform and equipment of the First World War, and typifies one of the quintessential qualities displayed by Australians in war.

“The Byzantine dome of the Australian War Memorial is a familiar national icon. Its mosaic interior rises to 24 metres above the floor, drawing our gaze upward. From the base of the dome, stylised hands deliver the souls of the dead through clouds and dark blue sky to heaven. The spirits are symbolised by simplified, winged coffins in shapes that suggest Egyptian mummies. From a central spiritual sun, over which the stars of the Southern Cross are superimposed, seven shafts of light radiate to the cornice (the lower rim of the dome) and symbolise the seven-pointed star of Australia.”

There were many delays from conception to completion of the Hall of Memory. The artworks in the Hall of Memory had not been installed by the end of the Second World War, but it was decided that the stained-glass windows would still be dedicated to the First World War, and the Second was to be commemorated in the wall mosaics.

The memorial is located so as to be visible from Government House, the rationale being that MPs can see it and should remind them that their decisions have consequences for the people they are there to serve.

There are the names of over 102,000 Australians who lost their lives in war since the Boer War. A recording of young children reading the names is played during the day. A service is held at 4:55 every afternoon, when the story of one of the servicemen is read out, followed by the last post played by a bugler. On the day we watched, heard about Private Joseph Botrill. During WWI, he had been in France less than a month when he was killed. His body was never recovered. These occasions are all recorded and are available on the War Memorial Website.Read more