Sydney: ANZAC Memorial

While we were relaxing at home yesterday — resting up for our Bridge Climb — we worked on a general list of things we want to see/do before we leave Sydney on the 21st.

Today, we began to chip away at that list.

It was a busy day of sightseeing! Made possible by comfy temps on a day that started out overcast but turned sunny by mid-afternoon. To save some steps, we started out by taking the T3 train from Circular Quay to the Museum Station, exiting at the south end of Hyde Park. Perfect … exactly where we wanted to be for the short walk to our first stop … the Art Deco style ANZAC Memorial.

(For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s an acronym that stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. By the way, I really condensed this footprint as best I could … you’ll just have to forgive the length as this site has special meaning for us. I promise, the remainder of today’s footprints won’t be nearly as wordy.)

The ANZACs and the Turks were on opposite sides during WWI. In fact, they faced each other in some of the worst battles of the war … the Gallipoli Campaign … Gelibolu, in Turkish. Yet, they forged a special relationship that endures to this day. Whenever the opportunity presents itself during our travels, Mui and I search out ANZAC memorials … and participate in remembrance ceremonies … most recently aboard Insignia during our world cruise … and hopefully here in Australia before we leave.

With that as a background … let’s move on to today’s memorial visit.

The website describes the memorial as “A physical expression of the spirit and legend of the ANZAC — Honouring Service, and the Courage, Endurance, and Sacrifice by all servicemen, servicewomen and their families.” A quote, in part, by Bruce Dellit, designer of the memorial, describes war as leaving “… burning embers of destruction — is no thing of glamour and no cause for glorification.” Honoring sacrifices made by those who served without glorifying war is a delicate balance … well achieved at the memorial.

Though we tend to associate the term ANZAC with the Gallipoli Campaign of WWI as that is when it was first used, the memorial is for all Australians, all armed and auxiliary services, and all campaigns in which they were involved. This is apparent in the imagery, symbolism, and inscriptions around the memorial.

We found everything about the memorial exceptionally moving …

… from the Hall of Service where the names of the places from which the WWI enlistees hailed are etched into black marble with embedded containers of soil from those places … and the ring of soil in the floor representing 100 battlefields and sites of military significance for service personnel from NSW;

… to the Hall of Silence … at the center of which stands George Rayner Hoff’s “Sacrifice” … based on the story of Spartan warriors from Greece being sent off to war with the words “to come home with their shield or on it”;

… to the Hall of Memory … with its balustraded-opening decorated like a wreath forming the top of the Well of Contemplation looking down on the Hall of Silence … the Dome of Stars with some 120,000 gold stars representing the men and women who served overseas during the Great War … the Flame Room with what we would refer to as the eternal flame, flanked by the flags of Australia, New Zealand, and NSW … the Niches of Remembrance representing the principal theaters of war in which the Australians served during the Great War … Gallipoli, the Western Front, Egypt and the Sinai-Palestine, and the principal sea battles of the Royal Australian Navy;

… to the plaque with the words of Atatürk’s famous “Letter to the Mothers” … addressed to the mothers of the ANZAC soldiers who fell during the Gallipoli Campaign and who are buried in Gelibolu;

… to the special memorial to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who served to defend the country … consisting of giant bullets … some upright, some on their sides.

I’ll end this footprint with the words at the bottom of the plaque at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Memorial … meaningful words that also explain the positioning of the “bullets” … and which are appropriate to the ANZAC Memorial in general …

“We remember those fallen … We honor those standing.”Read more