August 2016 at the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial will mark the 50th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan and Vietnam Veterans Day in August with a number of moving tributes honouring the 60,000 Australian men and women who served our nation throughout the Vietnam War.

The following activities will take place at the Memorial:

• Vietnam War projections onto the Memorial building – 16, 17, and 18 August
• Hall of Memory performance of “I was only 19” by Mr John Schumann – 17 August
• Last Post Ceremony of Private Kenneth Gant – 17 August
• Vietnam vale – Roll of Honour readings – 18 August
• Stand-to Service – 18 August
• Last Post Ceremony of Lieutenant Gordon Sharp – 18 August
• A walk in the light green exhibition – 7 and 18 August
• Vietnam War-focused Memorial tours – 17 and 18 August

Please visit our website for more information about the commemorative events taking place both here and externally.

Artist Dacchi Dang has been commissioned by the Memorial to create works of art that tell the shared experiences of Australian and South Vietnamese veterans of the Vietnam War.

If you or someone you know is a Vietnam veteran interested in participating in this project, please see our website for further info.

Hosted at the Memorial’s conservation facility and storage hub in Mitchell, Big things in store is a unique opportunity for the whole family to experience one of the world’s greatest military collections.

Saturday 10 September
9 am to 3 pm
Treloar Technology Centre, Mitchell

Entry is by donation, with proceeds going to support the work of the Australian War Memorial.

Closed, flat footwear is recommended. No large bags allowed. Please bring your camera; however, tripods and selfie sticks are not permitted.

The Memorial’s Reality in flames exhibition, which has been on tour since March 2014, will finish on 4 Septemper 2016.

This was the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to exploring how Australian modernist artists responded creatively to the Second World War. The exhibition consists of 90 works of art from the Australian War Memorial’s collection; taken together, they constitute one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of modern Australian art relating to war.

The last exhibition tour will be at 12.30 pm on 10 August.

“…in Australia, they will be proud of this”

Memorial Director Dr Brendan Nelson addressed the National Press Club with his speech ‘From Fromelles to Poziéres – we remember’ to mark the 100th anniversary of these battles and one of the most tragic periods in Australia’s military history.

Dr Brendan Nelson shared his insights into the courage, mateship, and determination that underpinned the next stage of Australians at war.

Watch the video here or read the full speech here.

The first guns captured by the Australians on the Western Front – July 1916

Jagged chunks of white-hot metal shrieking through the air, concussive blasts sending shockwaves through the earth, spumes of soil, filthy gore, and dust spreading over the landscape, and the acrid chemical residue of spent explosives. Pockmarked wastelands stripped of vegetation and horribly disfiguring injuries dealt out without discrimination to all classes, ranks, and creeds. These were (and still are) horrors that come hand-in-glove with the use of artillery. Nowhere was this more evident on a gargantuan scale than in the clash of dug-in armies on the Western Front.

A series of photographs taken after the July 1916 battle of Poziéres dramatically illustrates the after-effects of a bombardment on a German artillery position.

Continue reading this blog … 

The Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience is the flagship community event of the national Centenary of Anzac program. Around 200 artefacts from the Memorial’s National Collection are included in the exhibition.

This August the exhibition will be travelling to the Fred Moule Exhibition Centre in Cairns, visit the website for more information.

The Spirit of Anzac is halfway through its national tour, with 12 locations remaining. For a full list of venues and showing times visit http://www.spiritofanzac.gov.au/.

Far from home: researching stories of First World War military service
11 am, 13 August. Bookings essential.
Discover how to research stories of those who served with Australian forces during the First World War using the resources and collections of the Australian War Memorial. See our website for full details.

For Country, for nation, special exhibition tour
10.30 am, 23 September. Bookings essential.
Please join exhibition curators for a Friends-only tour of the new special exhibition For Country, for nation. See our website for full details.

See our winter brochure for more information.

Highlights include:

Reality in Flames final tour, 12.30 pm, 10 August
“Mephisto” in the archives, 1.30 pm, 11 August
The Mother’s cross in Nazi Germany, 2.30 pm, 12 August
Musical instruments of the First World War, 2.30 pm, 15 August
Honouring Vietnam veterans: commemorative events, 16-18 August
Frederick Steele and the battle of Mons, 10.30 am, 23 August
The Devil’s chariot: A7V “Mephisto”, 2.30pm, 26 August
Escape and evasion equipment of the Second World War, 2.30 pm 29 August

Attack on the Somme: 1st Anzac Corps and the battle of Pozières Ridge, 1916

Meleah Hampton

The battle of Pozières Ridge lasted precisely six weeks. In that time the 1st Anzac Corps, in whose sector most of the fighting took place, advanced the British line just over a mile and a half. During this period the three divisions of 1st Anzac Corps rotated in and out of the line twice, each time conducting one or more offensive operations against heavily defended German positions. This study of the battle reveals that, more often than not, this was an unnecessary waste of lives and resources for the most negligible of gains.

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