 | Canberra Australian War Memorial Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 60 |  |
 | |  |  | Australian War Memorial: Canberra War Memorial a must see destination | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
The Australian War Memorial is the national capital icon and is considered one of the nation’s best. The Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941. It is a collection of historical information, memorabilia, paintings reflecting to Australian men and women involvement in world war conflict. The collections range from Boer War (South African War), WWI to recent Gulf War, which covers large information. Also is a place for conserving Australian cultural heritage. Inside the War Memorial visitors are able to see many exhibitions on display. The exhibitions are well assembled. You will see uniforms that Australian soldiers and nurses wear, they are also American, German, Russian, British and others. There’s scenery of important battles. Tanks from WWI, the Japanese mini sub, the Korean War and many more are display. Inside the War Memorial you could spent all day just observing and reading the display. On the side of the building there are two large wall of which names of fallen loved one is scribed. For remembrance red poppies are placed by relatives. Not far from the Pool of Reflection is the Domed, inside the Domed is the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier (1914-1918). Outside the building there is a statue of Simpson and his Donkey. John Simpson is Australian hero. At Gallipoli with heavy bombardment, Simpson and a donkey carried water up Shrapnel Gulley and bring the wounded soldiers into safer area. Along the Anzac Parade there are several memorials representing Australian involvement in War, the Vietnam War memorial is one of them. War Memorial probably is not everyone cup of tea. No one in the right mind condone war. To me War Memorial is a learning place to visits. In a nut shell it made me realized that war sucks which no one wins. In my opinion war should not be glorified, it should be put into memory and hopefully it should not happen again. Open daily between 10.00am-5.00pm. Free admission. Donation box at the entrance. Phone: 02 6243 4211Website: http://www.awm.gov.au/
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| | | | Australian War Memorial: War Memorial - getting personal | Tip Rating: | | | | |
I never knew the man, only his wife and his son. At the age of 35 he found himself in the god forsaken mud that was the battlefield at Ypres. He had travelled from South Australia and married Bathia and they lived at Wilberforce to the west of Sydney on a farm. By all accounts it was a happy existence until the war intervened. On the way over he had written home on the leaves from pussy willow trees. Echoes from the past that resonate still from a shelf in my study room. Heart rending epithets such as "To Bessie from W. My thoughts are always of you and Tom"; "There are some nice places but none so nice as home"; "To Bessie from W. far across the sea"; "From A55 to Kelmont, where would I rather be?". I find it a bit gut-wrenching reading them now. Thus it was that these are the last pieces of tangible evidence of his existence. On the 4th October, 1917, along with many others, he was blown to smithereens by shellfire defending a country halfway round the world that he probably hardly knew existed. Two thirds who died did so by shellfire in that conflict........and for what? To placate a few male egos? Such were the times. And what have we learnt from them? My father, his son, also joined the services and served in the Second World War in New Guinea and stayed in the R.A.A.F. till his retirement. I served for one year in my youth, falling short of the standard required for an armament fitter and luckily getting out. My sons are anti war, no doubt influenced to some degree by their father. As one gets older one's roots seem to take on a significance not apparent in one's younger days and so it was that I made a pilgrimage to the War Memorial basement level to find out where my grandfather might be commemorated. It turns out there's a plaque on the Menin Gate at the town of Ieper (formerly Ypres) in Belgium. It was a teary-eyed moment for me to find that out and the rest of my time in the War Memorial I seemed to be burdened with that information, unable to take in some of the exhibits as I might have. Leave a Comment Phone: 02 6243 4211Website: http://www.awm.gov.au/
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| | | | Australian War Memorial: The Shellal Mosaic | Tip Rating: | | | | |
About the last thing you'd expect to find in a war museum is a floor mosaic from historical times. I, for one, was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across the Shellal Mosaic that was originally housed in a Palestinian chapel. The Hellenistic style of the vine trellis has pagan connotations. The full symmetry of design, detailed tonality of the animals create realistic 3 dimensional aspects of them. For me I was immediately reminded of the superb, virtually intact example at Aquileia in northern Italy. You can also see the merging of styles with the Hellenistic vine linking to the Roman isometric border and the symmetry being very Gazaean in design. When it comes to the Christian ideals of the floor piece it is obvious that the architecture of the church was extremely basic and primitive, with a simple rectangular floor and no presence of an apse. The only clue to where the altar may have been is the journey, one might say, of the central links of vines that symbolise traditional offerings, leading from one small crucifix cross to the top one where the altar may have been. At the top there is an inscription that says: "this temple with rich mosaics did decorate our most holy bishop...and the most Pious George, priest and sacristan, in the year 622 according to the era of Gaza, In the tenth year of the indication". An art historian by the name of Henderson has interpreted it as an allegory of salvation: The Vine is Christ as well as the Tree of Life that shelters all of god's creatures, and each animal represents either a virtue or aspect of humanity such as the Peacock (resurrection and eternal life). Down the centre, the subjects that arent of wildlife each have thier own meaning. The Amphora is the water of life with the unconsecrated water being in the west (at the bottom of the mosaic) and the baptismal or holy water being in the ast (at the top before the altar). Leave a Comment Phone: 02 6243 4211Website: http://www.awm.gov.au/
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on October 3, 2007
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