The War Memorial

We visited the War Memorial which is quite a moving experience for people, even moreso for the returned soldiers who served in any of the conflicts Australia have been involved in...the shot shows the view back towards the Parliament House, all part of the design from concept...

Before entering the memorial you will see a number of statues around the grounds depicting scenes to capture in part what it was like for those who served. This particular scene is of private Simpson who fought in Gallipoli - he was unknown to a lot of the soldiers by name only as the soldier with the donkey. He rescued over 300 men who were wounded and was himself killed at Gallipoli. We later found out that in joining the army he was trying to return to England to see his mother and fight on the western front but midway through the journey the orders were changed and they went to Gallipoli...

This is a portion of the navel ship HMAS Brisbane...turret gun at the ready...

A pan view of the central courtyard with the eternal flame and tomb to the unknown soldier in the middle of the photo...either side is the roll of honour...

The roll of honour contains all 102,000+ names of Australians who died during all conflicts right up to today. The greater portions of these are the 60,000 lost in the First World War and the 40,000+ lost in the Second World War. There wouldn't be a town in Australia that hadn't been touched in some way by these horrific days...

The poppies in the roll of honour were placed by relations of the soldiers that served when the then Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered his speech at the return and burial of the 'Unknown Soldier' on the 11th November 1993

The tomb of the unknown soldier returned from the European battlefield, who came to represent all soldiers who served in battle in all wars not just the Great War of 1914-1918...

The speech delivered by then Prime Minister Paul Keating on 11th November 1993 at the service for the unknown soldier. It's a ripper....to add to the occasion one of the WW1 diggers who was at the service had a handful of dirt and tossed it into the open grave and said 'You're finally home mate'...very powerful symbolism...

Inside the memorial were exhibits from all services. Here Sailor Sam is being attentive controlling the submarine...

....ably assisted by 'first mate' Leeanne...

This is 'G for George' the famous Lancaster Bomber that survived 90+ missions in the Second World War. The average at the time was between 20-30 before being shot down by the enemy...

The couple of 'redneck gunners' in the chopper are Joey and Sam... the pretend paratrooper is Leeanne...somebody help us!!