Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial (AWM) is a national war memorial, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, a suburb of the Australian capital city of Canberra. The grounds include five buildings and a sculpture garden. Most of the museum galleries and commemorative areas are contained in the Memorial Building.

Plans to build a national war memorial and museum were initiated shortly after the First World War, with the AWM formally established through federal legislation in 1925. Designs for the AWM were created by Emil Sodersten and John Crust, although the onset of the Great Depression delayed its construction. Work on the Memorial Building progressed in the mid-1930s, and the AWM was officially opened to the public in 1941. Several structures designed by Denton Corker Marshall were built on the grounds from the 1980s to 2000s, to house additional museum exhibits and administrative offices. In 1993, the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier was installed inside the Memorial Building's Hall of Memory.

Although the memorial was initially envisioned to only commemorate those who had died as the result of the First World War, the institution's scope was changed to include service-members of the Second World War in 1939, service-members from all other wars in 1952, and all Australians who died in conflict in 1975. Following a reinterpretation of the legal constraints on the Memorial's scope, the Australian Frontier Wars are to be covered for the first time as part of a gallery planned to open in 2028.

The AWM features galleries dedicated to the World Wars, and thematic exhibits such as the Aircraft Hall and the Hall of Valour. The memorial and museum is open daily excluding Christmas Day. The AWM holds several commemorative services on its grounds, including a nightly Last Post service, and national services for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.

The Australian War Records Section was formed in May 1917 to ensure the preservation of records relating to the First World War. Records and relics were exhibited first in Melbourne and later Canberra.

The idea for a national war memorial to commemorate veterans and to showcase war trophies in the Australian capital was also conceived by Charles Bean a year earlier in 1916. The Commonwealth Government was supportive of Bean's efforts and established an Australian War Memorial committee in 1919. Bean, together with John Treloar, the officer-in-charge of the Australian War Records Section and later the AWM's first director, guided the creation of AWM. A museum to display collected war relics was also incorporated into the institution, with Bean and Treloar believing that the museum was philosophically and operationally inseparable from the memorial.

In 1923, the Commonwealth Government officially announced its intentions to build a national war memorial, with the AWM being formally established through legislation in 1925. A design competition for a new memorial was held from 1925 to 1926, although no winner was selected as none were able to satisfy the competitions criteria, generally by being too expensive. Instead Emil Sodersten and John Crust were asked to collaborate and create a design that incorporates Sodersten's Art Deco style with Crust's cost-cutting approach. Construction was set to begin in 1929, although its start was delayed due to the onset of the Great Depression. The project's scope was also reduced due to the Depression and a limited budget.

By 1934, the "Lone Pine" pine, propagated from a seed brought back from Gallipoli, was planted on the property, and some construction work had started again. By 1935, parts of the Memorial Building were occupied by AWM staff, although the AWM was not officially opened to the public until Remembrance Day in 1941.