Last Thursday, the 2nd April 2015 I went with fifteen otherFriends of the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery on a tour of the Australian War Memorial Museum in Canberra, our Nations Capital. The trip was organised by the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery as it is currently presenting an exhibition titled ‘A salute – Aussie Soldier from 1915 meets Young Turk in 2015’. The Goulburn exhibition recognises the sacrifices made by all sides in the Great War of 1914-1918.

The Australian War Memorial Museum in Canberra has devoted one of its many display areas to showcase part of their collection of World War 1 relics which dovetail nicely with the exhibition at our local gallery.

As you will see from the following image, taken from the front entrance to the Memorial, a broad boulevard leads the eye, firstly, to the old Australian Parliament House and then on towards the  home of the Australian Government’s new Parliament House, adorned by the wonderful flag pole  and our national flag.

On arrival, we were met by our appointed guide and immediately commenced our tour. Our first stop was for orientation and took place next to a bullet riddled small boat saved from the battle front for future generations by a forward thinking official civilian war correspondent. Our guide is the distinguished looking man facing our small group.

Photography, minus flash, is welcome throughout the museum which is bursting at the seams with intriguing artefacts of the period.

Many famous WW1 battles are explained by detailed dioramas and after a couple of hours pausing from time to time for detailed information from our guide, we stopped at a diorama depicting the final hours of the conflict on the 11th November, 1918.

After a short lunch, our tour concluded with a brief explanation of the conservation process undertaken by the conservators and we then boarded our coach for the return home.

Our tour was an emotional and educational experience. The participants were unanimous in their desire to return to the Museum as there is so much of historical interest to be seen there.

The following image depicts the back view of the Museum. After all, everyone photographs the front.

Hope you enjoyed the images and the read.

Hoo roo