60th Anniversary 1941-2001
Now and Then
With the Australian War Memorial celebrating their 60th anniversary, Gillian Freeman reflects on its beginnings.
"Here is their spirit, in the heart of the land they loved; and here we guard the record which they themselves made." (Charles Bean, 1948)
As the Australian War Memorial celebrates its 60th anniversary, the words of its founder, war correspondent Dr Charles Bean, remain meaningful for so many Australians today. Bean saw ordinary Australians perform extraordinary feats at Gallipoli, Pozières and elsewhere during the First World War, and realised these acts of courage and sacrifice had to be remembered - not only to help families grieve but for future generations to understand the impact of war on our society.
Charles E W Bean, the Australian Official Correspondent, watching the
Australian advance near Martinpuich through a telescope.
AWM E00246
Bean envisaged the War Memorial as a place to commemorate, not glorify, the sacrifice made by Australians who fought and died at war. He pictured 'the national memorial building … not colossal in scale but rather a gem of its kind'. It would have a library (what is now called the Research Centre), space for exhibitions, a gallery and, most importantly, a Hall of Memory and Roll of Honour, listing all the names of the 62,000 Australians who died in the Great War. Inspired by artist Will Dyson, he also instigated the Official War Art Scheme in which some of Australia's best painters went to the battlefields as war artists. Fourteen were commissioned during the First World War, 41 during the Second World War, and two each for Korea, Vietnam and during peacekeeping missions in East Timor.
But first the Memorial had its own battles to fight. Despite being approved by the government as early as 1923, the building itself didn't open in Canberra until 1941 - more than 20 years after the end of the First World War (the war to end all wars) and at the height of the Second World War. (The Memorial did have temporary residences in both Melbourne and Sydney before that). So what happened?
Other than the usual political hiccups and the Great Depression, one of the main reasons for the delay in finding a permanent home for the Australian War Memorial was an international competition to design the building. Entrants had to meet a demanding and extensive qualifying list with a paltry budget of only £250,000. Although 148 architects registered, only 70 submitted entries. Of these, not one was awarded the contract - none could meet the impossible criteria.
Instead two Sydney architects, Emil Sodersteen and John Crust, were selected and asked to cooperate on a design. Neither qualified alone but together the practical element of Crust's design and the art deco beauty of Sodersteen's did. Many thought this unfair - two architects winning instead of one - and it was debated in parliament for almost a year afterwards. One newspaper article asked how the two architects could succeed when 68 others couldn't with 'all their partners, assistants, draftsmen and advisory quantity surveyors'. Furthermore, while Sodersteen and Crust did collaborate, their very different ideas led to more delays, with Sodersteen resigning before the building was completed. Indeed, then director of the Memorial, John Treloar, later said in 1938 when referring to Sodersteen that, 'all our efforts to complete the Memorial have been paralysed by one of our architects … [in] trying to force on us alterations in the design which are not wanted.'
The Memorial did eventually open on Remembrance Day, 1941 and the results of the architects' efforts were a great success. As current Memorial Director Steve Gower says, 'the classical and art deco styles have combined to create a unique memorial befitting a national capital. The central commemorative area provides an uplifting place of solace and contemplation for many Australians.'
VP Day, Canberra
Abbott, Harold
AWM ART22923
But the Korean and Vietnam wars and many peacekeeping missions took their toll on a building that was only meant to house material from the First World War. Over time the building became tired and cramped. By the mid-1970s it had hit rock bottom with poor facilities and a mish-mash of styles. As then Memorial Director Noel Flannagan said: 'without being harshly critical, the Memorial was a bit sad. There were no professional curators or conservators and no storage or conservation facilities.'
David Keany, who has worked in conservation at the Memorial since the mid-seventies, remembers the Memorial's conservation section as a cramped den with only two conservators. 'Although the conservation of paintings was considered highly, the idea of looking after the rest of the collection didn't enter anyone's mind. You should've seen the condition of the nitrate film, paper-based and newspaper collections, not to mention everything else.' But a new and contemporary conservation and storage annex in Mitchell did open in 1978 with appropriate conservation practices to match. 'Suddenly we were imposing a care on these paintings that they'd never seen before,' Keany says.
The signpost near the ANZAC Parade and Limestone Avenue intersection
with the Australian War Memorial at the background.
AWM 085710
The Memorial's first curator (now Head of Military Heraldry and Technology), Peter Burness, who started in 1973, says it was like a renaissance when director Noel Flannagan started lobbying government to increase Memorial staff, money and facilities during the late 1970s. 'We were so far backward, it took decades to get to where we are now,' he says.
Today, the Memorial lives up to Charles Bean's vision with new and dynamic galleries - although much larger than he envisioned, with the extension of ANZAC Hall, which houses big technology items such as the Japanese midget submarine that attacked Sydney Harbour in 1942.
In the past five years under the leadership of Steve Gower, this world-class institution - winner of the national tourism awards for 2000 and in the running for 2001 - has spent more than $30 million on redeveloping its galleries to care for and display objects, works of art, photos, film, sound and private and public records from all wars. These new exhibitions include Second World War and Orientation galleries, Research Centre, Sculpture Garden, Discovery Room and Education Centre for school children and the much-loved Bradbury Aircraft Hall. Topping off the redevelopment is the first extension to the Memorial in 30 years - ANZAC Hall.
ANZAC Hall
Charles Bean died in 1968 but, as a close friend said at his funeral, he will always exist 'in the proud tradition of Australian nationhood that he did so much to create and inspire'. Now almost one million Australians visit the Memorial's new galleries each year as a way of understanding their heritage and identity. They come to place a poppy against the name of a relative on the Roll of Honour, trace family histories or simply reflect on what makes us who we are. Steve Gower says 'this remarkable institution speaks to all generations of Australians.'
Gillian Freeman writes on the arts and works in public relations at the Australian War Memorial.
"Now and Then" was first published in the November #212 issue of Muse Magazine: Canberra's Arts Monthly.
