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Conservation

Many museums and institutions have their own conservation departments, and larger institutions often have separate departments for different material specialisations. The Australian War Memorial has a number of conservation laboratories, housed at the Treloar Conservation Centre.

Conservation involves an interdisciplinary approach to the study and care of cultural property. Conservation activities include carrying out technical and scientific studies on objects, stabilizing the materials and structure of damaged objects, performing restoration work where damage to an object has made it structurally unsound or difficult to display, and establishing the environment in which artifacts are best preserved. At the Memorial, conservators care for large technology, small objects, textiles, photographic, paper and art collections. There are also staff working in the fields of conservation science and preventive conservation. An analytical chemistry laboratory provides additional support for research programs, which investigate the vast range of deteriorating materials found in objects in the collections as well as new ways of conserving them.

Caring for your mementoes

Conservators at the Memorial have developed the following set of leaflets, Caring for your mementoes, for the use of the general public:

  • Works of art on paper
  • Books
  • Documents
  • Medals
  • Oil paintings
  • Photographs
  • Textiles

Water Damage

  • Salvage of water-damaged items
  • Flooding - Response and Recovery

Fire Damage

  • Disaster Recovery
  • Cleaning Soot Damaged Objects

More advice on bushfire recovery can be found on the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials website.

Meet our Conservators

  • Catherine Challenor: Textile Conservation - the Richmond Colour project
    Catherine Challenor is one of the Memorial's Textile Conservation specialists. The project she is working on is the conservation of the Regimental Colour of the Richmond Company, Victorian Volunteer Rifle Corps.

Conservation Case Studies

  • Before and after: stories from the paper lab
  • A rose between two thorns
  • A steed reborn - OV 10A Bronco
  • Japanese Ha-Gō type 95 light tank conservation
  • "G for George"
  • Beaufort A9-557
  • German Pith Helmet
  • 49th Battalion Regimental Colours
  • Keith "Nugget" Miller’s Cricket Cap
  • Grenadier Guards Tunic
  • Amiens Gun shelter

Last updated: 9 February 2021

Cultural Message Modal

Explore the Collection

Explore the Collection

Our collection contains a wealth of material to help you research and find your connection with the wartime experiences of the brave men and women who served in Australia’s military forces.

Find out more
The Australian War Memorial at Night

Visit

The Australian War Memorial was voted the number one landmark in Australia by travellers in the 2016 Trip Advisor awards. Come and see why.

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The Donations and bequests

Donations & Bequests

Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future.

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The placesofpride

Places of Pride

Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial across Australia.

Find out more
Canberra Highlands in Grayscale

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS

The Australian War Memorial acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and waters. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
Location map of The Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial building

The Australian War Memorial

Treloar Crescent
Campbell ACT 2612
Australia
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The Australian War Memorial

Treloar Crescent

Campbell ACT 2612

Australia

 

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