Don Barnby celebrated his 21st birthday while on patrol in Vietnam.

While Melissa Smith knew her great-grandfather was considered one of the finest shearers of the 20th century, little was known about his brother who served during the First World War.

They’ve been described as some of Australia’s most ‘sacred places’ and can be found in cities and towns around the country. Now, a National Register of War Memorials aims to record the locations of every publicly accessible memorial in Australia.

Maxwell James Trengove was born on 9 December 1911 at Kadina, South Australia, to parents William Nathaniel Trengove and Matilda Alice Trengove (née Axford).

In the grounds of the Memorial, between the main building and Anzac Hall, visitors can find one of the propellers of the first HMAS Australia. It’s an interesting artefact at first glance, but scratch the surface of its history and it becomes even more fascinating.

Steve Hooke was just 19 years old when he was sent to Vietnam – more than 40 years later, he is a voluntary guide at the Memorial.

To help preserve the memories of the Invictus Games 2018, the Australian War Memorial has taken possession of several pieces of games memorabilia, one of which is a lot like some of the competitors: big, strong, and almost unbreakable.

While working on a current project processing Second World War unit diaries, staff in the Memorial’s Research Centre came across the story of one of Australia’s most interesting companies.

The Thuillier collection is considered one of the most precious visual records of Australian soldiers in the First World War, but the work to identify the men continues.