Since its inception during the First World War, the Australian War Memorial has relied on the generosity and commitment of everyday Australians. Then as now, Australians have understood the need for the preservation of those objects that would help all generations remember, interpret, and understand the Australian experience of war. The Memorial's collection now holds several million items that continue to tell an important part of the story of what it means to be Australian.
Of course, the Memorial is unable to accept all items into the National Collection. In developing acquisition policies, the Memorial's curators must address issues such as relevance to collection development, existing collection holdings, available storage space, and available staff resources. This means that, after careful assessment by our curators, we must sometimes decline offers of donation. Owing to the generosity of the Australian public we receive large numbers of donations, which can cause delays in processing donated material.
Please send items to the Memorial only once instructed by the Acquisitions team. Please read the donation checklist below to ensure that the necessary information is available, and then use our online form.
