Honest History’s Alternative Guide to the Australian War Memorial Anzac Day 1929, Australian War Memorial site, Canberra: spectators watching the March Past (National Archives of Australia A3560, 5248) Second edition, June 2017 1 Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Using the Alternative Guide .................................................................................................................... 5 The themes of the Alternative Guide ...................................................................................................... 5 Reading the Memorial ........................................................................................................................ 5 Complexity .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Context ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Honesty (and evidence) ...................................................................................................................... 7 Why is this important? ............................................................................................................................ 8 Section 1: Outside the Memorial .......................................................................................................... 10 Simpson and his donkey ................................................................................................................... 10 National Service memorial ................................................................................................................ 10 ‘Weary’ Dunlop statue ...................................................................................................................... 11 Section 2: Cloisters and courtyard ........................................................................................................ 12 Roll of Honour cloisters ..................................................................................................................... 12 Gargoyles .......................................................................................................................................... 12 The Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier .................................................................................. 12 The windows ................................................................................................................................. 12 The speech .................................................................................................................................... 13 Section 3: Reception ............................................................................................................................. 14 Sponsors ............................................................................................................................................ 14 What is that boat doing there? ......................................................................................................... 14 Section 4: The World War I galleries ..................................................................................................... 16 What do the galleries tell you about what the Memorial thinks is important? ............................... 16 The Home Front ................................................................................................................................ 16 Johnny Turk and Atatürk ................................................................................................................... 17 Germans ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Emotions and evidence ..................................................................................................................... 18 Should we object to objects? ............................................................................................................ 19 Guns .................................................................................................................................................. 20 Change in the wind ........................................................................................................................... 21 Dying: how and how many; casualties .............................................................................................. 21 How the war affected Australia and Australians .............................................................................. 23 2 Passing the torch ............................................................................................................................... 23 Story or stories? ................................................................................................................................ 24 Section 5: The other galleries ............................................................................................................... 25 World War II ...................................................................................................................................... 25 The Holocaust: Witnesses and Survivors ...................................................................................... 25 War is declared ............................................................................................................................. 25 1940-41 Victory and defeat .......................................................................................................... 26 1942 Turning point ........................................................................................................................ 26 Kokoda Trail .................................................................................................................................. 26 Len Siffleet .................................................................................................................................... 27 1943-44 Australian Comforts Fund ............................................................................................... 27 1944-45 Final campaigns .............................................................................................................. 27 Kamikazes: the suicide attacks ...................................................................................................... 28 Sandakan-Ranau death march ...................................................................................................... 28 Victory in Europe: D-Day ............................................................................................................... 28 Pacific war ends ............................................................................................................................ 28 After the war ................................................................................................................................. 28 Bombing ........................................................................................................................................ 29 G for George and Striking by Night ............................................................................................... 29 The Hall of Valour.............................................................................................................................. 30 Conflicts 1945 to today (downstairs) ................................................................................................ 31 The Korean War: forgotten? ......................................................................................................... 31 Vietnam: a very visual war ............................................................................................................ 31 Vietnam: Agent Orange ................................................................................................................ 32 Vietnam: fighting wars in other people’s countries...................................................................... 32 Vietnam: what happened next? ................................................................................................... 32 Peacekeeping ................................................................................................................................ 33 For country, For Nation and Indigenous service (downstairs) .......................................................... 33 Discovery Zone (downstairs) ............................................................................................................. 34 Ben Quilty paintings: The Longest War (downstairs) ....................................................................... 35 Pre-Federation (downstairs, past For country, For Nation) .............................................................. 35 Boer War ....................................................................................................................................... 35 Frontier Wars ................................................................................................................................ 35 Afghanistan exhibition (downstairs) ................................................................................................. 37 Section 6: