February 2017

In 2015 the Australian War Memorial introduced a free online booking system for seating at major ceremonies, which has allowed our visitors to book their own seats for the Anzac Day and Remembrance Daynational ceremonies. To make this process more efficient, we will no longer be issuing individual invitations; instead the information will be communicated via this newsletter, social media platforms, and the Memorial’s website.

Thank you for your interest in attending and being part of the Memorial’s commemorative ceremonies, and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

On Wednesday 18 January the Memorial was honoured to witness the return of the lost medals of Private Gilbert Palmer Mant to his family.

Gary Traynor from the volunteer organisation Lost Medals Australia purchased Mant’s medals some years agon, and has been looking for the family ever since.

After reading one of our blogs, titled Perspectives of Parit Sulong, the association contacted one of our volunteers in the hope the Memorial could assist in locating the family. As fate would have it, the volunteer was in close contact with the daughter Private Mant, and played a key role in reuniting his medals with his family.

Mant was an original member of the 2/19th Battalion. Prior to enlisting, he worked as the Australian News Editor for Reuters, and in July, 1941 he was manpowered out of the Army by Reuters and returned to Australia. He webt back to Malaya as a war correspondent. Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya in 1942, he returned to Australia before Singapore Island fell that February.

Private Gilbert Palmer Mant died on 16 February 1997.

Visit the Memorial with family and friends for a moving and unforgettable experience. See our events page for the many public programs scheduled throughout the month, including;

Of love and war: sweetheart jewellery from the world wars

Changi concert party programs

Z special unit: covert operations in Borneo

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a longstanding tradition of fighting for Country, and continue to serve with honour among our military forces. The new exhibitionFor Country, for Nation presents a diverse range of art, objects, photographs, and stories from across Australia to explore.

Thematic in structure, the exhibition presents stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences during wartime.

Weekly highlights tours will be held every Tuesday from 11.30 am. See our Events calendar for more information. The exhibition closes on 20 September 2017.

If you are flying in or out of Canberra be sure to take a moment to see our fully restored Lockheed Hudson Mark IV Bomber, on display inside the Canberra Airport near the Virgin Australia check-in counter. We’d love to see some images on our social media accounts, so feel free to post something when you visit!

Issue 77 of Wartime, “Axis ascendant”, covers the critical early years of the Second World War. In this period the German Blitzkrieg seemed unstoppable as it swept into France and northern Europe. In the Pacific, the Japanese landed in Malaya a few hours before bombing Pearl Harbor. The subsequent desperate fighting by Allied forces failed to halt the Japanese drive to Singapore, where thousands were captured, raising fear of invasion in Australia.
Meanwhile, Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union was bogged down. Japanese military planners were at odds with each other, and missed opportunities at Pearl Harbor. All these stories and more are covered through gripping narratives and skilled historical analysis.

Visit our website to purchase your copy.

Join us this Sunday 12 February to watch the last of our Summer Film series; Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. A biographical film based on American TV journalist Kim Barker’s memoir The Taliban shuffle: strange days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it features an all-star cast led by Tina Fey and Margot Robbie.

The film explores Barker’s experiences as a female war correspondent, and the lengths to which you sometimes need to go to get the story.

This is a free event and will commence at 1.30 pm, so get in early to guarantee yourself a seat!  Visit our website for all the details.

The Spirit of Anzac Centenary Experience travelling exhibition is the flagship event of the national Centenary of Anzac program. It features more than 200 artefacts from the Memorial’s National Collection. So far more than 279,000 visitors have attended the  travelling exhibition across Australia.

This year the exhibition travels to Kalgoorlie, where it will be on display from 30 January to 5 February before moving back to the east coast for display in Geelong, Newcastle and Orange, ending the tour in Sydney in April.

For more details on exhibition dates and to book tickets visit www.spiritofanzac.gov.au

Our special Friends-only activities offer an insider’s view of the Memorial’s exhibitions and galleries. These activities include behind-the-scenes tours and talks by the Memorial’s historians and curators.

See our website for more information on how to join our Friends of the Memorial program.

Visit our online shop for the latest range of military history books, unit histories, biographies and educational resources.

Double Diamonds: Australian commandos in the Pacific war, 1941—1945 written by Karl James.

During the Second World War, in the mountains and jungles of Timor, Bougainville, and New Guinea, Australian commando units fought arduous campaigns against the Japanese. The story of these elite independent companies and commando squadrons, whose soldiers wore the distinctive double-diamond insignia, is told here for the first time.

Through 130 powerful images from the Australian War Memorial’s unparalleled collection – some never before published – Double diamonds captures the operational history of these units and the personal stories of the men who served in them, many of whom lost their lives or the friends who trained and fought alongside them.

Soft cover, photographs, 232 pages. $39.99