As dawn broke, we gathered to commemorate them.
On Anzac Day, we honour the service and sacrifice of all Australians who have served our country, and those who continue to serve.
Lest we forget.
It has been a big week at the Australian War Memorial.
Aircraft Hall is open once more. New exhibitions have launched. And our long-awaited galleries in Anzac Hall are beginning to welcome visitors.
Operation Kudu: Supporting Ukraine is now on display, while the Recognising Service gallery, featuring the Tarin Kowt T-Walls, offers a chance for visitors to reflect on the service of those deployed to the Middle East region.
Plugge’s Plateau was unveiled, and we were honoured to host Their Majesties the King and Queen of Denmark.
We have also previewed two highly anticipated galleries, 'Conflict in the Middle East from 1990' and 'Peacekeeping'.
And this is just the beginning. Visitors can now catch a glimpse of galleries still to come.
Before your visit, take a look at our pinned post to see when each new gallery is opening.
A New Anzac is a four-part documentary series which follows the redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial.
Filmed over the course of three years, the series follows this transformative period behind-the-scenes through the eyes of the curators, historians, and contemporary veterans.
As new spaces are constructed and existing galleries decommissioned, the complexity of Australia’s contemporary military and peacekeeping history is revealed.
Through captured footage, archival resources and interviews, A New Anzac reflects on the AWM's role in modern day Australia.
🎬 Premiering 10 April at 8.30pm, on SBS On Demand - link in bio.
Museums are more than places that preserve history - they are places where stories, experiences and communities can be seen, heard and understood.
This International Museum Day, we share Iraqi Australian Bashar Hanna’s story from the new Conflict in the Middle East from 1990 Gallery.
Living in Baghdad during both the Iraq-Iran and Gulf Wars, many of Bashar’s memories are stained with the sounds of bombing and fighter jets.
When he arrived in Australia in 1998, Bashar found comfort in music. Today, he builds community programs that celebrate connection and healing through creativity. Proudly identifying as an ‘Australian of Mesopotamian descent’, Bashar hopes to “help people find a sense of belonging and to contribute to the social fabric of multicultural Australia.”
As a child living through conflict, Bashar once wished on this lamp for a better life. Today, it helps tell a story of resilience, identity and belonging.
Bashar’s story is just one of many in the new gallery of individuals and communities from war-torn countries who now call Australia home.
Sapper John Fitzgerald, from Quairading in Western Australia, embarked from Melbourne on 26 November 1917, served on the Western Front with the 2nd Australian Tunnelling Company, and returned to Australia on 12 May 1919.
Despite exemptions for “persons who are not substantially of European origin or descent” from service, some 1,300 Indigenous Australians served during the First World War – at Gallipoli, Tobruk, the Western Front, and the Middle East.
They served in all branches and units of the Australian Imperial Force – from artillery and the light horse, artillery to engineers, and flying corps. And they were decorated for gallantry in the field, earning Distinguished Conduct Medals and Military Medals.
Sapper Fitzgerald’s two younger brothers served in the Second World War, continuing the proud legacy of defence of Country.
Image: Sapper John Fitzgerald, Photograph by R.W. McGeehan, Melbourne, 1917. P11745.001
On 11 July 1917, a German aircraft flew over an Australian airfield and dropped a sack. In the sack was a photograph of Australian Lieutenant Claude Henry Vautin next to a German flier, Oberleutnant Gerhardt Felmy.
Also included was a letter from Felmy, written in English and addressed to “The friends of Mr Vautin”. The letter indicates that Lieutenant Vautin is well and “is a very kindly man – and of course a gentleman.”
Lieutenant Claude Henry Vautin had transferred to No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps (AFC) and had been conducting a patrol over the north-eastern edge of the Gaza Strip on 8 July 1917 when he was attacked and forced down by aircraft of the Luftstreitkräfte (the German Air Force). He was held as a prisoner in Turkey until being repatriated to Cairo in November 1918.
The letter, which had been sent to demonstrate that Vautin was alive and well, was just one of many examples of the chivalrous respect First World War fliers had for each other.
Twelve nurses stand together on the deck of Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur, smiling for the camera - unaware that only one of them would survive.
On 14 May 1943, AHS Centaur was torpedoed off the Queensland coast while travelling from Sydney to Cairns. Of the 332 people on board, only 64 survived.
This copy print was rediscovered during a move, when Memorial staff noticed several names pencilled on the reverse. After careful research, every individual in the photograph has now been identified.
Eleven of the twelve nurses pictured were killed in the sinking. Only Sister Ellen Savage survived.
The image is a poignant visual record of the tragedy - preserving not only a moment in history, but the faces and stories of those who served.
Read more about how newly uncovered images are reshaping the story of Centaur. Link in bio.
Known for their combat excellence, No. 77 Squadron RAAF also left a legacy of compassion during the Korean War.
Amid a conflict that left over 100,000 Korean children orphaned or displaced, squadron members lived among local communities and witnessed the human cost of war firsthand. In response, they provided ongoing support to orphanages and hospitals, supplying food, clothing, and medical aid.
Clothing drives were organised by the squadron’s medical officer, Flight Lieutenant James Morrison, with donations sent from Adelaide and distributed in Seoul. Aircrew delivered these supplies despite harsh weather and the constant threat of enemy action.
They also made regular visits to orphanages and children’s hospitals, spending time with children through games, recreation, and informal education. These moments offered comfort, stability, and a sense of normal life during extraordinary hardship. Many personnel also contributed directly from their own pay to purchase essentials such as eggs, tinned meat and fish, and fresh vegetables.
The actions of No. 77 Squadron exemplified the principles of humanitarian aid: emphasising dignity, compassion, and the importance of caring for the most vulnerable during times of crisis.
In today’s conflicts and humanitarian crises, military nursing looks very different to the past, shaped by advanced training and modern technology.
But while the uniform has changed, the mission has not.
Across conflict zones, peacekeeping operations, and disaster responses, Australian Defence Force nurses continue to provide critical care to both military personnel and civilians, often in challenging and unfamiliar conditions.
This International Nurses Day, we recognise the invaluable contribution nurses have made and those continuing a legacy of service on the frontline of care.
This little pig went to… 7RAR 🐖
Second Lieutenant John Renowden (Paynesville, Vic) with the battalion’s unofficial mascot, a proudly all-Australian knitted pig that’s clearly bringing home the bacon for morale.
Sent from Renowden's friend and now fully enlisted, Pig even has its own identity discs. Not bad for someone who’s really hogging the spotlight next to a military vehicle.
Photo: Michael Coleridge, August 1967, South Vietnam, COL/67/0636/VN
A message to his mother back home, stitched in silk. 💐
This Mother’s Day, discover the stories hidden in the Memorial’s silk postcard collection.
▶️ Watch as Assistant Curator of Digitised Collections, Casey Crockford, explores these remarkable postcards and the love they carried across the world.
At the start of the Second World War, German ships Pinguin and Passat laid sea mines along the Victorian and South Australian coastlines to disrupt Australian shipping routes. In July 1941, local fishermen spotted a mine packed with 300 kg of high explosive
near Beachport and towed it ashore.
The following day, a rendering mines safe party – comprising Lieutenant Commander Arthur Greening, Able Seaman William Danswan, and Thomas Wiliam Todd– was dispatched to investigate.
The team decided to destroy the mine, and towed it to a beach for demolition. While Able Seamen Todd and Danswan were working on the mine, one of its horns was activated by a wave and it detonated, killing both men instantly.
This occurred five months before Japan entered the war and seven months before the bombing of Darwin. Thomas and William were the first casualties of the Second World War caused by enemy action on Australian soil.
📸 Photos:
1. An unidentified man standing on the beach next to the enemy mine which exploded on 14 July 1941, P00805.004.
2. Portrait of 20548 Able Seaman (AB) William Leonard Edward Danswan, P00805.002
3. Portrait of PA439 Able Seaman (AB) Thomas William Todd, P00805.003
