‘The Iraq War gallery’, The Saturday Paper, 20-26 May 2023; pdf from our subscription
In-depth review of the proposed Iraq War section of the new, bigger, Australian War Memorial. Includes revealing quotes from a Memorial creator and critics of the Big Build and of the plans to fill the extra space. The quotes from in-house reveal how little the Memorial’s running rules have changed since the days of Charles Bean, except to strengthen its ties to the professional Australian Defence Force and defence industry, as distinct from the volunteer armies that Bean knew. ‘The experience of walking through the current galleries’, writes Carroll Harris, ‘is more akin to a themed recruitment booth than a military history museum that invites open dialogue and critical reflection’.
The article was printed in the hard copy of the paper under the heading ‘War stories’.
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