This page archives our Centenary Watch material and also links to the post containing current material.
September-November 2018
Centenary Watch out; Minister Chester stays in place; Director Nelson makes some speeches; buy a piece of the famous MV Krait; Anzac Bears in schools; poppies and a beam of light
June-July 2018
War Memorial consultations on its proposed extensions: ‘Look on my Works’. Old wine in new bottles? Minister Chester’s recent pressers, including War Memorial Council appointments. Centenary of Great War recruitment nadir. ACT electoral redistribution: does Bean count?
April-May 2018
Budget summary, including Anzac centenary winds down, War Memorial digitisation gets thumbs up. Some schadenfreude about Picardy. Nine alternative views for Anzac Day – including Lisa Barritt-Eyles on how Lake Macquarie tackled the Frontier Wars. Preening peloton, nationalist validation, shared humanity. Turkish doco commissioned by War Memorial. Changing the guard at Veterans’ Affairs: Liz Cosson is new Secretary as Simon Lewis retires. War Memorial’s donors still top of ‘gunrunners’ league table. The Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux. Minister Chester makes news. ‘Bean’ proposed as name for ACT electorate. Green screen at Campbell.
February-March 2018
Commemorative dates for the rest of the year. Dr Chau Chak Wing sprinkles Anzac dust. Ministerial changes. Bombing of Darwin 76 years on: Territory tourism to have even stronger khaki tinge (but focus is still too narrow). New Minister unveils a tapestry and talks about commemoration events in 2018. How long for Dr Nelson? Donations from arms manufacturers to the Australian War Memorial: an interesting point.
December 2017-January 2018
Arthur Streeton: The art of war at the National Gallery of Australia combines beauty and barbarity. New Minister, renewed AWM Director. Alfred Deakin in retirement 1917 supports conscription. Long Tan Cross repatriation a good time to put Vietnam War in context. Returned soldiers speak out against conscription, 1917. Centenaries worth commemorating. National History Challenge. Arms and the Memorial. Counting the cost of commemoration. Happy Birthday, Winston!
October-November 2017
Officially sponsored 2017 view of the conscription battles of 1916-17. Four late offerings for Remembrance Day: what should we remember really? Winging it with Dr Chau: Clive Hamilton’s suppressed book has more about the War Memorial’s Fellow. Beyond the poppies row on row: Remembrance Day is a good day to think. Down the Remembrance Trail to Villers-Bretonneux with the (fairly self-effacing – so far) DVA publicity machine. Beersheba, occupation and the mind of God: a reflection on the centenary of the Beersheba charge. Specially Forced? Odd outburst from Director of Australian War Memorial. Beersheba and the scramble for the Ottoman Empire – and more on the Beersheba centenary boast. Monash busted. In other ministerial news. Comebacks.
September-October 2017
War Memorial Director Brendan Nelson at the Press Club: speech or performance art? Polygon Wood ‘remembered. ‘Life to its top’?: the Australian War Memorial reflects on World War II. Peacekeeping memorial. Lest We Forget Ute Me Gong ‘Straya. Directorial disappointment.
July-August 2017
Better late than never: Minister says best form of commemoration is to look after today’s veterans and families. Charles Bean: Man, Myth, Legacy. Minister says stand-alone DVA will continue – but here’s some advice, just in case. Lest We Forget Hiroshima 72 years ago this week. The centenary of the Third Battle of Ypres. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? Dark irony and dishonesty of Dunkirk: misrepresentations, exaggerations, and clunky bits. War Memorial big wig has National Press Club big gig (again). Long Spoon Department. Worthwhile work continues. Sail away. Elsewhere.
June-July 2017
Enlistment news from a century ago: Australians prefer not to be there. By accepting funding from weapons suppliers the Australian War Memorial demeans Australia’s war dead. More on the strange goings on at Gallipoli – and some options for President Erdogan. ‘Restoration’ work on Turkish memorials at Gallipoli affects the Ataturk Memorial. Senate Estimates. The War Memorial and Dr Chau Chak Wing. A memorial to when the Empire attacked the Boers. Ministerials. The Darwin Anzac tourist bureau. The War Memorial website – ‘young and free’. Elsewhere.
May-June 2017
The Anzac Christmas card. The first war for country, for nation. Budget provisions on commemoration, Veterans’ Affairs, more space at the War Memorial, cultural institutions – and a machinery of government proposal. ABC Q&A comments by Minister Tehan and others show how far past Peak Anzac we have come. A roof floats onto the whizzo Villers-Bretonneux Monash boondoggle. Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Archives, Anzac and Afghanistan
March-April 2017
Angry Anzac Day 2017: three pieces from Guardian Australia: get those responses rolling in. On every Anzac Day: a rapid round-up of reports before rumbling on to the next ridge. The full set: seven pieces of non-mainstream, non-marked up, non-profit commentary for Anzac Day. Probably only small numbers travelling to Gallipoli this year. Wearing three hats, an interesting collection of pressers from Minister Tehan. Malcolm Turnbull and Benjamin Netanyahu find modern resonance in Beersheba 1917. Vietnam War commemoration nervously gears up again (but not at Long Tan). Gallipoli and Beanland.
February-March 2017
The bombing of Darwin and the Fall of Singapore, 75 years on: some alternative views. Moving right along. Running for Anzac. Alternative facts at the Australian War Memorial.
December 2016-January 2017
Peak Anzac passes as ministers come and go; elsewhere in this edition
October-December 2016
September-October 2016
July-August 2016
June-July 2016
April-June 2016
March-April 2016
Collection of fundraising badges (mostly from during World War II) by Miss Janette Kitchener, Chatswood, NSW, c. 1927-50 (Australian War Memorial REL37512)