Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial sits at the head of Anzac Parade in Canberra, on the axis between Parliament House and Mount Ainslie. It opened on Remembrance Day 1941 and is unique among major national war memorials in combining three roles in one institution: a shrine of remembrance, a military history museum, and an archive of personal records, photographs and oral histories.

The memorial commemorates the more than 102,000 Australian servicemen and women who have died in war. Their names are inscribed on the bronze panels of the Roll of Honour that line the cloisters surrounding the central courtyard, and a single red poppy is placed beside the name of each fallen soldier when family members visit. The Hall of Memory, the centerpiece of the building, contains the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier, repatriated from a French battlefield in 1993.

The museum galleries hold one of the finest military history collections in the world. Exhibits cover every conflict Australians have served in, from the Sudan campaign of 1885 through both World Wars to Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The First World War galleries (the Western Front and Gallipoli sections in particular) are widely considered among the most powerful war museum exhibits anywhere, with original artifacts, dioramas, personal letters and recovered battlefield objects.

The Last Post Ceremony is held in the Commemorative Area at 4:55pm every day the memorial is open (which is every day except Christmas Day). The ceremony tells the story of one Australian named on the Roll of Honour, a piper plays a lament, the Last Post is sounded, and the public observes a minute of silence. It is the most affecting daily public ritual at any institution in the country, and visitors regularly describe it as the most moving experience of their Canberra visit.

Entry to the memorial is free. Allow at least three hours to do justice to even the main galleries. The memorial closes at 5pm but the gardens and the courtyard are accessible until later. The annual Anzac Day Dawn Service, held at the memorial on 25 April, draws tens of thousands of attendees and is broadcast live on national television.