Australian War Memorial - The Memorial Building

The Memorial Building

The Memorial is a two-storey building with a floor plan in the shape of a cross. The building is of Byzantine architecture style with strong styling elements of Art Deco throughout. In 2001, a new, broad annex called ANZAC Hall was added to the north of the original building. In order to preserve the view of the original building from Anzac Parade, ANZAC Hall was designed to be recessed into the grounds below, and hidden behind a wall.

The upper level is dedicated primarily to World War I (the entire west wing) and World War II (the entire east wing). In the World War I area there is extensive material pertaining to the Gallipoli campaign. Between the wings lies Aircraft Hall, which contains a number of complete aircraft, mostly from the World War II era.

Also between the wings lies the Hall of Valour, a display of 61 of the 96 Victoria Crosses awarded to Australian soldiers; the largest publicly held collection of Victoria Crosses in the world. There is an individual display for the holder of each Cross shown there, with a photograph, an excerpt from the citation that accompanied the award, and usually additional medals awarded to the same soldier. The relatives of Australian VC holders often donate or lend the Crosses to the Memorial for safekeeping and greater public awareness of their honoured kin.

On 24 July 2006 Kerry Stokes purchased the 60th medal at auction for a world record price of A$1,000,000 and asked that it be displayed in the Victoria Cross Gallery. This medal was awarded to Captain Alfred Shout for hand-to-hand combat at the Lone Pine trenches in Gallipoli Turkey. The Victoria Cross Gallery now has all 9 VCs awarded to Australians at Gallipoli.

The lower level contains a theatre, a research area, displays for the colonial and post–World War II conflicts, and an area for temporary special exhibitions.

ANZAC Hall is a large annex to the upper level of the memorial, used for the display of large military hardware. Notable displays on the Western side include a complete and particularly historic Lancaster bomber known as G for George, a Japanese Ko-hyoteki class midget submarine sunk during a raid on Sydney Harbour in 1942, rare German aircraft such as the Me 262 and Me 163, and a restored Japanese A6M Zero, that was flown in combat over New Guinea. The eastern side includes a World War I aircraft exhibition, notably displaying a Royal Aircraft Factory SE5a, Pzalz D.XII and Albatros D.Va, among others.

The building is large and the collections are extensive; a full day will suffice for only the most cursory examination of its contents.

A gift shop and two coffee shops are on site, one overlooking ANZAC Hall, called "The Landing Place", and the other on the eastern side of the main building, called "The Terrace".