Today, Jen and I went back to the Botanical Gardens, because they were having a craft sale. She's still trying to finish her Christmas shopping and getting a little frustrated with trying to find cool Australiana presents that aren't, well, cheap, cheesy and made in China. :-) (This is turning out to be quite the challenge!) We had some luck at the craft show, but it wasn't very big, so it didn't take us long to get all the way through the stalls. I also got part of my Christmas gift from Jen - we found these really cool wall hangings made out of antique tin ceiling plates. The one I really liked was a series of cutout fishes. We had a great chat with the artist (who's from Hawaii, of all places) and she basically custom-made a fish hanging for me. So Jen bought it for me as part of my present. It's now hanging in my window. Cool!Anyway, after we exited the gardens, we found ourselves right across the street from Melbourne's ANZAC memorial and Shrine of Remembrance. We've been meaning to go and explore this for quite some time, so over we went. The place is HUGE. I put some photos up in my Melbourne album, if you're interested. The picture shown here is at the visitor's entrance. Engraved on the wall behind Jen are the words "Lest we forget". This theme was echoed throughout the memorial.
"ANZAC" stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps". The two countries unified their military efforts during World War I, and have remained united ever since. ANZAC Day (April 25th) is the big day of remembrance observed in both Australia and New Zealand. It commemorates the battle at Gallipoli in World War I which saw a huge slaughter of ANZAC soldiers. Today ANZAC Day services remember soldiers from many more wars than just WWI, of course.
The Shrine of Remembrance is huge. I didn't take any photos inside (it felt rather wrong) but I found a good website (courtesy of RSL Victoria) that'll take you on a virtual tour, if you're interested. The Sanctuary at the heart of the shrine was particularly powerful. It's a big bare room, with friezes carved overhead depicting various scenes from World War I. Right in the middle of the room is the Stone of Remembrance, on which is written "Greater Love Hath No Man". The entire building was engineered so that on 11 o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month, a ray of light will strike the stone, centered on the word "love". Throughout the year, the guides at the shrine re-enact the solemn ceremony that takes place on Nov. 11th, but using an electric light instead of sunshine. Jen and I happened to make it to the sanctuary at just the right time to see the ceremony re-enacted. Everyone in the room was asked to stand silent and still. The lights in the room dimmed a little and the Last Post was played. While the song played, a simulated beam of light slowly passed across the stone, lingering on the word "love". It was very powerful. I'm glad we went there. I felt, in some way, that we'd made up a little for having missed Remembrance Day (since we had been at camp).
After touring the rest of the monument, we headed back downtown to continue shopping. I think we're almost all done now, honest! Tomorrow we're heading back to St. Kilda's, where another craft market is held every Sunday. Cross your fingers!
