Australian War Memorial and Museum

One thing I can sure say about Australia - they do AWESOME museums. And so far, all the ones we've been to here in Canberra are completely free!

Yesterday morning Jen and I headed back to the Australian National Museum, because when we were there on Friday we'd seen a poster advertising a didgeridoo demonstration that would be taking place at noon on Sunday. We'd also run out of time to see the special exhibition gallery, which was all about the Western Desert Art movement. The art exhibition was wonderful. Not only did it go through the history of this form of Aboriginal art, but it also explained some of the symbolism behind the patterns used in these paintings. I was fascinated. There are layers and layers of meaning in each painting, and only the very basic or introductory meanings can be shared with outsiders. I bought a few art cards to remind me of the paintings I saw.

The didgeridoo demo was also good. It took place in the atrium of the museum. The demonstration was made up of a man (who led the whole thing), two boys and three girls, who ranged in age from about 8 to about 16. All wore traditional body paint and clothing. I was actually most surprised that it was one of the young boys who did most of the didgeridoo playing - the man led everyone else in a series of dances that told various stories. At the beginning of each dance/story, the man would explain what different movements in the dance meant, or he would give a synopsis of the story, and then everyone would act it out. At one point they called up a number of little kids from the audience to join them in a boomerang-throwing dance. The Aboriginal kids showed the tourist kids how to do each move, and then they all danced together. And then at the end, the very last dance the group did was a "footy" dance, depicting, of course, a game of rugby! It was a good reminder that dance is used to tell stories - both past and present.

After the didgeridoo presentation was over, Jen and I ate lunch and headed off to our main objective of the day - the Australian War Memorial. What with Canberra being a planned city and all, the drive approaching the Memorial is pretty spectacular. There's this huge wide boulevard that you drive up, and spaced all along each side are monuments to the various conflicts that the Australians have fought in. The Memorial sits on top of a hill, overlooking all these monuments. And when you walk up to the front of the Memorial, you stare back down this boulevard, straight across Lake Burley-Griffin, and up another boulevard all the way to Parliament House, in a straight line of sight nearly 6kms long. Very impressive.

The Australian War Memorial combines both the country's war monument and national war museum. For all my army friends back home, this place is at least as impressive (if not more so!) than our own War Museum. Once again, although we spent 5 hours there, we didn't see everything!

The museum is broken into various galleries which teach about Australia's involvement in the world's major conflicts. I really liked the dioramas that were scattered throughout. A number of the major battles in WWI and WWII were displayed in diorama form, with good descriptions of what was going on in each scene. I took a few pictures but I don't know how well they capture what I saw. (You'll have to wait until Jan. 3rd or 4th to see my pics from this trip; I can't access the internet on my own computer right now so I can't upload anything until I get back to Melbourne.)

It was interesting to learn about another country's involvement in the Great Wars. For instance, I knew that Australia came under attack by the Japanese during WWII (the northern city of Darwin was basically completely destroyed), but I didn't know that the Japanese also came as far south as Sydney, where they torpedoed several ships. I learned more about Gallipoli and the battles that helped Australia to define itself as a nation, and the birth of ANZAC Day. Most of the displays on WWII focused on the action in the Pacific and in the Middle East, where Australian troops played huge roles. There was only one little tiny section on D-Day and the war in Europe!

There was also an excellent exhibition on WWII aircraft, mostly those of Australian and Japanese design. But what I thought was REALLY fantastic were the sound-and-light shows that took place in several of the exhibits. The first one we saw took place during a bombing raid on Berlin during WWII. The centrepiece of the display was a Lancaster bomber aircraft. Situated around the plane was a small German fighter plane, a German anti-aircraft gun, and two huge screens that showed different things as the show went on. (Don't get me wrong here - I'm talking about REAL planes and guns, not small models). As different people from the plane's flight crew were talking, their position in the plane would be highlighted. When the plane was "taking off" on its run, the screens behind showed what the pilots would have seen from their vantage point. When the bomber was attacking Berlin, all you could hear were the drone of the bombers, the gunfire from the anti-aircraft gun, and the attacking of the little fighter plane. It was fantastic.

On the other end of the hall where the bomber was, there was an exhibition about the HMAS Sydney and how it sunk the German ship Emden in WWI. The museum has gun turrets from both ships on display, facing each other, and during the sound-and-light show, the floor between them became a map of the ocean around the Cocos (Keeling) islands, where the battle took place. Every time one of the ships fired on the other, a bright light would flash over the appropriate gun turret, and the track of the shots was shown on the map below. Again, very cool.

Jen and I both agree, however, that the best of the sound and light shows was in the brand new exhibit on modern conflicts. This gallery doesn't even officially open until February - but the museum staff were giving a sneak preview to everyone! Anyhow, in the Vietnam exhibit, they had an Iroquois helicopter (the type you see all the time in Vietnam movies). It was displayed with its full compliment of soldiers and airmen, and set to look like it had just landed in a field of long grass. There were two big screens behind the chopper, displaying static scenes of other choppers landing in the surrounding fields. But when the sound and light show started, the screens showed live action, as the patrol of helicopters tried to rescue a group of injured soldiers on the ground. The sounds of the helicopters and gunfire were incredible. There was even rotor-wash blasting in our faces as the chopper "landed" and "took off"!

So, like I said, we wandered around the museum for far longer than we'd originally intended. We didn't even get to stick our noses into the exhibit on Lawrence of Arabia! 5pm came and went and we knew we needed to get home to feed the animals, so we took a quick peek into the Hall of Memory, where the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is, and walked the Roll of Honour. This consists of two walls with bronze plaques, listing every Australian serviceman and woman who has died in a conflict since the late 1800's. It is very powerful. Many people had stuck plastic poppies into slots in the wall beside specific names. And again, I hope my pictures do it some justice!

Phew! Busy day! After a quick trip back to the house to feed the animals and grab a bite to eat, we zipped back across town to the movies. Gotta take advantage of this cheap $8 movie theatre! Last night we saw "Enchanted", and for my friends who are seriously into the Disney Princess thing, you gotta see this movie!