Major General William Bridges, the first commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the first commander of the Australian Imperial Forces, was killed by a sniper early in the WWI Gallipoli campaign. Continue reading “Major General William Bridges – Grave”
This Anzac Parade memorial, a crescent-shaped wall and five pillars derived from the symbol and star on the Turkish flag was dedicated on 25 April 1985 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing. It honours Kemal Ataturk, commander of Turkish forces at Gallipoli and later the first president of modern Turkey, as well as the heroism and sacrifice of both the ANZAC and Turkish troops who took part in the campaign. Continue reading “Kemal Ataturk Memorial”
On 4 August 1914, the British Empire declared war on Germany and her allies and with that an enthusiastic Australia was at war. Within days white Australians were enlisting. Aboriginals were specifically barred from joining the newly federated Australia’s military forces though around 1,000 including Charles Blackman (picture 2) did mange to enlist. Continue reading “World War I at the Australian War Memorial”
For two reasons, I suspect, not many people visit the RAN Heritage Centre.
Firstly, from the name they have no idea what it is – it is the flagship museum of a small number of Australian navy museums – and secondly, they hear reference to its location on Garden Island, an active naval base, and assume it is going to be difficult to visit for security reasons – it is not. Continue reading “RAN Heritage Centre (Naval Museum)”
The Rambling Wombat 