Australian War Memorial: Canberra Travel Guide (4.8★)

The shrine at the end of the axis

Start at the lake end of Anzac Parade and look up. The red gravel boulevard runs north past a line of national memorials to a sandstone building with a copper dome, and Mount Ainslie rises behind it. Walter Burley Griffin’s land axis runs through here, so Parliament House faces the Memorial across Lake Burley Griffin.

The building opened in 1941 and is part shrine, part museum. Most people give it three hours or more. Few manage every gallery in a single visit.

Inside the Commemorative Area

The courtyard comes first. The Pool of Reflection runs down its centre with an eternal flame, and cloisters line both sides. Their walls carry the Roll of Honour, bronze panels listing more than 100,000 Australians who died in war.

Visitors push red paper poppies into the gaps beside names. The effect builds as you walk along. At the far end, the Hall of Memory rises under the dome. Napier Waller’s mosaics and stained glass surround the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier, interred in 1993.

The galleries below and behind hold:

• First and Second World War galleries, with the detailed dioramas the Memorial is known for
• Aircraft Hall and ANZAC Hall, including the Lancaster bomber “G for George”
• Later conflicts, from Korea and Vietnam through to recent deployments
• The Sculpture Garden, outside on the grounds

Timing the crowds and the Last Post

Crowd data points one way: weekdays between 10am and 5pm are the calmest. On weekends, try not to arrive between 11am and 3pm. That is peak time, when the Hall of Memory and the big aircraft galleries fill with people.

On a Saturday, come at opening, walk the Commemorative Area first and leave the galleries until later. Opening hours are not listed here, so check the official site before you go.

The Last Post Ceremony runs at closing time every day in the Commemorative Area. It tells the story of one person named on the Roll, followed by a bugler, and it draws a crowd of its own. Get to the Pool of Reflection early if you want to stand near the front.

Conduct at the Pool of Reflection

The Commemorative Area is treated as sacred ground, and people act accordingly:

• Voices drop once you pass the entrance. Phone calls are not made in the cloisters or the Hall of Memory.
• Poppies are placed beside a name, never taken from one. They are usually available near the Roll of Honour. Many visitors look up a relative’s panel before they arrive.
• At the Last Post, the audience stands in silence for the Ode and the bugle. Photos are fine, but lower the phone during the minute’s silence.
• Hats come off in the Hall of Memory.

For the view the Memorial was designed around, take the walking track from behind the building up Mount Ainslie. The summit lookout shows the whole axis: the dome, Anzac Parade, the lake and Parliament House in a single line. By car, there is parking on site. From the city centre, walk along the lake and up Anzac Parade.