Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has marked a significant milestone at the Australian War Memorial by officially opening its new Main Entrance.
Sitting underneath the Commemorative Entrance of the 84-year-old building, the Prime Minister unveiled a plaque in the new space that allows for accessible, weatherproof, and safe access to the Memorial for all visitors.
“For nearly eight and a half decades, the Australian War Memorial has kept the memory of all who have served alive and strong,” Prime Minister Albanese said.
“The Australian War Memorial is one of our most precious national treasures.
“The new Main Entrance opens the Memorial’s heart even wider to all Australia.”
The Director of the Memorial, Matt Anderson, said: “This new Main Entrance is a key stage in enabling the Memorial to be more accessible to more visitors in the decades ahead.”
At the centre of the Main Entrance is the striking glass and steel Oculus, which floods the space with daylight and lets visitors glimpse the copper dome above the Hall of Memory. A mathematical inversion of the Memorial’s dome, the Oculus – Latin for “eye” – complements the heritage values of the original building.
Cast into the floor beneath the Oculus are the 15 qualities displayed in the stained glass windows in the Hall of Memory, at the heart of the Memorial.
The display installed in the Main Entrance is dedicated to Captain Reginald Saunders, the first Australian Aboriginal commissioned officer in the Australian Army. Born a member of the Gunditjmara people, Captain Saunders served in the Second World War and the Korean War.
Suspended above the new spiral stairs on the eastern and western sides of the concourse is a pair of shimmering glass installations created by internationally renowned artist Annette Blair at Canberra Glassworks. Blair’s artworks, Quiet Skies as the Sun Rises and Quiet Skies as the Sun Sets, comprise two sculptures, each made of approximately 900 glass eucalypt leaves in colours redolent of sunrise and sunset.
“Inspired by the familiar words from the acclaimed Ode of Remembrance – ‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them’ – this special glass work is an ode to the personal and collective sacrifices the Memorial commemorates,” Mr Anderson said.
The Main Entrance also provides access to the Memorial gift shop, a 245-seat theatre, and dedicated space for public and private functions.
Within the foyer is a large multimedia display of the film Places of Pride, featuring 42 war memorials from across the country that reflect the diversity of commemoration in Australia. The display also allows visitors to search for memorials in their hometowns to connect a visit to the national war memorial with their local places of pride.
Visitors can approach the Main Entrance from the east directly from the Poppy’s Café underground carpark, a glass lift or stairs, and from the west via a wide, gently sloping path from the Sculpture Gardens.
One of the Memorial’s most beloved sculptures, Simpson and his Donkey, 1915, was relocated to the eastern courtyard of the Main Entrance on December 13, 2024, ahead of the east entrance opening to the public later that month. The west entrance opened to the public in January.
