On Friday arvo, Jeanine was down for a work meeting, so her and Ken came out afterwards for drinks at La De Da (chosen for its lake views, only to have it rain heh) and then to dinner at the Dumpling Inn, which was lovely.
Saturday morning we went to Black Pepper for breakfast and after that to the Australian War Memorial. I can't remember ever really properly going. I think I might have been once but I don't have any detailed memory of it. We arrived just after opening at 10am and stayed til nearly 3:30pm!
Entrance to the Australian War Memorial
A kangaroo in Egypt! The mascot
Messerschmidt Bf 109G-6
A Lancaster bomber called "George"
This Airco DH9 was one of the first planes to fly from London to Australia. After the war the Australian government offered £A10,000 for the first Australians in a British aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. These guys came second out of six (the other four didn't finish).
The cavernous air intakes on a MiG-15
Roden Cutler's medals
The Shellal Mosaic. After having seen a bunch of these in Israel and Jordan it was pretty cool to see one in Australia. This one was taken from Gaza in 1917.
An Enigma machine! I was amazed to see one of these in Australia.
This saucepan was damaged in a house in Rose Bay when a Japanese midget submarine shelled it in 1942
Inner courtyard
One wall of the Roll of Honour
Poppies
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Roof of the Hall of Memory. I always thought this was designed so the sun would shine through it at precisely 11am on the 11 November, but I can't find any documentary evidence of this. And it'd be an hour different now because of daylight saving.
View of the parliament houses from the War Memorial
Eternal Flame, strangely it was donated by the Australian Gas Industry in 1988
Ken and Jeanine
We found grandpa's battalion's plaque
Bridge of the HMAS Brisbane
The memorial is quite a sombre place, and this sign as you leave the exhibits sums that up.
Comments