DAY 128 – THE NATIONAL ANZAC CENTRE – LEST WE FORGET….
Monday saw
us up bright and early, as everyone we had spoken to informed us that the
National Anzac Centre was indeed a wonderful place to visit, but we would need
to spend all day there to see it properly.
The award
winning National Anzac Centre is one of Australia’s most important cultural
pilgrimages. It is located within Albany’s heritage listed Princess Royal
Fortress, the centre overlooks the actual harbour from which over 41,000 men
and woman departed Australia for the Great War.
Opened on the 1st
of November 2014 by the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand, The
National Anzac Centre is an award-winning facility that uses multimedia,
interactive technology and historical artefacts to create a deeply personal
connection with the past, as well as pay tribute to those who served. The
interpretive content that forms part of the interactive experience was
developed by the Western Australian Museum and the Australian War Memorial and
is delivered via a series of interactive visual and audible displays. The
experience delivered at the NAC is known for commemorating the war through the
stories of the Anzacs as opposed to telling its own story via pro-war or
anti-war sentiments.
View from the harbour from inside the National Anzac Centre |
Looking out into the harbour from where the ships left for the Great World War 1 |
The symbolic
location of the centre, selected for its strong sense of place as it looks out
across King George Sound, forms an important part of the interpretation. The
dramatic architecture, featuring spectacular vistas of the Sound, purposefully
enhances the narrative and creates a contemplative space. The building design
lends itself to a telescopic view overlooking the location from where the
convoys gathered and then left.
The $10.6 million
construction and fit-out of the centre was fully funded by the Federal and
Western Australian Governments however it receives no ongoing funding. All
revenue from entry fees provides for the upkeep and operation of the centre,
and other adjacent attractions within the Albany Heritage Park.
On 1 November
1914, the first convoy of Australian and New Zealand troops departed for the
First World War from King George Sound, Albany. For many, Albany was their last
sight of Australian soil. Today Albany is known as the birthplace of the Anzac
story and the home of the National Anzac Centre.
In late 1914 over 41,000 Australians
and New Zealanders left Albany, bound for the Great War. This is their story.
These simple yet
evocative words inform the content of the National Anzac Centre, a
state-of-the-art interpretive museum overlooking King George Sound. Walk with
the ANZACs and experience the Great War through their personal stories. Follow
them from Albany in 1914, to the Middle East, to Gallipoli and across the
Western Front, and, for too few, home to Australia and New Zealand. The
National Anzac Centre uses multimedia and interactive technology to create a
deeply personal connection with the past, as well as pay tribute to those who
served.
Steve learning about his World War I Soldier... |
Steve's soldier he was given. |
My soldier to research at the Centre |
Set within Albany
Heritage Park, the National Anzac Centre offers visitors a deeply personal
connection with the Anzac experience. Within the National Anzac Centre, the key
phases and events of the First World War are told through the stories of the
ANZACs themselves. With unique content developed by the Western Australian
Museum and Australian War pass
Memorial,
visitors assume the identity of one of 32 characters, and follow their personal
experience of the Great War: from recruitment, through training and
embarkation, ship-board life on the convoys, on to the conflicts at Gallipoli,
the Middle East and the Western Front, and post-war… for those who returned.
These personal stories unfold through interactive, multimedia displays,
poignant artefacts, rare images and film, and audio commentary.
Their names are all recorded and scroll up under the water from this water feature... |
As the story of
conflicts within the National Anzac Centre draws to a close, the names of the
41,265 service men and women who left Albany in the first and second convoys
are revealed: scrolling beneath a Pool of Reflections. The experience concludes
with the discovery of each character’s fate and a Tribute Wall where visitors
may document their own feelings and messages to the ANZACs. These appear within
the National Anzac Centre, and are then shared with the world via the internet.
This was a deeply moving experience for me in
particular as my grandmother lost her youngest brother to this war, and we was
reported missing in action on the French warfront. Listening to the other Anzac’s tell the
stories of life on the battle front especially in France made me feel extremely
sad. Lest we never forget the sacrifice
these men all made so that we could enjoy the freedom that we experience today.
After walking through the centre for a few hours, we left and then spent some
time wandering around Albany Heritage Park, looking at the other buildings
and displays of guns and artillery from
the war, it was time for us to head home.
It was close to 5pm by now, and we didn’t have a lot of time to spare as
we had to be out for dinner by 6.30pm.
A lovely evening out with Keith and Erica Whinnen in Albany |
Erica's beautiful flowering plant |
She blessed us with these flowers for the van... |
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