Australian War Memorial, London

War memorial on Hyde Park Corner, London

Not to be confused with the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Australian War Memorial

United Kingdom

The Australian War Memorial in London

For Australia's military personnel who died during the First and Second World Wars
Unveiled| 11 November 2003; 21 years ago (2003-11-11)
Location|

Hyde Park Corner
London, W1
United Kingdom

The Australian War Memorial in London is a memorial dedicated in 2003 to the 102,000 Australian dead of the First and Second World Wars. It is located on the southernmost corner of Hyde Park Corner, on the traffic island that also houses the Wellington Arch, the New Zealand War Memorial, the Machine Gun Corps Memorial and the Royal Artillery Memorial.

## Description

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The memorial comprises a semicircular curved wall of grey-green granite slabs from Western Australia (Verde Laguna granite from Jerramungup), cut in Australia before being shipped to London. The granite stones are inscribed with the names of 23,844 towns in which the Australian soldiers were born, in Australia, the UK and elsewhere. Parts of some town names are picked out in bolder type, creating the names of 47 battles in which Australia was involved in a larger font. In summer months, water runs down over the names, intended to evoke "memories of service, suffering and sacrifice".[1] The curved wall is set facing a downwards slope of grass, forming an amphitheatre.

Four blocks bear the crest of Australia and the insignia of the three branches of the Australian armed services, and three other blocks bear dedicatory inscriptions: "Whatever burden you are to carry we also will shoulder that burden (Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, 1941). // Australia – United Kingdom // 1914 – 1918 // 1939 – 1945". Three seating blocks are placed in front of the wall.

It is under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

## History

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The proposal to create an Australian war memorial in London was announced in July 2000, during the centenary of the Australian Federation. The memorial was designed for the Office of Australian War Graves at the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects and the artist Janet Laurence.[2] It cost an estimated £3m, funded by the Australian Government. It won the Australian Stone Architectural Award for Best International Project in 2006.

The work was commissioned at the beginning of 2003, and the memorial was unveiled on 11 November (Armistice Day) 2003, the 85th anniversary of the armistice to end the First World War, by Elizabeth II in her role as queen of Australia. In attendance was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and the Australian Prime Minister John Howard. And also present were Simon Crean, Leader of the Opposition in Australia; Alexander Downer, Australian Foreign Minister; Danna Vale, Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs; General Peter Cosgrove, Chief of the Australian Defence Force; the three principal chaplains for the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force; former UK Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher; and Geoff Hoon, UK Secretary of State for Defence. Around 3,000 people were present at the ceremony, including 27 Australian veterans and it ended with a flypast of Jaguars from No. 54 Squadron RAF.

A metal plaque from the memorial was stolen in May 2013, but recovered and replaced before 11 November 2013.

## See also

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* Military of Australia portal

* List of Australian military memorials
* New Zealand War Memorial, also at Hyde Park Corner

* Detail of town names, forming in larger type the name of Gallipoli

* Wreath laying in 2008

## Notes

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1. ^ Australian War Memorial, London Remembers
2. ^ "Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects website". Tonkin Zulaikha Greer. Retrieved 2 October 2014.

## References

[edit]

* About the Wall, awmlondon.gov.au
* Australian War Memorial, London, anzacday.org.au
* Australians WW1 And WW2, Imperial War Museum
* Plaque stolen from an Australian War Memorial in central London has been recovered by police, news.com.au, 14 September 2013
* Alleyne, Richard (12 November 2003). "The Queen unveils tribute to Australia's fallen". The Telegraph.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Australian War Memorial, London.

* Australian War Memorial website

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Public art and memorials in London

Portrait sculpture

| British/English
royalty|

* Boudica
* Alfred the Great
* Richard I
* Queen Eleanor (Charing Cross)
* Edward VI
* St Thomas' Hospital: bronze
* stone
* Charles I
* (Interregnum: Oliver Cromwell)
* Charles II
* Chelsea
* Soho
* Stocks Market†
* James II
* William III
* Kensington Palace
* St James's
* Anne
* St Paul's
* Westminster
* George III
* George IV
* King's Cross†
* Trafalgar Square
* Duke of York
* William IV
* Duke of Kent
* Duke of Cambridge
* Victoria
* Kensington Palace
* Victoria Memorial
* Prince Albert
* Albert Memorial
* Memorial to the Great Exhibition
* George V
* George VI and Queen Elizabeth
* Elizabeth II (planned)

|

Arts|

* John Betjeman
* Marc Bolan
* Robert Burns
* Thomas Carlyle
* Charlie Chaplin
* Geoffrey Chaucer†
* Agatha Christie
* John Donne
* Henry Irving
* Michael Jackson†
* John Keats
* Guy's Hospital
* Moorgate
* John Milton†
* George Orwell
* Joshua Reynolds
* William Shakespeare
* Heminges and Condell Memorial
* Leicester Square
* Park Lane†
* Arthur Sullivan
* Oscar Wilde
* Chelsea
* Covent Garden
* Amy Winehouse

Explorers|

* James Cook
* Yuri Gagarin

Merchants|

* John Cass†
* Thomas Guy
* Quintin Hogg
* Robert Milligan†
* Hugh Myddelton

Military|

* Lord Alanbrooke
* Lord Baden-Powell
* Ferdinand Foch
* Charles George Gordon
* Earl Haig
* Henry Havelock
* Lord Kitchener
* Lord Montgomery
* Lord Mountbatten
* Charles James Napier
* Admiral Lord Nelson (Nelson's Column)
* James Outram
* Lord Roberts
* Viscount Slim
* Duke of Wellington
* City
* Hyde Park Corner
* George Stuart White
* Lord Wolseley

Nurses|

* Edith Cavell
* Florence Nightingale
* Mary Seacole

Politics|

| British|

| Prime ministers|

* Clement Attlee
* George Canning
* Winston Churchill
* Parliament Square
* Woodford
* Lord Derby
* Benjamin Disraeli
* David Lloyd George
* William Ewart Gladstone
* Lord Palmerston
* Robert Peel

|

Other politicians|

* Robert Clayton
* Robert Clive
* Duke of Devonshire
* Charles James Fox
* Henry Bartle Frere
* Sidney Herbert
* Wilfrid Lawson
* Simon Milton (Paddington, St James's, Southwark)
* Marquess of Westminster

International|

* Simón Bolívar
* Mahatma Gandhi
* Bloomsbury
* Westminster
* Charles de Gaulle
* Haile Selassie†
* John F. Kennedy†
* Abraham Lincoln
* Nelson Mandela
* Karl Marx
* Peter the Great
* José de San Martín
* Jan Smuts
* Trajan
* Volodymyr
* George Washington

Religion|

* Thomas Becket
* John Henry Newman
* John Wesley
* St Paul's
* Shoreditch

Science and
engineering|

* Joseph Bazalgette
* Isambard Kingdom Brunel
* Sigmund Freud
* James Henry Greathead
* Nigel Gresley
* Edward Jenner
* Joseph Lister
* Isaac Newton
* Robert Stephenson

Social reformers
and humanitarians|

* Thomas Barnardo
* Millicent Fawcett
* Margaret MacDonald
* Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst
* Sylvia Pankhurst
* Robert Raikes
* Raoul Wallenberg

Sport|

* Harry Kane
* Bobby Moore
* Upton Park—with Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson
* Wembley

Fictional
characters|

* Paddington Bear
* Peter Pan
* Sherlock Holmes

See also|

* Talking Statues
* Statues in London on Wikimedia Commons

Other monuments and memorials

* 7 July bombings
* Queen Alexandra
* Anti–air war
* Bali bombings
* Lady Burdett-Coutts
* Lord Cheylesmore
* Cleopatra's Needle
* Conscientious objectors
* COVID-19 pandemic
* Michael Faraday
* Firefighters
* W. G. Grace
* Great Fire of London
* Golden Boy of Pye Corner
* The Monument
* Heroic self-sacrifice
* Journalists
* Police
* Queen Elizabeth Gate
* Silver Jubilee Crystal Crown
* Star and Garter Home
* Stratford Martyrs
* Suffragettes
* Victims of the Atlantic slave trade (planned)
* Virginia colonists
* Wellington Arch
* Wellington Monument
* Whittington Stone
* Windrush generation
* Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae)
* National Windrush Monument
* Mary Wollstonecraft

War memorials|

| Pre-C20|

* Animals in War
* Guards Brigade (Crimean War)
* Gurkhas (1816–)
* Marble Arch
* New Zealand Campaign (1863–1864)
* Siege of Cádiz
* Westminster School

|

Boer Wars|

* 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery (Woolwich)
* Barnet Boys School
* Royal Artillery (The Mall)
* Royal Marines

WWI · WWII|

* The Cenotaph

* Africa and the Caribbean
* Australia
* Battle of Britain
* Belgium
* Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
* Burma Railway
* Canada
* La Délivrance
* Flanders Fields Memorial Garden
* Malta
* Memorial Gates
* Merchant Navy
* Ships named on the memorial
* New Zealand
* Poland
* South Africa
* Submarines
* Women of World War II

Regimental|

* 24th Division
* Cavalry
* Chindits
* Civil Service Rifles
* Eagle Squadrons
* Fleet Air Arm
* Guards Brigade
* Imperial Camel Corps
* Machine Gun Corps
* Rifle Brigade
* Royal Air Force
* RAF Bomber Command
* Royal Artillery
* Royal Fusiliers
* Royal Naval Division
* Royal Tank Regiment

Local|

* London Troops

* Arkley
* Bromley
* parish
* Chingford
* Chipping Barnet
* Cockfosters
* Croydon
* East Barnet
* Enfield Town (3 memorials)
* Finchley
* Friern Barnet (parish)
* Fulham
* Golders Green
* Hampstead
* Hampton Wick
* Hendon
* Hornsey
* Islington
* Kingston
* Monken Hadley
* New Barnet
* New Malden
* Paddington
* Poplar
* Rainham
* Richmond
* St Michael, Cornhill (parish)
* St Saviour, Southwark (parish)
* Silvertown
* Streatham
* Twickenham
* Promenade de Verdun, Woodcote
* Wood Green

Corporate|

* Baltic Exchange
* Bank of England
* British Medical Association
* Dulwich College
* Old
* New
* Great Eastern Railway
* Great Western Railway
* Lincoln's Inn
* London and North Western Railway
* London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
* Pearl Assurance†
* South Suburban Gas Company

Holocaust|

* Victoria Tower Gardens (planned)

* Hyde Park
* Kindertransport
* Stolperstein

Post-WWII|

* Victims of Communism
* Korean War
* Iraq and Afghanistan

Blue plaques|

* Camden
* Kensington and Chelsea
* City of Westminster

Other works

| Sculptures|

* Atalanta
* The Barbican Muse
* Bellerophon Taming Pegasus
* The Bermondsey Lion
* Big 4‡
* Bull
* The Burghers of Calais
* Christ Child
* Cornerstone
* Crystal Palace Dinosaurs
* The Diver
* Dolphin lamp standards
* Dragon boundary marks
* Elfin Oak
* Enwrought Light
* Father Time
* Fulcrum
* The Gold Smelters
* Gorilla
* The Hampstead Figure
* Homage to Leonardo
* Icarus
* Labyrinth
* Liberty Clock
* London Noses
* London Pride
* The Meeting Place
* The Messenger
* Millennium Dial
* Monolith and Shadow
* The Naked Ladies
* The Neighbours
* Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
* Nike
* Paternoster Vents
* Peckham Arch
* Physical Energy
* Platforms Piece
* Pope's Urn
* Putney Sculpture Trail
* The Queen's Beasts
* The Rush of Green
* St Paul's Cross
* Sculpture in the City‡
* Skylon†
* Slipstream
* South Bank Lion
* Still Water
* Tortoises with Triangle and Time
* Traffic Light Tree
* Union (Horse with Two Discs)
* The Watchers
* The World Turned Upside Down
* The Young Lovers

Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square‡|

* The End
* Hahn/Cock
* Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
* One & Other

Elisabeth Frink|

* Blind Beggar and his Dog
* Horse and Rider
* Paternoster

Barbara Hepworth|

* Meridian†
* Single Form (Memorial)
* Two Forms (Divided Circle)†
* Winged Figure

Henry Moore|

* The Arch 1979–1980
* Draped Seated Woman 1957–58
* Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65
* Large Standing Figure (Knife Edge)
* Locking Piece
* Three Standing Figures 1947

Eduardo Paolozzi|

* The Artist as Hephaestus†
* Piscator

The Line‡|

* ArcelorMittal Orbit
* Here
* Quantum Cloud
* Liberty Grip
* A Slice of Reality

Fountains|

* Buxton Memorial
* Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
* Diana Fountain, Bushy Park
* Diana Fountain, Green Park
* Edward VII Jewish Memorial Fountain
* Henry Fawcett Memorial
* The Horses of Helios
* Guilford Place
* Matilda Fountain
* Poets' Fountain†
* Readymoney Drinking Fountain
* Revolving Torsion
* Roehampton
* St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary Magdalene
* Shaftesbury Memorial ("Eros")
* Lady Henry Somerset Memorial
* Victoria Park

Murals|

* Brixton
* Children at Play
* Cable Street
* Dulwich
* Old Kent Road
* National Covid Memorial Wall
* Poplar Rates Rebellion
* Poured Lines
* Sutton twin towns
* Sutton Heritage Mosaic

Banksy|

* From this moment despair ends and tactics begin
* Girl with Balloon†
* One Nation Under CCTV†
* Pulp Fiction†
* Slave Labour†

Land art|

* Northala Fields

See also|

* Art on the Underground
* Tube map covers
* Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm
* London Mural Preservation Society
* Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association

By location

* City of London
* Barking and Dagenham
* Barnet
* Bexley
* Brent
* Bromley
* Camden
* Croydon
* Ealing
* Enfield
* Greenwich
* Hackney
* Hammersmith and Fulham
* Haringey
* Harrow
* Havering
* Hillingdon
* Hounslow
* Islington
* Kensington and Chelsea
* Kingston
* Lambeth
* Lewisham
* Merton
* Newham
* Redbridge
* Richmond
* Southwark
* Sutton
* Tower Hamlets
* Waltham Forest
* Wandsworth

City of Westminster|

* Belgravia1
* Covent Garden2
* Green Park
* Hyde Park
* Kensington1
* Kensington Gardens1
* Knightsbridge1
* Mayfair
* Millbank
* Paddington
* Pimlico
* St James's
* St Marylebone
* Soho
* Strand
* Trafalgar Square
* Victoria
* Victoria Embankment3
* Westminster
* Whitehall

* 1 Partly in Kensington and Chelsea
* 2 Partly in Camden
* 3 Partly in the City of London

Key: † No longer extant, on public display or in London (see List of public art formerly in London) * ‡ Changing displays

* v
* t
* e

Australian war memorials

Major national monuments
(capital cities)|

* Anzac Memorial (Sydney)
* Australian Army Memorial (Canberra)
* Australian Merchant Navy Memorial (Canberra)
* Australian Peacekeeping Memorial (Canberra)
* Australian Service Nurses National Memorial (Canberra)
* Australian War Memorial (Canberra)
* The Cenotaph (Hobart)
* Kings Park War Memorial (Perth)
* National War Memorial (Adelaide)
* Remembrance Driveway (Sydney to Canberra)
* Royal Australian Navy Memorial (Canberra)
* Shrine of Remembrance (Brisbane)
* Shrine of Remembrance (Melbourne)
* Vietnam Forces National Memorial (Canberra)

On foreign soil|

* Australian War Memorial (London, England)
* Australian Soldier Park (Beersheba, Israel)
* Lae War Cemetery (Lae, Papua New Guinea)
* Lone Pine Memorial (Gallipoli, Turkey)
* V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial (Fromelles, France)

Regional monuments|

* ACT Memorial (Canberra)
* Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial (Ballarat)
* Monument Hill (Fremantle)
* Victory Memorial Gardens (Wagga Wagga)

Boer War memorials|

* South African War Memorial (Adelaide)
* South African War Memorial (Brisbane)
* Boer War Memorial (Canberra)

World War I memorials|

* Arch of Victory (Ballarat)
* Avenues of Honour
* The Cenotaph (Sydney)
* Johnstone Park Memorial (Geelong)
* Light Horse Interchange (Sydney)
* Mount Macedon Memorial Cross

World War II memorials|

* Australian–American Memorial (Canberra)
* Avenues of Honour
* Albany
* Armadale
* Bacchus Marsh
* Ballarat
* Booroopki
* Buchan South
* Cowra
* Hobart
* Lakes Entrance
* Lysterfield
* Macedon
* O'Connell
* Woodend North
* Military Museum and Bombing Memorial (Darwin)
* El Alamein Fountain (Sydney)
* Hellenic Memorial (Canberra)
* Rats of Tobruk Memorial (Canberra)

Korean War memorials|

* Korean War Memorial (Canberra)

Campaigns|

* Regimental Square (Sydney)

Branch|

* Rockingham Naval Memorial Park (RAN)

Portals:

* London
* Military of Australia

51°30′08″N 0°09′05″W﻿ / ﻿51.5021°N 0.1515°W﻿ / 51.5021; -0.1515
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