Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

About the program

In partnership with the Department for Education (SA), the Virtual War Memorial Australia (VWMA) provides teaching and learning resources for the Australian Curriculum: History Years 9 and 10, and Civics and Citizenship at Year 10.

Additionally, the VWMA also supports teachers and students of Modern History, Research Project and Research Practices, Aboriginal Studies, Community Studies, Cross-Disciplinary Studies, Society and Culture, Women’s Studies and more.

We also provide Professional Development and professional networking. Go to Professional Learning 2024 to view the current training schedule. If the scheduled dates are not suitable, contact the Schools Program Manager to arrange for onsite training for the History Teachers at your school, tailored to the needs of your students.

The VWMA provides information about Australia’s involvement in Conflicts from the Boer War through to Afghanistan with specific information about different battles and offensives. Information is also provided about the different Units that Australians served in. Our interactive Timeline is a particularly useful resource to build your students’ understanding of Australia’s involvement in wars and peacekeeping operations.

The Resources for Teachers page has supporting resources for the delivery of the Australian Curriculum at Year 9 and Year 10. Further resources will be added over time, so keep visiting to see what’s new. If you would like to share resources you have developed for your fellow teachers to access, please contact the Schools Program Manager at [email protected]. Contributions are greatly appreciated, and your authorship will be acknowledged.

VWMA Mission and how your students are important

The main mission of the VWMA is to provide a worthy home, in perpetuity, for the records and the personal experiences of all People who have served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations, and the impact of this service on the individuals themselves, their families and communities.

To meet this mission, we invite Year 9 and 10 students to contribute to our WW1 and WW2 commemorative collections by researching the life and war experience of an individual serviceperson to complete a biography which can be added to the VWMA profile of the person. This task can be assessed (rubric provided) or can be an activity to complement other lessons in your unit of work. Outstanding student biography contributions are recognised with our annual Excellence Awards.

We provide support to schools to complete the Serviceperson Research Task with teacher training and ongoing in-class support for your students.

The VWMA also promotes and supports the South Australian Premier’s ANZAC Spirit School Prize.

To view testimonials from teachers and students about the benefits of the serviceperson biography task, please watch the short presentation above (5 mins).

For more information and to access resources head to our Resources for Teachers page. To register your class to contribute to our important mission to commemorate all WW1 and WW2 servicepeople, please email [email protected]

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The Schools Program offered to South Australian Schools is proudly supported by a grant provided by the Government of South Australia, Department for Education.