Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Nine Elms British War Cemetery - near Popereinge Belgium

Studio portrait of 411099 Aircraftman, later Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt) Allan Douglas Moffatt of Armidale, NSW. Enlisting in the RAAF in March 1941, Flt Sgt Moffat trained as an Aerial Gunner as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) in Canada and England, and was posted to 625 Squadron RAF flying Lancaster bombers. On the night of 12/13 August 1944, Flt Sgt Moffatt's Lancaster, serial number ME733, radio call sign CF-Z, was shot down and crashed at Hollenstein, Germany after an operational sortie over Brunswick. He was killed alongside six other crew members, aged 24.

"Australia Remembers" plaque. Inscription: Thomas Moody, 1941- 1945.

Corporal Philip Ness "Doc" Dobson, MID.

QLD. Paybook photograph, taken on enlistment, of QFX22714 Captain Pauline Blanche (Blanche) Hempsted, 2/13th Australian General Hospital, Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS). She was one of sixty five Australian nurses and over 250 civilian men, women and children evacuated on the Vyner Brooke from Singapore three dyas before the fall of Malaya. The Vyner Brooke was bombed by Japanese aircraft and sunk in Banka Strait on 14 February 1942. Of the sixty five nurses, twelve were lost at sea, twenty two survived the sinking and were washed ashore on Radji Beach, Banka Island, where they surrendered to the Japanese along with twenty five British soldiers. On 16 February 1942 the group was massacred, the soldiers were bayoneted and the nurses were ordered to march into the sea where they were shot. Only Sister Vivian Bullwinkel and a British soldier survived the massacre. Both were taken POW, but only Sister Bullwinkel survived the war. Sister Hempsted was one of the remaining thirty two nurses who also survived the sinking and were captured as POWs, eight of which later died in captivity. Sister Hempsted died of illness on 19 March 1945 in Sumatra. (Photograph copied from original photograph attached to attestation form, lent by Central Army Records Office.)

Physios and nurses of 2/4 AGH staging on Morotai Island, 1945 (Marjorie Hill back row, left)

Painting by Will Longstaff depicting the night counter-attack o Villers Brettoneux that recaptured the town and checked the German advance on Amiens, 24/5 April 1918.

HMAT Ascanius at Outer Harbour embarking the 10th Battalion. State Library of SA B10303

Private VERE PARKINSON

Private Leslie Robert Templeman RH#26

AWM Image of three unidentified 7 Battalion men near a 'bomb' stop or barricade in the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, illustrating the overhead cover that had made the initial break-in so difficult.

For the first time since Gallipoli, the New Zealanders attacked alongside the Australians at Messines on 7 June 1917. Here New Zealand troops watch British tanks advance towards Messines Ridge. E01417

Australians standing by in a hot section of the front, 400 yards from the enemy. Many forward posts like this are isolated during the daylight hours (Original caption). This photograph was reproduced in the unit history 'Purple and blue: the history of the 2/10th Battalion' published in 1958. The men were identified in the unit history as, front to rear: VX35964 Private (Pte) William John Goodgame', VX36671 Pte Gordon James Watkins and SX1412 Pte Charles George Stening'. All three were promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal during their service. Lance Corporals Goodgame and Watkins were killed in action at Buna, Papua, on 24 December 1942. This image gives a clear impression a clear impression of the exposed nature of their position and the cramped conditions under which they operated. Charlie Stenning was a well known identity in the 2nd/10th Battalion Association after the War, Bill Goodgame in the foreground is clearly not planning to withdraw; he has no boots on! He is armed with a Thompson sub machine gun.

935 Private Frank Oliver SCUTT 43rd Battalion RH#15

Albert James DUNSTER's headstone at Trois Arbres Cemetery

The Noonan SA Police Heavyweight Boxing Championship Trophy Belt won by Tom Tobin 1938-1940. On display in Police Headquarters

Outdoor group portrait of six signallers in the snow. Identified back row, left to right: 19636 Gunner (Gnr) Reginald Sylvester Mason; 19822 Gnr Gilbert James Simmonds; 19657 Stanley Clarence Whiting; 19806 Gnr Lewis Ewen McKenzie (later MM). Front row, seated: 19616 Gnr Frank Orman Ball and 19634 Gnr Allan Lyle McPherson (later MM). These men embarked for service overseas with the 8th Field Artillery Brigade aboard HMAT Medic (A7) on 20 May 1916 (Gnrs McPherson, Whiting and Ball from Sydney and Gnrs McKenzie and Simmonds from Melbourne). Gnr Mason, a printer from Corrowa, NSW, prior to enlistment, died of wounds in Belgium on 27 September 1917, aged 22. The other five men survived the war.

FLGOFF Kenneth BENNETT 463 Squadron

Capt Hyman SYMONDS

Lieutenant Leonard Gurner of the 60th Bn AIF: KIA Morlicourt France 18 July 1918

William Mannix Baker William was killed in action on 4th March 1942 on HMAS Yarra against an overpowering Japanese fleet. His niece Catherine Cave, received a citation of gallantry medal on behalf of William, presented by the then, Governer General Quentin Bryce

Unidentified solder entering tunnel under Hill 60, near Ypres

Personnel from HMAS Sydney, Tobruk and Murchison marching along George St, Sydney on 6 March 1953. [AWM 304621] ...

Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery and in the distance the tower of the Australian National Memorial

Rowan Boys Jack standing Joe seated. Probably taken at Abbassia towards the end of their Provo training (Circa mid-1916)

An account of one of the many otherwise unheralded acts of courage and the underlying sense of duty that is so evident in so much of the available literature, exhibited from the highest to the lowest ranking soldier.

Photograph of Flying Officer Jack Paradise and his crew 20 March 1944

Unveiling of Stonehaven War Memorial

Jack Reed (R) and mates somewhere in northern Australia

Lignieres de Touraine

Edwards with his wife, left, and mother-in-law, right, leaving Buckingham Palace after attending an investiture ceremony at which he was awarded the VC.

E Regiment at Gawler Army Camp

Charles Darwin GREGG's headstone - AIF Cemetery West Terrace Adelaide

Commemoration at VC Corner Cemetery. A guard of 10/27 RSAR July 1998 coincident with the opening of the Memorial Park at Fromelles.. Image Steve Larkins private collection

Crimerian Cannons

Colin Lawrence WRIGHT

Livingstone, NT. 20 January 1943. Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) R. (Dick) Cresswell, Commanding Officer of No. 77 Squadron RAAF, standing beside his Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft, serial no. A29-113, on which are painted as `nose art' the US, Australian, and RAAF flags. In this aircraft Sqn Ldr Cresswell shot down a Japanese Mitisubishi G4M medium bomber aircraft, code-name Betty, on 23 November 1942.

Map displaying the defensive layout during the siege during April to May 1941.

'G for George' is perhaps the best known WW II aircraft in Australia. It has been the centerpiece of the AWM since it was installed in 1955. The aircraft is a Mk1 Lancaster that served for 17 months with 460 Squadron, from 1942 until April 1944, completing 89 missions before being flown to Australia as part of a War Bond fundraising campaign. It famously flew under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

ANZAC Cove

Graham Leaver in camp at Heliopolis, Egypt in 1916

392 Sergeant Leon Maxwell GELLERT

Royal Air Force Coastal Command, 1939-1945. Air and ground crew of No. 202 Squadron RAF check equipment and ordnance issued to Consolidated Catalina Mark I, AJ159 'AX-B', on the slipway at North Front, Gibraltar, in preparation for a patrol.

A de Havilland Mosquito FB1 of No. 464 Squadron RAAF