Making Sense of Australia's War Memorials

One of the remarkable aspects of Australia's landscape is the prevalence of war memorials. These memorialize Australia's wide military involvement, including the Boer War, World Wars I and II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Gulf War, and now the conflicts arising out of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. War memorials are most visible in country towns, where often the town center is dominated by an obelisk, inscribed with the names of those killed and injured. Sometimes, the names of all those who enlisted from within a region or town are inscribed on the monument, with a cross beside the name if the person was killed. War memorials are perhaps less visible in larger urban centers, although for people who know where to look, often these can be located. Schools and churches will often have a special plaque in a strategic location, listing those who served and those who were killed in war. Parks are often named as war memorial parks. Australia has yet to embark, on a large scale, upon the phenomenon of constructing walls of remembrance, although there are some. The reason for war memorials might seem obvious, although it is interesting to ask exactly why such war memorials have become so widespread in the Australian landscape. We need to make sense of Australia's war memorials, and this essay suggests five reasons for such memorials.