Over the front - the Great War in the air - a review

Maybe they should have an AWM airshow every year where they take these things to Canberra Airport and fly them around, as well as invite other current and ex-military aircraft. That would be the shiznit!

Thumper I think the AWM is trying to keep up with the times. When I was 8, video games were in their infancy. Now it’s the norm to have an Xbox or a Playstation 2 or 3. It’s a sad state of affairs but children, who form a large percentage of the AWMs visitors get bored with static exhibits. They want the lightshow and the sounds.

The AWM used to be, dare I say it, a little boring in the late 70’s. It’s been brought up to date without it being too Hollywood.

I would like to see G for George flying though.

I don’t see that they are mutually exclusive.

Certainly the commemorative area makes me feel extremely solemn and I would probably like it to stay pretty much the way it is.

The rest of the AWM, IMO, is effectively museum and should do whatever is necessary and appropriate to educate as well as entertain.

The War Memorial is a fantastic place. I have been to airplane museums overseas and they don’t even compare. If you disagree and think that it should be only a memorial, then maybe you should check out the tomb, the flame, or the many memorials along Anzac Pde.

Don’t ever mess with the AWM. Having visited the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester, the military museum in Brussels and Les Invalides in Paris, I can confirm without a doubt Canberra’s AWM is without equal. It is both a memorial and museum and needs to stay like that.

We need to remember those who died in battle but it is important to see the equipment they used and maps of where they fought.

the AWM is the one thing that Canberra has which is the best of its’ type anywhere in the World.

Some soldiers were brave, some just lacked imagination, others were bored and looking for any excuse to get off the farm.

Let’s honour the brave ones by having some perspective.

Surely by having the hundreds of children who visit the AWM every day “entertained” will make them more interested in history, war and Australia’s role in the world. How can that be a bad thing? War has been glorified since the first tribes met and threw some rocks, anyone who wanders around the AWM surely comes away feeling a mixture of horror, admiration, wonder, shame and loss. The war in the air, especially the first can still be thought of as a more chivalrous and exciting affair than the war of death by firepower down below.

Remember the days…
25 April 1915 Gallipoli
1 July 1916 The 1st day on the Somme
4 July 1918 Hamel
23 July 1916 Pozieres
31 July 1917 Paschendale

hulacat said :

This statement is simply uninformed, and I’m sure there are many people who would find this statement insulting.

Hulacat, it’s late and I’ve had a few wines (and whines) but I can find nothing in your post that could be insulting to anyone. In fact, good post Newb! Kudos.

Welcome to RA!

Panhead said :

It makes me not want to join up the Army. Soldiers are the bravest people ever, more then all you keyboard warriors.

I’m with Thumper, Panhead. What if us ”keyboard warriors’ were, or still are, soldiers, sailors or airmen?

Also, soldiers brave? Sure. But I’d put the police, Firies and Ambo’s right up with them too.

This is a bit off topic, but I was really disappointed by the AWM’s current exhibition on 1918. While the AWM has traditionally focused on the experiences of ordinary Australians, this exhibition is focused almost entirely on senior generals, war heroes and guns. As a result there’s almost nothing about what the average Australian on the Western Front lived through or did.

That said, the AWM’s new Post-WW2 conflicts galleries are excellent and the AWM is one of the best military history museums in the world.

I went to the exhibition and walked out with a much greater appreciation about the lives of those who went to war! In order to understand and honour the amazing stories of those who lost their lives, you need to take the time to read about the items on display (imagine that)!

All five aircraft in the display have great signifigance in the history of Australians at war during World War I, and they are certainly not ‘just there because they look cool’ (although they do look cool)! This statement is simply uninformed, and I’m sure there are many people who would find this statement insulting.

If time is actually taken to read about the items on display, you can have an appreciation of the personal stories attached to each item – something that (although set against the grim stories of war) can be enlightening. As most of us have been lucky enough to not have been in the midst of a war like this, I think it’s only fair to those who were, that we gain a proper understanding of what they faced. How can we learn anything from the past otherwise?

I was moved by the story about the Albatros (the actual aircraft on display) and by the Australian pilots involved. Whether the Australian War Memorial is considered a memorial or a museum, I feel it gives a respectful and proper tribute to those who fought and died in war for Australia.

It makes me not want to join up the Army. Soldiers are the bravest people ever, more then all you keyboard warriors.

Well Walter Burley Griffin had it down on the original plans as a casino!

“The AWM is actually a war memorial, and a war museum. Frankly it needs to remember that it is first and foremost a memorial.”

Why can’t it be both? It is world-class museum, hence its popularity. Every day hunderds of people and busloads of kids arrive there, and they are mostly interested in the museum aspect of the place -and I think it’s important that people see what many young Australians had to endure in past wars.

Yet anyone who wanders past all those names and into the Hall of Memory couldn’t help but be drawn to reflect the tragic loss of our youth. IMO it’s a pretty good mix of the interesting and the thought-provoking.

But how many people would ever see the memorial part if it wasn’t for the interesting museum?

johnboy said :

Pretty much.

I question whether the War Memorial is turning itself into WAR WORLD in an endless quest for visitor numbers. In the process forgetting its original mission.

Thanks JB. I’ve not seen this display yet so was unsure of the context of your comment. If it is a rock opera type soundtrack then it probably could have been better handled. IMO the light and sound shows for WWII bomber command and Vietnam at the AWM are very tastefully done so if they’ve let themselves down here it’d be disappointing. I’ll have to get my backside up to the AWM to see/hear the show for myself

I also agree with Thumper – I’ve always been taught/believed the AWM was a memorial (it’s official history certainly hails it as such) and not a museum. That said, its easy to think it’s becoming more and more as the latter, especially given the kids ‘hands on’ exhibits. My son was freaked out in the kids exhibit recently when he stuck his foot under a pain of glass near the bottom of the trench and it suddenly showed his foot as the maggot-infested half blown away foot of a dead man. There was no warning that this would happen and it took me some time to calm him down – he was only 5. As said I’m not sure how such exhibits are ‘memorial’ rather than ‘museum’ related.

Of course, I haven’t seen it yet; so I’m just talking out a fundamental orifice…

…situation normal then.

To be fair I think Jackson’s part is better focussed and more informative than the static display.

Thumper – I too would call the AWM reflective; but I know more than a few folk who find it pretty grim (hell – I read an account of the battles of the Nek, Pozieres or Bullecourt and I find them grim…)

I think the original purpose of the piece is to give a bit of the feeling of what it was like to be in the cockpit of an SE5 in the middle of a dogfight. Maybe Peter Jackson wasn’t the man to hand it to; he’d be interested in making sure that it was spectacular, rather than a sensitive reflection of the facts. I think the facts would be a bit too much for the average punter (I think too explicit a reminder of the legions of young men who were hit by AA/machine gunned/burned alive in their aircraft would be a bit much for most).

Again – it’s a balancing act; and this might stray a little too far into entertainment for some (me included), but I can see why they’ve gone down this road.

Good question – is it a memorial or a museum? Both?

It’s a tough balance – do you glam it up a bit, get more punters in the door and hope that a few of take something home that is greater than Mr Jackson’s exciting display. Or do you keep it more sombre; risking alienating a lot of punters who see it as uneccesarily grim.

I suspect as the “greatest generation” (to borrow the American term) pass on and the era of the citizen-soldier passes with it, we’ll see more razzle-dazzle in the AWM; as the grim reality of battle becomes known only to the professional soldiers of the RAR.

Pretty much.

I question whether the War Memorial is turning itself into WAR WORLD in an endless quest for visitor numbers. In the process forgetting its original mission.

The AWM is a memorial. To war.
Which is this great big international get-together,which only happens occasionally.
The main event is killing people. For the necessities of the State.

Not a rollicking good time of entertainment, and nor should it be glorified for the impressionable young kiddies.

If ever you’re at the war memorial, feel free to ask about the dead guy buried in the floor, and the politics of how he got there.

Thanks JB. I’m slightly confused by your comment about why it’s in the AWM though. Is this reference just the use of a ‘killer soundtrack’?

Cool I might have to check this out. What have they moved or replaced to make space for this?