This Remembrance Day marks the 103rd anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended the First World War. At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare.
It also marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Australian War Memorial on Remembrance Day 1941.
Australian official war correspondent and historian Charles Bean conceived of the Memorial while witnessing the terrible human cost of the war on the Western Front. He determined that Australian soldiers and their actions should not be forgotten.
“Here is their spirit
in the heart of the land they loved;
and here we guard the record
which they themselves made.”
C.E.W. Bean
The Memorial continues to fulfil his vision as a shrine to the memory of all Australians who have served and died in war, a museum to house and display their relics, and an archive to preserve the record of their thoughts and deeds.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow;
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest We Forget
