Report to Government

Appendix 2 Anzac Centenary 2014–2018 logo

All applications for use of the logo or word ‘Anzac’ must be made in writing.

For more information, please contact:

Director, Anzac Centenary Policy and Programs

Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998
Canberra ACT 2601

Phone: 133 254

Regional callers: 1800 555 254
International callers: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

For further information on the word Anzac, see: www.dva.gov.au/protectionofanzac

Appendix 3 Consultation

This appendix provides information on the consultative program that the Board has undertaken since its establishment in October 2011. As outlined in the body of this report, the Board considers that consultation with the community, business sector and stakeholders to be one of the key foundation tasks in the creation of its recommended initiatives. The Board has met eight times up to February 2013. Each of its working groups has also generally met several times, apart from the Business Working Group, which was subsumed by a Partnerships Committee that met for the first time in September 2012.

Submissions and correspondence

The Board has examined all of the recommendations of the former National Commission on the Commemoration of the Anzac Centenary. In addition, it asked the working groups to consider the National Commission’s report and submissions that had made to the National Commission. The establishment of the Board has elicited a considerable amount of interest and, although the Board did not call for submissions, it has received and continues to receive ideas and proposals for commemorative initiatives. The Board has also been asked to examine some of the ideas that have been sent to the Australian Government.

Stakeholder meetings

The Board has met numerous stakeholders, either through their attendance at Board meetings or meetings undertaken around Australia by the Chair. The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Centenary of Anzac has been a guest at a number of Board meetings, and the Prime Minister has been a guest at one meeting. The Chair has visited every state and territory to discuss their respective proposals for the Anzac Centenary. This includes meetings with every state and territory government to discuss possible Anzac Centenary projects and other initiatives. The Chair has also visited Albany in Western Australia, given the important role played by Albany in Australia’s First World War military history.

The Chair has met government representatives from other countries that are developing First World War centenary commemorative programs. These meetings occurred either overseas or in Canberra and include representatives from New Zealand, Turkey, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, India, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Malta and Bangladesh.

Speeches and presentations

Presentations around the country are valuable in informing community and stakeholder groups about progress and preparations for the Anzac Centenary. Since being appointed, the Chair has delivered approximately 25 speeches in towns and cities across Australia to increase community awareness and build anticipation of the Anzac Centenary as a commemorative period of national and international significance.

Appendix 4 International events

The Centenary of the First World War will be a significant global commemoration. The war had a devastating and profound impact on many nations and their peoples. Not only in terms of the scale of the human costs but also the traumatic effects on people’s outlooks and attitudes, and changes and transformations in society, the economy, geopolitics and national boundaries, technology and many other areas. Many nations faced the ravages of years of warfare in their towns and countryside, leaving the physical marks of conflict for years to come. As so often happens, the war accelerated positive changes, such as in technology and medicine—and the carnage bore witness to much courage and tenacity—but overwhelmingly it was a vast tragedy. Preparations for the Centenary are under way in many of the countries involved, and major plans and proposals are outlined below. Many of these, like those in Australia, are still evolving and developing and the final programs may vary from the outlines presented, which are based on currently available information. A major theme with developing international programs is the broad wish for international cooperation and joint commemorative, cultural, educational and sporting projects.

United Kingdom

The British Prime Minister outlined the British Government’s plans for the Centenary in October 2012. They include:

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  extensive refurbishment of the First World War galleries at the Imperial War Museum
  
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  establishment of a Centenary Education Program aimed at providing students and teachers with opportunities to visit First World War battlefields and also to study people from their local areas who fought in the war
  
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  encouragement and support, including financial support, for local communities to conduct their own memorial events
  
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  significant dates will be remembered with national days of commemoration, including 4 August 2014 (centenary of declaration of war), 1 July 2016 (marking the first day of the Battle of the Somme), 11 November 2018 (marking Armistice Day), with other events to commemorate battles and hostilities at Jutland, Gallipoli and Passchendaele
  
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  a senior advisory board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Culture, will oversee the program and see that plans are delivered.
  

The Imperial War Museum will take a lead role in the Centenary and provide a four-year cultural program, in addition to the opening of the new permanent First World War galleries at the Imperial War Museum, London, including:

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  an exhibition at Imperial War Museum North (Manchester)
  
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  learning activities in all five branches of the Museum—London, Belfast, North, Duxford and Churchill Show Rooms
  
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  loans to other museums and institutions
  
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  performances, broadcasts, retail products, publications and online projects.
  

Other projects being undertaken by the Imperial War Museum include:

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  Faces of the First World War, a project that will make previously unseen images from the Museum’s collections available online
  
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  Voices of the First World War, a series of podcasts that delves into the Museum’s Sound Archive
  
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  partnering with organisations interested in taking part through their website: www.1914.org/partners
  
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  launch of the First World War Centenary Partnership, an initiative for any national and international organisations that will be commemorating the occasion.
  

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission plans to have all its sites prepared for the centenary period. It has a First World War timeline that will be the main framework for the Commission’s communication, information and education program for 2014–18. The timeline represents a geographical and chronological summary of the First World War described through four fronts. The fronts will be further subdivided into separate theatres of war. The Commission intends to identify those cemeteries and memorials associated with these sites and the program will be focused on them. These sites will then be grouped together as ‘cluster sites’, organised around a generic theme, such as around former advanced dressing stations and field hospital locations.

Funding is being sourced from the British Government, and corporate and social donors, including the Heritage Lottery Fund.