Australia had the highest levels of public education in the British Empire at the outbreak of the First World War. From the midst of destruction came an outpouring of art and creativity. Discover our literary legacies from The Great War with Dr Clare Rhoden.

See Clare’s website for more information on her books The Purpose of Futility and The Stars in the Night.

Recorded Thursday 4 April 2019.

Be inspired by the remarkable story of Victorian surgeon Dr Mary de Garis. Mary was the Chief Medical Officer of a tent hospital for two years on the Eastern Front during the First World War. Dr Ruth Lee tells her story.

MC: Mr Peter Meehan

Ode: Dr Robert Webster OAM, State President RSL Victoria

Address: The Honourable Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria

In Flanders Field: Mr Angus Hatty

Musical support by the Royal Australian Navy Band and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus

Historian Jim Claven discusses the agreement which ended the fighting between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire. This armistice encompassed the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East and affected tens of thousands of Australian soldiers.

Jim’s upcoming publication Lemnos and Gallipoli Revealed: A Pictorial History of the Anzacs in the Aegean, 1915-16 is due for release in late April/early May.

On Sunday 24 March the annual Greek National Day Service will be held on the Shrine Forecourt at 12.30pm to commemorate the Australian men and women who served in the Greek campaign of the Second World War and the many Greek-Australians who have served in the Australian Defence Forces.

Check out the full range of our Autumn 2019 public program series.

Join Michael Veitch and discover the extraordinary story of young Australian airman Barney Greatrex. Shot down during his 20th mission over occupied France and rescued by the resistance, Barney seized the opportunity to continue fighting.

Barney Greatrex: From Bomber Command to the French Reistance – the stirring story of an Australian Hero is available through Hachette Australia.

Discover more stories like Barney’s in Resistance: Australians and the European Underground 1939–45 is on display daily in the Shrine Galleries. Open from 10am, last entry at 4.30pm. Resistance will close in July 2019.

Join Shrine Curator Neil Sharkey as he explores the stories of Australians who gave aid to the various Resistance organisations in Axis occupied Europe and those Australians who owed their freedom and their lives to these groups. Hear how the stories and themes from different European resistance movements have been brought together to create the exhibition’s overarching narrative and the difficulties inherent in explaining such a complex and diverse topic.

Resistance will be on display at the Shrine of Remembrance until July 2019. The Shrine is open daily (excluding Good Friday) from 10am, last entry at 4.30pm.

Our Autumn 2019 program series, commencing in March, is now open for bookings.

As fighting ceased on the Western Front in November 1918, the Australian military turned its attention to a threat closer to home. The Spanish influenza had arrived in the Pacific Islands and was taking a devastating toll on the populations of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Hear an author from the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post–Cold War Operations series, Dr Steven Bullard, as he reflects on a century of Australian emergency relief missions.

Discover more about Australia’s emergency relief missions in Steven’s book In Their Time of Need.

Our Autumn 2019 program series, commencing in March, is now open for bookings.

Recorded 30 November 2018

Meet two of the artists, Kirsten Haydon and Neal Haslem, behind the Shrine's special centenary of Armistice exhibition, Flowers of war, in conversation with the Shrine's Director Access and Learning, Jean McAuslan. Hear how this incredible work of art, comprising of hundreds of enamelled floral emblems, was created and how it has evolved as it has toured through venues around the world.

If you are not able to view the wreath here at the Shrine, a preview of the wreath in production is available in our Remembrance magazine.

The Flowers of war: Exploring the Shrine’s gardens school holiday program for primary school children is running until Friday 25 January. Bookings are essential.

Some of our greatest leaders and shapers of society have hailed from the Australian Defence Forces. Brigadier Nicholas Jans (Retd) OAM in discussion with Tim Orton explores how military institutions create extraordinary leaders and the skills and principles civilians can learn from our armed forces.

Our Autumn public program series for 2019 has just been released. Bookings are essential.

Dr Jean Bou examines the dramatic events in Palestine in the last months of the Great War, when a great offensive led to a rapid British advance over hundreds of miles. An advance in which the Australian Light Horse played a considerable role.

Read more about the fall of Damascus in Dr Jean Bou’s article ‘Onto Damascus’ in Remembrance.