Douglas Parry is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) veteran who served in the Royal Air Force Coastal Command during the Second World War. Shrine Curator Neil Sharkey speaks with Doug about his memories of the Cinderella Service. 

In the First World War of 1914–1918, thousands of boys across Australia and New Zealand lied about their age, forged a parent’s signature and left to fight on the other side of the world. Though some were as young as thirteen, they soon found they could die as well as any man. Like Peter Pan’s lost boys, they have remained forever young. These are their stories.

Paul Byrnes speaks about some of the underage Anzacs featured in The Lost Boys and the how he uncovered their stories.

The Lost Boys is available now available from the Shrine Shop.

Shrine Curator Neil Sharkey discusses the Shrine’s special exhibition The Cinderella Service: Australians in Coastal Command 1939–45.

Discover the story of 5,000 Australian airmen who undertook grueling maritime patrols with the Royal Air Force Coastal Command. Battling the German submarines which threatened to blockade Britain, the men made an essential contribution to the Allied effort during the war’s longest continuous campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic.

The Cinderella Service is on display daily at the Shrine until June 2020.

Send us any questions you have about the exhibition or coastal command at programs@shrine.org.au or through Facebook.

Join Dr Barbara Musso,Facilities Program Director of the Marine National Facility CSIRO and Emily Jateff who was Chief Scientist on board RV Investigator when it discovered the final resting place of SS Iron Crown. The vessel, sunk by a Japanese submarine off the Victorian coastline in June 1942, was discovered in 2019 in a collaboration between CSIRO and Heritage Victoria.

Changed forever: Legacies of conflict opened this week at the Shrine. In Changed forever, stories of migrants who have resettled in Australia from war-torn countries are presented beside those of recent veterans of overseas service in the Australian Defence Force. This moving exhibition explores the impacts of global and civil conflict in changing lives and shaping contemporary Australia. All have been redefined by the emotional and physical dislocation of war, and seek to reconcile this with their new lives.

Changed forever will be at the Shrine until Sunday 13 October before commencing its tour of Victoria.

Join our upcoming panel discussion supporting the exhibition on Wednesday 18 September.

The Cinderella Service: Australians in Coastal Command 1939–45.

Discover the story of 5,000 Australian airmen who undertook grueling maritime patrols with the Royal Air Force Coastal Command. Battling the German Submarines which threatened to blockade Britain, the men made an essential; contribution to the Allied effort during the war’s longest continuous campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic.

Speakers:

Air Vice-Marshal Chris Spence AO (Retd), Chairman of Shrine Trustees

Mr Robin Scott, Minister for Veterans

Wing Commander Colin Smith, Commanding Officer No. 10 Squadron

View The Cinderella Service in our South Gallery daily from 10am with last entry at 4.30pm until July 2020.

For two days in April 1951, the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fought a heroic rearguard action and helped to stop a massive Chinese force at the gates of Seoul. Dr Adrian Threlfall explores Australia’s largest post-Second World War battle.

Adrian's two books are:

Jungle Warriors

Reg Saunders: An Indigenous War Hero

Adrian's third book is due for release in 2020.

The Shrine's special exhibition, The Korean War 1950–53, is on display daily in our Galleries from 10am with last entry at 4.30pm.

Recorded Friday 5 April. 

MC:

Mr Dean M Lee, CEO Shrine of Remembrance

Speakers:

The Honourable Robin Scott, Minister for Veterans

Mr Tom Parkinson, President of the Korean War Veterans Association of Australia

Dr Richard Trembath, academic and author of A Different Sort of War: Australians in Korea 1950–53

Mr Kim Sunghyo, Consul-General of the Republic of South Korea

The Korean War 1950–53 will be on display at the Shrine until March 2020 and can be viewed daily from 10am, last entry at 4.30pm.

Become a Shrine Friend to receive invitations to our exhibition launches and many other exclusive benefits.

Shrine Curator Neil Sharkey shares his insights into the creation of our latest special exhibition on the Korean War. Although the fighting ceased over 65 years ago, the war has never ended.

The Korean War 1950–53 is on display in the Shrine Galleries daily until March 2020. Entry is between 10am and 4.30pm.

Len Waters was a trailblazer. In realising his childhood dream, Len became the first and only Indigenous Australian fighter-pilot. Peter Rees reflects on Len’s man’s extraordinary life.

Recorded Tuesday 28 May during Reconciliation Week 2019.

Enter the draw to win a complimentary copy of  Peter Rees's book on Len's life, The Missing Man, through the Shrine’s Facebook page.

 The Missing Man is also available for purchase online through the Shrine Shop.

How can we create a more peaceful world? Join Dr Tania Miletic, specialist in peace and conflict studies, as she reflects on the Australian experience of conflict prevention and peace building processes around the world.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Australia conducted hundreds of trials against Japanese wartime leaders. Adam Wakeling considers whether these trials were acts of justice or revenge and what we can learn from them today.

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.