The first major exhibition of war memorabilia in Australia opened in the Eastern Machinery Annexe of Melbourne's Exhibition Buildings (later the Royal Exhibition Building) on Anzac Day, 1922. It was preceded on the site by smaller exhibitions including a photographic exhibition which opened in August 1921 (see HT 22071, Catalogue, Exhibition of Official War Photographs, The Australian War Museum, Melbourne, 1921). The Australian War Museum was enthusiastically received by the public and the media. In October 1921 the Melbourne Herald provided an glowing preview of the 'Wonderful Diggers' Museum' containing 'inspiring trophies and curious relics', the first described being Sir John Monash's portable stretcher bed and 'giant naval guns which battered the German lines'.

The exhibition closed in 1925 and moved to the Exhibition Building in Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, where it remained until 1935 as the Australian War Memorial (AWM) was planned and built in Canberra. It was opened by Governor-General, Lord Gowrie on Remembrance Day, 11 November 1941.

After the Australian War Museum exhibition closed in Melbourne in 1925, the Australian War Memorial continued to use the Exhibition Building as its main office until the 1930s and its principal store until the 1940s. A branch office of the AWM remained at the Royal Exhibition Building until 1971. A limited number of items were left behind in Melbourne, which are now part of Museums Victoria's military history collection, and further material was progressively transferred from the AWM. Between 1923 and 1990, 31 lots were donated or transferred from War Memorial's collections, of which roughly 80 pertained to World War I. Some were 'Victorian allotments' via the State War Trophy Committee. The majority was weaponry; a small number was ordnance such as respirators and wire cutters. The War Memorial transfers might be summarized as technical illustrations of the operations of war. Typically, their provenance was scantily recorded. The AWM was probably pleased to see them go, since it was heaving under the weight of enormous collections which it was then inadequately resourced to cope with.

References

1921 'A Wonderful Diggers' Museum', The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), 5 October, p. 6. , viewed 31 Aug 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242626543.
'History of the Australian War Memorial', https://www.awm.gov.au/about/organisation/history, accessed 31/8/2021.
M. McKernan (1991). Here is Their Spirit: A History of the Australian War Memorial 1917-1990, p. 80 & p. 86.
D. Tout-Smith (2018, 10 July). Museums Victoria's First World War Collections. International Society for First World War Studies 2018 conference, Melbourne.

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