Shrine of Remembrance

This podcast was recorded during the 2023 Midsumma Festival and explores stories of LGBTQ+ service.  Chaired by Midsumma Chief Executive Karen Bryant, listen as current and ex-service members share their experiences in the ADF.  Content warning: Parental guidance is recommended: this audio program contains adult themes and concepts and occasional coarse language. Support: If this program raises an...

Entertainers have performed in war and peacekeeping zones for decades, but what does it take to get them over there? And what happens if things don't go according to plan?  In this podcast, Warrant Officer Class 1 Mark Langley shares a peek behind the curtain of a Forces Entertainment concert from recruiting to the curtain call. Listen as he unpacks stories of escorting comedians, musicians and pe...

Australian entertainers have performed for troops in war zones and peacekeeping operations since the Vietnam War. Their talent and celebrity have lifted spirits and brought a slice of home to service personnel abroad. In this podcast, hear first-hand the trials and tribulations of entertaining on the front line with host Merrick Watts in conversation with Tom Gleeson, Charlie Pickering, Little Pat...

Australian entertainers have performed for troops in war zones and peacekeeping operations since the Vietnam War. Their talent and celebrity have lifted spirits and brought a slice of home to service personnel abroad. In this podcast, hear first-hand the trials and tribulations of entertaining on the front line with host Merrick Watts in conversation with Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann, Nick Cody and Ami...

Corporal Ronald Schultz has been in the Air Force for more than two decades, spanning a variety of roles and serving both in Australia and overseas. He now works in Indigenous recruiting, helping other First Nations people across Australia enter the Defence Force. In this podcast, guest host and acclaimed Gunditjmara actor Tom Molyneux yarns with Ron about his entry into the defence force, the hig...

Phil Neil, a former Leading Aircraftman with the RAAF, was one of the five members of the Gay Ex-Services Association (GESA) who tried to unsuccessfully lay a wreath at the Shrine of Remembrance on ANZAC Day in 1982. GESA formed after inflammatory and homophobic comments were made in the media about gay service people by then RSL president, Bruce Ruxton. On a cold and rainy 25 th of April, 1982, P...

When the Taliban entered Kabul on the evening of 15 August 2021, Western troops and embassy staff scrambled to flee a country of which its government had lost control. To the world, Kabul in August looked like Saigon in 1975.  Andrew Quilty was one of a handful of Western journalists who stayed as the city fell. His book, August in Kabul: America's last days in Afghanistan  is a first-hand account...

Bridget Clinch is a change maker. A former captain in the Australian Army, in 2010 she challenged the Australian Defence Force over its ban on transgender service - and won. It was a hard-fought battle that paved the way for other transgender ADF service members to be able transition and to continue serving after her. High profile former Lieutenant Colonel and Group Captain Cate McGregor, was one...

The Beaufort Bomber was colloquially known as the workhorse of the RAAF during World War Two and played a key role in Australia's defence. In this podcast, convenor of the Beaufort Squadrons Reunion Tony Clark unpacks the story behind the plane. Hear why they were built on home soil, how women played a pivotal part in the construction and what happened when the plane was retired. Voiceover: Keith...

The story of defence couple, Carole Popham and Christina Dennis, started over 50 years ago in the Women's Royal Australian Air Force. Both born in the '40s, without knowing it they grew up within 350kms of each other in northern Queensland: Carole in Townsville and Christina in Cairns. Coming of age in 1960s Australia - a time of limited work and education opportunities for women - in 1963 and '64...

This podcast is part of a powerful two-part series that explores the history of LGBTIQ+ military service in Australia, produced by award-winning podcast maker, Megan Spencer. It begins in 1982 with the unsuccessful attempt of five gay ex-servicemen to lay a wreath at the Shrine of Remembrance on Anzac Day, to honour their "fallen gay and lesbian brothers and sisters". Forty years later, on ANZAC D...

This podcast is part of a powerful two-part series that explores the history of LGBTIQ+ military service in Australia, produced by award-winning podcast maker, Megan Spencer. It begins in 1982 with the unsuccessful attempt of five gay ex-servicemen to lay a wreath at the Shrine of Remembrance on Anzac Day, to honour their "fallen gay and lesbian brothers and sisters". Forty years later, on ANZAC D...

This episode of For Kin and Country Yarns was recorded during Reconciliation Week following the Victorian Aboriginal Remembrance Service (May 2022). In this podcast, guest host and acclaimed Gunditjmara actor Tom Molyneux  yarns with Ngarigo Dunghutti  veteran Rex Solomon about family connection to service, experience in the forces and reflections on how First People's service is commemorated toda...

Take a peek behind the curtain of the 'Between Two Worlds' exhibition with veteran artists Ben Pullin and Sean Burton as they discuss their art and inspiration.   The exhibition is on display until the end of July 2022.  For more information about the Between Two Worlds exhibition, click here .  Learn more about Sean Burton here. Learn more about Ben Pullin here. Learn more about Rory Cushnahan he...

Uncle Frank Lampard OAM is a proud Ngarrindjeri Kaurna man and elder and one of the thousands of young Australians called up for national service during the Vietnam War. Training as a medic in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps, he was posted to Victoria for two years and served from 1967 to 1969. Listen as Uncle Frank unpacks his experience of national service, shares stories from his time l...

Douglas Heywood OAM was just a teenager when he discovered hundreds of letters written by his father Scott to his mother Marge during the Second World War. Many of these letters were from Scott's time as a prisoner of war and recount in great detail exactly what life was like. Listen as Doug unpacks this incredible story of enduring love and what it was like to learn about his father through the l...

Lust, Love, Loss: Conversations is a three-part series produced by renowned broadcaster Megan Spencer that delves deep into stories of Australian wartime relationships. This episode follows the story of Julia and Jai Michel, who in the nine years they've known each other have spent three and a half living in the same place. Julia has navigated the trials and tribulations of organising a wedding, b...

Lust, Love, Loss: Conversations is a three-part series produced by renowned broadcaster Megan Spencer that delves deep into three stories of Australian wartime relationships. For Tanja and Mark Johnston, what started as a chance meeting on the stoop of a share house in Toowoomba evolved into a relationship filled with letter writing, 90s mix tapes and good dose of humour. The couple combined Tanja...

Lust, Love, Loss: Conversations is a three-part series produced by renowned broadcaster Megan Spencer that delves deep into stories of Australian wartime relationships. Justin and Kendal Brown's story began when they were just teens in the remote defence town of Woomera, but it wasn't until years later that they became a couple. In this episode, Megan Spencer dissects Justin's vow not to get marri...

Meet our formidable team of Life Governors as they discuss their time in the defence forces and how they came to serve and support the Shrine of Remembrance. Interviewer: Mr Ray Andrews Shrine Life Governors: Colonel George Mackenzie OBE RFD, Lieutenant Colonel David Ford CVO AM GM, Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Lombardo and Mr Peter Whitelaw Videographer: Mr Keith Webb

Vera Deakin, a 23 year old woman from Melbourne and youngest daughter of Australia's second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, travelled to Cairo to establish the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau. Her work brought comfort and answers to grieving families across Australia. The legacies of her work endure to this day. Join author and historian Carole Woods OAM in conversation with...

Michael Madden provides a snapshot of his remarkable journey travelling across Australia and around the world to photograph 100 Australian Victoria Cross medals. Invited to Windsor Castle, he was the first Australian to see and hold the metal from which the Victoria Cross medals are created. The Victoria Cross: Australia Remembers is available online through the Shrine Shop . Please note, there we...

The Shrine of Remembrance acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we honour Australian service men and women, and we pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.   Please note that the audio does contain some sound effects of war, protest and discussion around suicide. -- In this podcast, an interview with independent...

Presented by Dr Madonna Grehan While the exact numbers are unclear, it's estimated that around 5000 nurses served in the military during the Second World War in a range of locations throughout the world. In this International Women's Day Address for the Shrine of Remembrance, Madonna Grehan considers the state of nursing in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Drawing on biographies of Second World War...

Artist Dean Bowen reveals the inspiration behind his beautiful and haunting Centaur series. Dean Bowen's Imagining Centaur is open now and can be viewed in the Shrine Galleries daily. Interviewer: Neil Sharkey, Shrine Curator