Australian War Memorial-Canberra

[rwg717]

Hi everyone, I ran this by Rick last week and he gave it the OK to mention on AP. I was approached by a media officer at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last Thursday who asked me to mention to as many fellow photogs. as I could, an upcoming event on September 18, 2011.
The AWM Annex in Callam St. Mitchell (ACT) is not generally open to the public but it will be on Sunday September 18th. 2011 for their "BIG THINGS IN STORE" exhibition. This display contains a lot of their collection which is generally too large to be shown at the main memorial.

http://www.awm.gov.au/events/?d=18&m=9&y=2011

The September calender link is above for more details. The initial request was that we would photograph their large exhibits and post them on Photobucket, Flickr etc. For those of you who live only a couple of hours drive from Canberra this represents an excellent opportunity to get captures of some seldom seen artefacts of war. The suburb of Mitchell is one of Canberra's northern suburbs, happy shooting
Richard

[pixelwhip]

thanks for the tip.

[crf529]

This is always a good showing when they open the annex. Years ago it was open all the time, but now its only once a year or two, lots of cool stuff in there all being stored and restored for new exhibitions.

[mudman]

why don't we organize a AP meet there?
there is not much open there on Sundays, so an after shoot coffee may would probably need to be held elsewhere. Like fedeation Square Nichols

[rwg717]

why don't we organize a AP meet there?
there is not much open there on Sundays, so an after shoot coffee may would probably need to be held elsewhere. Like fedeation Square Nichols

I agree, would be an excellent opportunity for a meet. Unfortunately I have to work that day and so can't make it but any of the other ACT members should be encouraged to go
Richard

[crazymorton]

I love the AWM. been only twice bit it's the sort of place I could happily revisit numerous times.

so what exactly in this mysterious annex?

[rwg717]

I love the AWM. been only twice bit it's the sort of place I could happily revisit numerous times.

so what exactly in this mysterious annex?

I must admit its a long time since I have been there but a lot of really big stuff like artillery, armour, war time stuff that they cant fit in the Campbell precinct, you just don't get to see this sort of thing very often
Richard

[crf529]

It's a very large shed that is usually home to guns, trucks, tanks, aircraft and many rare oddities in between, many being restored to go on display and others just being stored due to a lack or room at the AWM. I think the V1 rocket is still there which is mighty impressive.

As an example I saw the Me262 and 163 there well over 10 years ago, many years before they finally went on display at the AWM. I couldn't say for sure what exact items are there now as it changes regularly, but there's guaranteed to be something cool you havn't seen before.

[Bennymiata]

Sound slike a good reason to get that new wide angle lens!

[crf529]

The lighting inside isn't fantastic if I recall, so be prepared for that too.

[crf529]

Found some scans of well old pics from the annex to give you an idea of what it's home too, no critiques please as I was less than 10 when I took these .


scan0208 by crf529, on Flickr


scan0207 by crf529, on Flickr


scan0206 by crf529, on Flickr

It has changed a bit now that it's no longer open to the public every day, they open a different shed so the elevated viewing areas are all gone and you walk around down on the floor with the hardware. These are the most recent pics I have from 2008 (sorry just dodgy camera phone 'I was here' ones).


16082008(002) by crf529, on Flickr


16082008(001) by crf529, on Flickr

Token planes, trains, guns etc...


16082008 by crf529, on Flickr

This was cool though, the big metal cylinder with the little slit at the top was a WW1 'spy tree'. The Allies used it to gain an elevated viewing platform so they could see what was happening over in the German trenches, the large brown piece on the trolley in front of it is a wooden 'skin' to disguise it as a tree. A bit conspicuous seeing as it was the only standing 'tree' left, but being made of steel and iron seemed to work for us.

[jeffde]

I went to the unveiling of a book on G for George there many years ago - whilst it was being restored. i was also lucky enough to have a walk through the big Lancaster.

Unfortunately i have a wedding that weekend so can't make it. Please post pic those who do...

[rwg717]

I went to the unveiling of a book on G for George there many years ago - whilst it was being restored. i was also lucky enough to have a walk through the big Lancaster.

Unfortunately i have a wedding that weekend so can't make it. Please post pic those who do...

Would love to see some captures too, go for it members
Richard