Stepping into the Hall of Service at the Anzac Memorial is to step into an artwork that pays tribute to the people across NSW who served in World War I.
Lining the walls are 1,701 NSW towns, cities, and suburbs that were given as a home address by enlistees.
You can pick out familiar names such as Zetland, Elizabeth Bay, Ultimo and Newtown among the hundreds.
Beside each placename sits a small jar of soil. It took 15 months to collect all the soil samples from across the state.
Set into the floor of the room, underneath an open skylight, sits a ring of soil samples from 100 battle sites where Australians served. Dating from 1864 to recent conflicts, you can find soil from Tobruk, Gallipoli, Passchendaele, Normandy and more.
The artwork by Fiona Hall honours over 100 years of Australian service and sacrifice.
This room captures the memory of hundreds of thousands of people’s lives. You can explore individual's stories using the Hall’s Digital Interactive.
Beyond the Hall of Service is an exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s war in Vietnam. You can learn about the stories of those who served in the Vietnam War through the lives of 4 Australians – the last Australian engineer officer to leave Vietnam, one of the first RAAF gunship pilots to deploy, an Australian entertainer and a nurse working in a military hospital in Sydney.
Entry to the Anzac Memorial is free. Open every day from 9am to 5pm, except Good Friday and Christmas Day.
