Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00408:front:0:p300
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00408
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 918286–921027

our eyes down the panels and listening to the soft tinkling of the waterfall.  We walked along the front reading the cards on the wreaths.  Yes, this Memorial is certainly different and unique.  Later that evening we attended a function hosted by the Vietnam Veterans' Association where we were treated to yet another feast of food, drink and stories... We drove back to Sydney (it was still raining) in quiet contemplation of the events of the weekend and marvelled at the spirit of all the thousands of nurses who visited Canberra for this important dedication.'  (Pat Johnson, 'Una Voce', 4 December 1999)

Writing about the dedication of the Korean Memorial, Doyle (2000, p. 8) notes the crowd of around 15,000-20,000 and a ceremony 'focused on the troops and memories' with a large Korean delegation handing out hand fans and a 'wonderous' performance of the Dance of Peace.  His analysis exposes the nature of the space created by the memorial as a 'spectacular space' where the visitor is required to perform – to come into the space, to move through and engage with the elements, and 'then to make up some kind of narrative from those elements',

    'They do not just celebrate known events, they recreate them newly for most of their visitors—their interactants;  they refashion the memory for those who need more than memory—for those who need simulated memory, or rather, their memory re-simulated.  By definition this is the experience for most of their visitors after the effects of the dedication have passed.  Once the Korean veterans themselves have gone for all subsequent visitors the memorial is a space of either older style museum-like experience, to look merely at objects—figures, badges, photographs—or mimed machinery, or to be invited to partially experience a simulacra of the otherwise elsewhere 'sacred site'.  These memorials are in this sense interactive, like much modern installation art'  (Doyle 2000, p. 9)

For Ian Crawford (personal communication, 11 October 2011), the dedication service was 'an opportunity for the Korean war and the veterans to be recognised' and part of the ceremony was a march down Anzac Parade.  It was, in his words, 'moving' but did not provide closure for everyone as, 'some veterans still feel they have not had a welcome home march and the one held in Brisbane years later didn't have the national focus', illustrating not only the importance of recognition but also of national events and memorials for those who served for the nation.

He was aware of the importance of the dedication for 'grieving families' becoming a 'focus for their grief', and is even more important for the families of servicemen missing in action or those buried in the United National War Cemetery