Director Of The Australian War Memorial Visit Draws Crow

The Director of the Australian War Memorial, Matt Anderson visited St John’s Church Hall on Friday, March 10 as special guest speaker at a wonderful midday luncheon replacing the previous Men’s Breakfasts.

The event was a huge success, with some 58 people attending.

Mr Anderson has been at the Australian War Memorial since April 2020. With the advent of COVID restrictions and many calls on his time it took two years to bring about last week’s visit.

Mr Anderson’s distinguished career ensured he was well suited to the task of being the Memorial’s Director.

He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1988 and served with the Royal Australian Engineers as a troop commander as well as undertaking instructional and staff appointments.

Mr Anderson has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Strategic Studies from Deakin University and a Masters Degree in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University.

He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1995 and had postings to South Africa, Papua New Guinea and served as the Chief Negotiator in the Peace Monitoring Group on Bougainville 2001-02.

He was awarded the Public Service Medal for his role in leading the humanitarian and consular response to the 2009 Pacific Tsunami.

Mr Anderson was also the High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands 2011-13 and Ambassador to Afghanistan 2015-16.

The ladies of the church provided a sumptuous luncheon enjoyed by all. There wasn’t much left over, but no one seemed to go hungry.

The ladies have had some experience feeding the masses - delivering six highly successful Men’s Breakfasts since 2015.

After the luncheon, Mr Anderson gave a short video presentation on Australia’s substantial participation in relief provided for Samoa after the 2007 tsunami.

He had a very detailed video presentation on extensions to the Memorial complex, showing the magnitude of the extensions.

What impressed everyone was his concentration on the human aspects of Australian servicemen’s contribution to peacekeeping and operational conflicts.

• Topics:

• Military
• History