© John Torres, CC-BY-SA-3.0

Charles, can you describe the nature of the Australian War Memorial, opened in 1941? What makes it unique as a war memorial?

Bean's plans were ambitious and he envisaged the Australian War Memorial as having more than one purpose. Watch the fourth video (The Australian War Memorial) in the Historians section of Charles Bean’s Great War to learn about his ideas. Despite a lukewarm response from the public in the 1920s, the Great Depression and then then the Second World War, The War Memorial was finally opened in 1941.

Thank you Charles, it’s been a fascinating insight into your life and all your different histories of the First World War. So all that's left to say is, Charles Bean, this is your life!