Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In August this year the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, affectionately known as QVMAG, will open a major exhibition entitled The Great War 1914-1918 Sacrifice and Shadows. The exhibition will run for three years, taking in the Centenary of Anzac Day. It will provide visitors with an appreciation of the impact the Great War had on people and society. Very few regional towns and cities in Tasmania, in Australia, were untouched by events in the Dardanelles and the battlefields of Europe during this period.

Richard Mulvaney, the Director of QVMAG, and his staff are planning an exhibition of truly national significance. I was pleased to assist the museum in gaining a grant of $30,500 under the government's Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program to help with the cost of staging this important event.

By focusing on local experiences the exhibition will play a pivotal role in enriching our community's reflection on the Great War. I look forward to viewing some of the iconic objects on display from this important period of Australia's history. These objects will tell fascinating stories about the effects of the Great War on our community and the often misunderstood world of our troops, who faced myriad dangers and challenges with stoicism and an often laconic sense of humour.

A key element will be the memorial wall, which will occupy one end of the gallery space. People will be given the opportunity to purchase a poppy to pin up in memory of a soldier. Money from poppy sales will go to the Red Cross. I have no doubt that this exhibition will become a focus in northern Tasmania for the commemoration of the Anzac Centenary and the Great War. (Time expired)