Australia’s Army Nurse: Locating a Woman as the Heart of Sacrifice in the Hall of Memory

This article contests the misconception that the Hall of Memory of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, represents an irreligious space. While accommodating the expectations of a post-secular society, this belief fails to recognise the influence of Christianity upon the generation that experienced World War I and developed the memorial practices that arose in response to it. Veteran-artist M. Napier Waller embedded complex religious symbolism in the scheme of three windows he designed and executed for the hall. Drawing on his individual experience of battle, personal philosophy of art and the medieval customs of his forebears, Waller told the story of Australia’s experience of the war and aligned a nation’s sacrifice with that of Christ: His Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension are symbolised in the south, west and east windows, respectively. The inclusion of a nurse was central to Waller’s plans and required he manipulate the men creating the memorial to achieve his goal. In doing so, he neutralised the greatest threat to his vision: its founder, Charles Bean, and located a woman of many identities—a Martial Madonna—as the heart of national sacrifice in Australia’s premier war memorial.     

Mobster gravestones in 1990s Russia

The luxurious cult of memory at Russian mobster gravesites represents both a break with past tradition and also a valuable insight into the country's criminal cultures – both Christian and Moslem. Drawing primarily from first-hand exploration of mobster gravesites in Moscow and Ekaterinburg, this article considers the way the cemetery is now used as a medium through which to glorify those who have prospered in the cutthroat economy of Russia of the 1990s and then became its victims, as well as the new iconography at work, and its wider implications.