1. Home
  2. Explore the Memorial
  3. The Hall of Silence
  4. The Vestibule

The Vestibule

The main entrance to the Memorial’s ground floor is on the western side, facing Elizabeth Street. The Vestibule is lined in White Ulam marble and shows Charles Dellit’s reinterpretation of classical themes in Art Deco language. Vertical bands of moulded blades form the underside of squared openings around the internal perimeter of the Vestibule.

Two recessed timber cabinets of silky oak with opaque glass doors are recessed into opposite walls for equipment and storage. In the centre of the Vestibule’s coffered ceilings are three large brass lights in the form of stars, also designed by Dellit. The coffered ceilings are the moulded undersides of the podium level concrete floor slabs and are finished with a hard plaster skim coat.

At the edge of the Vestibule is the entrance to the Hall of Silence. In the black slate of the entrance threshold are inlaid brass words, “LET SILENT CONTEMPLATION BE YOUR OFFERING”. This has been described as “the central motif of the Memorial’s conception”.

 

On this day

On this day
3 June

1942 — Battle of MIDWAY began. This decisive victory by the US Navy over the Japanese Navy shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific and forced Japan to abandon plans to attack New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa. Japanese losses were 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser, 248 aircraft, and over 3,000 sailors.  American losses were 1 aircraft carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 men

1944 — 78 Squadron, RAAF, carried out the last major air combat by the RAAF in WW2, off BIAK Island, New Guinea. 10 enemy planes were shot down for the loss of one Australian plane and pilot

1969 — HMAS MELBOURNE collided with USS FRANK E EVANS in the South China Sea.  EVANS was cut in half and 74 of her crew were killed