Project Profile – Conserving Australia’s Wartime Collection
George Bailey, Senior Objects Conservator, Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial (Memorial) based in Canberra has been a member of the Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) for nearly 30 years. The Memorial is the custodian of one of the world’s most significant collection of war relics and personal effects, photographs, film and soundtracks, artworks and documents relating to the Australian experience of war and peacekeeping operations. After its’ commemorative functions, the preservation and display to the public of this collection is one of the Memorial’s major activities. To achieve this activity the memorial employs teams of conservators who are specialists in the fields of textiles, paper and photographs, paintings, large technology objects which includes vehicles, vessels, artillery pieces and aircraft, and objects which includes metals, wood, ceramics, glass and other materials.