Replies

No, Australia has no real equivalent to Arlington, but special measures are certainly taken to honour our war dead, and to honour veterans at their deaths.

Australia has never had a large scale conflict on our own continent - there were minor rebellions in which elements of the British and Colonial forces fought in the nineteenth century, most notably the Castle Hill Rebellion (1804) and the Eureka Stockade (1854), and parts of Australia were both shelled and bombed by the Japanese during the Second World War but most of our war dead have died overseas and until the Vietnam War, it was general practice to inter Australia's fallen near the locations where they fell, and so no great need for a national cemetery has ever developed. When the dead are repatriated to Australia, their families generally decide where they are buried and normally choose a location close to their homes. There are a number of War Cemeteries in Australia (about 70) which were generally specifically established by local communities so the war dead from their regions could lie together.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which is based in London, assisted by the Office of Australian War Graves ensures that our war dead's plots in Australia and overseas are maintained. The OAWG also ensures the graves of Japanese and German prisoners of war who died while imprisoned in Australia, and who are buried here in their own war cemeteries are maintained in a proper and respectful fashion. The known bodies of the only enemy servicemen to have died in action in Australia - the crew of the Japanese midget submarine that attacked ships in Sydney Harbour - were cremated and repatriated to Japan via neutral nations during the war, in honour of their immense courage and devotion to duty.

OAWG ensures that Australian veteran's whose deaths can be linked to their war service are treated as casualties of war and acknowleged and treated as such at their funerals and internments. The Returned & Services League of Australia with the assistance of the Commonwealth Depatment of Veterans' Affairs ensures proper treatment for other veterans.

But most are buried close to their families. The Honours can and will be rendered at any location.

I should add to my previous post - Australia is absolutely covered in war memorials. Even very small towns and small suburbs of major cities contain their own small memorials.

shows a few of the small ones near where I live.

And there are some simply massive memorials. My favourite, and I believe the best in the country is the Shrine Of Remembrance in Melbourne.

On its side are carved the words:

LET ALL MEN KNOW THAT THIS IS HOLY GROUND. THIS SHRINE, ESTABLISHED IN THE HEARTS OF MEN AS ON THE SOLID EARTH, COMMEMORATES A PEOPLE'S FORTITUDE AND SACRIFICE. YE THEREFORE THAT COME AFTER, GIVE REMEMBRANCE.

At the time the Shrine was being built, Melbourne was serving as Australia's capital and this was a national memorial as well as a state.

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is the central and current national memorial.

These are the places that I would say are closest to the place in our national heart that Arlington occupies for our friends in America.