Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The eagle


As part of our travels yesterday, we passed through the suburb of Russell. This eagle is at the top of a 73 metre high column - the Australian-American Memorial - located in a square at the front of the Russell Defence Offices, at the end of Kings Avenue.

The memorial was opened in 1954 by Queen Elizabeth II, and symbolises the ties between Australian and US military forces in World War II. It cost 100,000 pounds to build, of which 63,000 pounds was raised through a nation-wide appeal.

The 11 metre eagle and sphere sits on an octagonal aluminium column, sandblasted to look like stone. There are a series of ladders inside the column, but these are not accessible to the public.

Australian-American Memorial
Sir Thomas Blamey Square
Russell ACT 2600

1 comment:

Julie said...

Ah, now somewhere in a shoe-box at home I have a grainy photo of this eagle taken close to 1954, when Dad took us to Canberra for the very first time. He vowed never to return as all the bloody streets went round in circles.