Director of Australian War Memorial To Visit Young

Australian-War-Memorial-Commemorative-Area

IMAGE: Director of the Australian War Memorial, Matt Anderson will speak at a midday luncheon at St John’s Church Hall in Young. (Photo submitted by the Australian War Memorial.)

The Director of the Australian War Memorial, Matt Anderson will visit Young on Friday, March 10 as the guest speaker at a midday luncheon at St John’s Church Hall in Cloete Street.

Mr Anderson, PSM, commenced at the Australian War Memorial in April 2020 taking over from Dr Brendan Nelson.

He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1988, served with the Royal Australian Engineers as a troop commander and undertook instructional and staff appointments.

Mr Anderson has a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Strategic Studies from Deakin University and a Master Degree in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University.

He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1995.

The Director had postings to South Africa, Papua New Guinea and served as the Chief Negotiator in the Peace Monitoring Group on Bougainville 2001-02.

He was awarded the Public Service Medal for his role in leading the humanitarian and consular response to the 2009 Pacific tsunami.

Mr Anderson was also the High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands 2011-13 and Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2015 to 2016.

Rector of St John’s, the Venerable Neil Percival said St John’s was very fortunate to get a guest speaker of such high calibre as Mr Anderson.

“We are sure there will be a lot of people interested to hear what he has to say,” Mr Percival said.

Mr Anderson will show a video on the development of the Memorial and talk about what he has done in the past.

Ladies of the church will provide a cold luncheon starting at 12 noon with Mr Anderson’s talk beginning at precisely 1 pm.

The meal costs $20, payable at the door.

Convenor of the function, Rob Nash said the event was likely to be popular and urged people to confirm their attendance no later than Wednesday, March 1.

“We do not want to have to turn people away like we had to for the visit of Sir Peter Cosgrove last year,” Mr Nash said.

Advise acceptances to Kaylene Windsor, the office administrator at St John’s office via email at stjyoung@bigpond.com or phone 6382 1811.