Following the war, the commander of the
Australian Corps, Lieutenant General Sir
Talbot Hobbs chose the sites of several Australian memorials in Europe and proposed that a memorial to all of the Australian dead on the Western Front be built in France, in the Villers-Bretonneux area. The proposal was approved by the Australian government – still led by wartime Prime Minister
Billy Hughes – in 1923. A competition to design the memorial was held in 1925. It was open only to Australian veterans and their parents; their entries were required to use only stone quarried in Australia. The competition was won by the Melbourne architect William Lucas. In 1929, the French government gave its approval to the project. The
Scullin government suspended the project in 1930, due to the
Great Depression and the projected cost, as well as dissatisfaction with aesthetic elements of Lucas's design. Following a 1935 visit to Australia by the head of the Imperial War Graves Commission, Sir
Fabian Ware, a cheaper design was sought, using French stone, from Sir Edwin Lutyens. Construction of the memorial took place in 1936 and 1937. It was unveiled on 22 July 1938 by
King George VI, whose words were broadcast directly to Australia. Other dignitaries present included the French President
Albert Lebrun, who also gave a speech, and the Australian deputy prime minister
Earle Page. Accompanying the King was his wife
Queen Elizabeth, whose brother was killed at the
Battle of Loos. This memorial was the last of the great memorials to the missing of World War I to be built, and the
Second World War broke out just over a year after its unveiling. During the unveiling ceremony, the King closed his speech with the words: "They rest in peace, while over them all Australia's tower keeps watch and ward." The
Sir John Monash Centre, an
interpretive centre behind the Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial, opened in April 2018. ==Notable Commemoratees==