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21-745: The Sir John Monash Centre is a museum and interpretive centre that commemorates Australian servicemen and women who served on the Western Front during the First World War . The centre, located near the village of Villers-Bretonneux (Somme) in northern France, is set behind the Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial and within the military cemetery. The centre opened in April 2018. The Australian Government first proposed an Australian Visitor Centre on

42-550: A controversy arose with regard to the cost of the Sir John Monash Centre. Members of the community expressed their concerns about the hefty price tag of the new centre. The Abbott government had committed a $ 100 million to the project (about 60 million euros), a budget many times superior to those that had been necessary to build the British and Canadian centres at Thiepval and Vimy. As a result of this controversy,

63-492: A host of other heritage sites. Its modalities can be extremely varied and may include guided walks , talks , drama , staffed stations, displays, signs , labels , artwork , brochures , interactives , audio-guides and audio-visual media . The process of developing a structured approach to interpreting these stories, messages and information is called interpretive planning . The thematic approach to heritage interpretation advocated by University of Idaho professor Sam Ham,

84-552: A host of other titles. The interpretive process is often assisted by new technologies such as visualizing techniques. The goal of interpretation is to improve and enrich the visitor experience by helping site visitors understand the significance of the place they are visiting, and connecting those meanings to visitors' own personal lives. By weaving compelling, thematic stories about environmental phenomena and historical events, interpreters aim to provoke visitors to learn and think about their experiences. Effective interpretation enables

105-744: Is a mission-based communication process that forges emotional and intellectual connections between the interests of the audience and the meanings inherent in the resource. Interpretation enriches our lives through engaging emotions, enhancing experiences and deepening understanding of people, places, events and objects from past and present. Interpretation refers to the full range of potential activities intended to heighten public awareness and enhance understanding of [a] cultural heritage site [ sic ]. These can include print and electronic publications, public lectures, on-site and directly related off-site installations, educational programs, community activities, and ongoing research, training, and evaluation of

126-431: Is an educational activity which aims to reveal meanings and relationships through the use of original objects, by firsthand experience, and by illustrative media, rather than simply to communicate factual information. Any communication process designed to reveal meanings and relationships of cultural and natural heritage to the public, through first-hand involvement with an object, artifact, landscape or site. Interpretation

147-420: Is an institution for dissemination of knowledge of natural or cultural heritage . Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style museum, often associated with visitor centres or ecomuseums , and located in connection to cultural, historic or natural sites. Interpretation centres use different means of communication to enhance the understanding of heritage. To aid and stimulate the discovery process and

168-614: The National Association for Interpretation , the US National Park Service , and others, is considered best practice. Those who practice this form of interpretation may include rangers , guides , naturalists , actors (who may wear period dress and do reenactments ), museum curators , natural and cultural interpretive specialists, interpretation officers, heritage communicators, docents , educators , visitor services staff, interpreters or

189-796: The SJMC App as a 'virtual tour guide', throughout the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, the Australian National Memorial and the Sir John Monash Centre. The Sir John Monash Centre forms part of the Australian Remembrance Trail along the Western Front, which links sites of significance to Australians, including battlefields, cemeteries and other memorials. Due to a change of government in 2015, with Malcolm Turnbull replacing Tony Abbott as Prime Minister of Australia,

210-474: The Western Front at Le Hamel in 1998, but the project was abandoned until it resurfaced eight years later. The design of the Sir John Monash Centre was unveiled by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 26 April 2015, the day after Anzac Day , following an international design competition won by Cox Architecture . The centre is named after General Sir John Monash , who led the Australian Corps on

231-595: The Western Front in 1918. The A$ 100 million cost was met by the Australian Government. The centre's opening was in 2018, the centenary year of the end of the war, with the official opening ceremony held prior to Anzac Day, 25 April. The centre opened to visitors on 16 April 2018. It was officially opened by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on 24 April 2018, saying "This new centre expresses our gratitude for all our men and women who fought—and continue to fight—for our values and our interests. And in

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252-607: The centre received 54,000 visitors, around half as many as DVA had expected. This attendance is modest compared to that of other war museums and visitor centres on the Western Front such as those at Péronne, Meaux, Ypres, Vimy or Verdun for example. The majority of visitors to the SJMC are Australians. Heritage interpretation Heritage interpretation may be performed at dedicated interpretation centres or at museums, historic sites , parks, art galleries , nature centres , zoos , aquaria , botanical gardens , nature reserves and

273-427: The construction of the centre that it would attract about 110,000 visitors a year. Within a few months of the opening of the SJMC, it became clear that the centre would not meet that target. The Sydney Morning Herald published an article titled “$ 100m Monash Centre on track to miss visitor target by many thousands”, which prompted other articles on the matter. The French press reported that from April 2018 to April 2019,

294-631: The cost of the SJMC was subjected to an inquiry by the Australian Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works in June 2015. During the inquiry, Department of Veterans' Affairs' representatives highlighted underground building and cutting-edge new technologies as the main factors that justified the $ 100 million budget. A second controversy that arose from the SJMC's construction pertained to its visitation rate. The Department of Veterans’ Affairs had claimed before

315-536: The interpretation process itself. Mediation is the translation of the French médiation , which has the same general museum meaning as 'interpretation'. Mediation is defined as an action aimed at reconciling parties or bringing them to agreement. In the context of the museum, it is the mediation between the museum public and what the museum gives its public to see. In his 1957 book, "Interpreting Our Heritage", Freeman Tilden defined six principles of interpretation: For

336-402: The midst of the stone, and steel, and glass of this serene monument, we know that the best way to honour the diggers of 1918 is to support the servicemen and women, the veterans and the families of today." Also in attendance was French Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe , who paid tribute to Australian diggers, "We will never forget that 100 years ago, a young and brave nation on the other side of

357-650: The monument from an abstract and geometric point of view". Australian war artists Lyndell Brown and Charles Green designed a major tapestry, Morning Star which was created by the Australian Tapestry Workshop and hangs in the museum's foyer. The centre tells the Australian story of the Western Front in the First World War. Through a series of interactive media installations visitors are able to use their own mobile device, loaded with

378-519: The past 50 years, Tilden's principles have remained highly relevant to interpreters across the world. In 2002 Larry Beck and Ted Cable published "Interpretation for the 21st Century - Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and Culture", which elaborated upon Tilden's original principles. In 2011, Beck and Cable released a new version of their principles in "The Gift of Interpretation". Interpretation centres An interpretation centre , interpretive centre , or visitor interpretive centre

399-486: The visitor's intellectual and emotional connection to heritage, the main presentation strategy tends to be user-friendly and interactive, and often use scenographic exhibitions and multimedia programs. Many interpretation centres have temporary exhibitions related to a specific aspect of the site. An interpretation centre can be a viable solution for effective communication of heritage information in municipalities and rural areas where resources may not exist to establish

420-447: The visitors to make associations between the information given and their previous perceptions. According to Moscardo interpretation can produce 'Mindful Visitors' who are carefully processing information and negotiating the meanings of the observed object or intangible element. Interpretation is often used by landowning government agencies and NGOs to promote environmental stewardship of the lands they manage. Heritage interpretation

441-510: The world made history by writing our history" and, in recognition of Monash, said his tactics had given the allied forces a critical advantage. Located behind the Villers-Bretonneux memorial, and built partially underground and with a turf roof, the one thousand square metre centre is designed to be "subservient" to the war memorial and has been described by one of the architects, Joe Agius , as "almost an anti-building, connected to

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