ANZAC Memorial Heritage Park, Albany...

On our recent Western Australian holiday, we stayed in Albany for 2 nights and crammed in as much exploring of this city as we could in that time. The ANZAC Centre in the large Heritage Park was one attraction that really impressed us.

We had arrived in Albany mid afternoon and after checking into our motel, we made our first visit to Heritage Park. (Finding it impossible to see all that was on display meant that we would return the next morning.) 

This memorial is all about the First World War...it was from the port of Albany in November 1914 that the first Australian defence personnel set sail for the war zone in the northern hemisphere; a long way from home! http://anzacalbany.com.au/

The walkway up the hill has boards listing  the ships in those first 2 convoys...

A lot of reading to do...😉

And the view looking downhill...

 

The walkway went up to a lookout over the port area, but there were a couple of interesting places we stopped at on the way up the hill.

Growing up in Brisbane I had always been fascinated by the 'igloo' buildings scattered throughout the city, including the buildings at our old airport.  These buildings had been built by the US forces who were in Brisbane during WW2. Well this Heritage Park in Albany was an ' igloo lover's paradise'! Lol. Americans call them Nissen huts but Aussies had nicknamed them igloos. ( and there aren't many left in Brisbane any more)

So when I saw this igloo, I just had to stop and explore. The anchor out the front certainly indicated the naval connection. 

And behind the Nissen Hut, the remains of an old building...

The next little detour we took on the way up to the lookout was a gun emplacement. 

We walked through where the missiles (fakes of course!) were stored and then walked down a passageway which led out to where the gun was...

 

After these 2 little detours, we walked up the path to the lookout...

 

The view of the Harbour was wonderful...and VERY windy. 

This board pictured below, showed the line up of ships of the First Convoy all ready to sail off to the battlefields. The ships were quite an eclectic lot; many were non naval vessels which had been pressed into service because of the war. 

From there, we walked downhill (and out of the wind) and wandered around this historical site. 

There was a garden area that honoured women...but Spring hadn't really come to this area when we were there but I can imagine what this garden would look like when the warmer weather arrived.

In the next post I'll continue sharing our experience at this wonderful and historical site.