Large-scale state and national memorials to World War I dead embody complex symbolism, spanning pride and grief. Built at a time when Australia sought to assert a more independent national identity, they provoke the question of how Australian designers chose to express national identity through the medium of commemorative architecture. To address this question, this article examines a range of designs submitted to three major Australian competitions held in the 1920s: for the National War Memorial of Victoria (Melbourne), the Australian War Memorial (Canberra), and the Australian Memorial (Villers-Bretonneux, France). It draws on visual documentation of these designs, unpublished competition reviews, and responses from the contemporary press, while its examination of both built and unbuilt designs enables a new analysis of contemporary architectural thought about memorials. In looking beyond the predominantly classical nature of these designs, this article discerns efforts by designers to create a deeper symbolic representation of nationhood.

第一次世界大战遇难者的大型国家和国家纪念馆体现了复杂的象征意义，涵盖了骄傲和悲伤。在澳大利亚试图主张更加独立的民族身份的同时，他们提出了这样一个问题：澳大利亚设计师如何选择通过纪念性建筑来表达民族身份。为了解决这个问题，本文研究了提交给1920年代澳大利亚三项主要比赛的一系列设计：维多利亚国家战争纪念馆（墨尔本），澳大利亚战争纪念馆（堪培拉）和澳大利亚纪念馆（Villers-Bretonneux） ， 法国）。它利用这些设计的视觉文档，未公开的比赛评论以及当代媒体的反馈，同时，它对已建成和未建成设计的审查也使得对当代建筑纪念馆的思想有了新的分析。在超越这些设计的主要经典本质的基础上，本文发现了设计师为创建更深的民族象征意义所做的努力。