{"id":"C1925A00018","name":"Australian War Memorial Act 1925","slug":"australian-war-memorial-act-1925","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"18 of 1925","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":3126,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1925A00018-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Australian War Memorial Act 1925","content":"AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL.\n\nNo. 18 of 1925.\n\nAn Act to provide for the Establishment of the Australian War Memorial and for other purposes.\n\n\\[Assented to 26th September, 1925.\\]\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Australian War Memorial Act 1925.\n\nDefinitions.\n\n2. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—\n\n“the Board” means the Board of Management appointed under this Act;\n\n“the Fund” means the Fund established under this Act;\n\n“the War” means the war which commenced on the fourth day of August One thousand nine hundred and fourteen.\n\n  \n\nAustralian War Memorial.\n\n3.—(1.) There shall be a Commonwealth Memorial of the Australians who died in the war.\n\n(2.) The Memorial shall be known as the Australian War Memorial and shall consist of the collection of the war relics of the Commonwealth and such building for the accommodation of those relics as is specified by the Governor-General by notice in the Gazette.\n\n(3.) The war relics of the Commonwealth shall include the relics, records, models, pictures, photographs and other articles which at the commencement of this Act comprise the Australian War Museum and any other such articles, having relation to the war, which are acquired in pursuance of this Act.\n\nAcquisition of exhibits by Minister.\n\n4. The Minister may, out of moneys appropriated by the Parliament for the purpose, acquire exhibits for inclusion in the collection referred to in the last preceding section.\n\nBoard of Management.\n\n5.—(1.) For the purposes of this Act there shall be a Board of Management consisting of not more than twelve members appointed by the Governor-General and, on the happening of any vacancy in the office of member of the Board, the Governor-General may appoint a person to the vacant office.\n\n(2.) Members of the Board shall hold office for a term of four years but shall upon the expiration of that term be eligible for re-appointment.\n\n(3.) In case of the illness or absence of any member of the Board, the Governor-General may appoint a person to act as the deputy of the member during his illness or absence, and the deputy shall, while so acting, have all the powers and perform all the duties of a member.\n\nChairman of the Board.\n\n6.—(1.) The Governor-General shall appoint one of the members of the Board to be the Chairman of the Board and on the happening of any vacancy in the office of Chairman the Governor-General shall appoint a person to fill that office.\n\n(2.) In case of the illness or absence of the Chairman, the Governor-General shall appoint one of the members to act as Chairman during such illness or absence.\n\nQuorum of Board.\n\n7.—(1.) For the conduct of the business of the Board any five members shall form a quorum.\n\n(2.) At a meeting of the Board the decision of the majority shall prevail.\n\n(3.) The Chairman of the Board shall have a deliberative, but not a casting, vote.\n\nVacation of office of member.\n\n8. A member of the Board shall be deemed to have vacated his office if, without the consent of the Board, he is absent from three consecutive meetings of the Board of which not less than seven days’ notice has been given.\n\n  \n\nDelegation by Board.\n\n9.—(1.) The Board may, by writing under the hand of each member of the Board, delegate to a member or to committees all or any of its powers and functions under this Act (except this power of delegation) so that the delegated powers and functions may be exercised by the delegate as fully and effectually as by the Board.\n\n(2.) Every such delegation shall be revocable in writing at will, and no delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power or function by the Board.\n\n(3.) The committees to which powers and functions may be delegated under this section shall consist of members of the Board and if the Minister thinks fit, such other persons as are nominated by him.\n\nFunctions and powers of Board.\n\n10.—(1.) The Board shall have the following duties:—\n\n(a) Subject to the directions of the Minister, the management of the Memorial and the control and preservation of the relics, records, models, pictures, photographs and other articles comprising the Memorial collections, and arrangements for their public display; and\n\n(b) The making of a report annually to the Minister upon its operations under this Act.\n\n(2.) The Board shall have the following powers:—\n\n(a) The acquisition of additional exhibits from moneys available in the Fund;\n\n(b) Subject to the approval of the Minister the exchange, sale, loan or other disposal of any exhibits belonging to the Memorial which, by reason of duplication, unfitness or unsuitability for preservation, the Board considers are no longer required;\n\n(c) Subject to the approval of the Minister, the sale or exhibition to the public of reproductions of the official photographs, pictures, cinema film and such other records and exhibits as are suitable for the purpose;\n\n(d) The application to the Fund of all moneys received as the result of action taken in accordance with the last two preceding paragraphs; and\n\n(e) The control of the Fund including—\n\n(i) the use of the Fund in connexion with the purchase of exhibits;\n\n(ii) the investment in securities of the Commonwealth or on fixed deposit or current account in the Commonwealth Bank of such part of the Fund as is not required for current operations; and\n\n(iii) the realization at any time of securities in which they have invested part of the Fund.\n\nEstablishment of Fund.\n\n11.—(1.) A Fund is hereby established which shall be known as the Australian War Memorial Fund.\n\n  \n\n(2.) The Fund shall consist of—\n\n(a) the amount which, on a date fixed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, stands in the books of the Treasury to the credit of the Trust Fund Australian War Records Publication Account and all moneys which, on that date, are due to that Account;\n\n(b) any money earned by the Board of Management as the result of investment and such commercial dealing with the assets of the Australian War Memorial as is approved by the Minister;\n\n(c) the net proceeds of sales approved by the Minister of exhibits forming part of or belonging to the Memorial;\n\n(d) moneys which the Minister, with the concurrence of the Treasurer, by notice in the Gazette, directs shall form part of the Fund; and\n\n(e) bequests and donations to the Fund.\n\nVesting of Fund.\n\n12. The Fund shall be vested in and placed under the control of the Board.\n\nUse of fund.\n\n13. Moneys standing to the credit of the Fund shall be available for, and may be applied by, the Board to—\n\n(a) the acquisition of relics, records, models, pictures, photographs, publications and other articles relating to the war; and\n\n(b) the payment of all proper expenses of, and incidental to, the administration of the Fund.\n\nAudit of accounts.\n\n14.—(1.) All books and accounts relating to the Fund shall be kept in accordance with the provisions of the Audit Act 1901-1924 and the regulations thereunder, and shall be subject to audit by the Auditor-General for the Commonwealth.\n\n(2.) A copy of each audit report shall be made available to the Board through the Minister.\n\nRegulations.\n\n15. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This version of the Act is the original 1925 text and reflects a tightly focused purpose: establishing the Australian War Memorial as a WWI commemorative institution, creating its governance structure, and funding its operations. There is no evidence of scope creep — the Act does exactly what its title and preamble promise. Notably, the definition of 'the War' is limited strictly to WWI (commencing 4 August 1914), meaning the Act's commemorative focus has not been expanded within this text to cover later conflicts such as WWII. Any such expansions would have occurred through subsequent amending legislation not reflected here."},"complexity_factors":["Small number of defined terms — only 3 definitions ('the Board', 'the Fund', 'the War')","Straightforward linear structure with no nested exceptions or conditional logic of significance","Limited cross-referencing — a few internal references between sections but no external legislative cross-referencing beyond a single mention of the Audit Act 1901–1924","The Fund's composition in section 11 has multiple sub-clauses but these are simple lists, not conditional logic","Delegation provisions in section 9 add a minor layer of procedural complexity","Short Act — only 15 sections in total, covering a narrow and well-defined subject matter"],"plain_english_summary":"## Australian War Memorial Act 1925\n\nThis Act establishes the **Australian War Memorial** — a national institution to honour and remember Australians who died in **World War One** (which the Act refers to as \"the war that commenced on 4 August 1914\").\n\n### What does it actually do?\n\n- **Creates the Memorial itself**: The Act declares there shall be a permanent Commonwealth memorial to Australians who died in WWI. The Memorial consists of a physical collection of war relics — things like objects, records, models, pictures, photographs — plus a building to house them (with the building's location gazetted, meaning officially announced, by the Governor-General).\n- **Absorbs the existing War Museum**: Whatever was already in the Australian War Museum at the time this Act commenced automatically becomes part of the Memorial's collection.\n- **Lets the Minister buy more exhibits**: The Minister responsible can use money approved by Parliament to acquire new items for the collection.\n- **Sets up a Board of Management**: A group of up to 12 people, appointed by the Governor-General for 4-year terms, runs the Memorial. A Chairman is also appointed. Day-to-day decisions need only a quorum (minimum group) of 5 members, and majority vote rules — the Chairman gets a vote like everyone else, but no tie-breaking vote.\n- **Gives the Board clear powers**, including:\n  - Managing and publicly displaying the collection\n  - Buying additional exhibits using the Fund (see below)\n  - Selling, exchanging, or loaning duplicate or unsuitable items (with Ministerial approval)\n  - Selling reproductions of photos, films, and other records to the public (with Ministerial approval)\n  - Reporting annually to the Minister\n- **Creates the Australian War Memorial Fund**: A dedicated pool of money to support the Memorial, drawn from an existing government trust account, investment returns, sales proceeds, government direction, and donations/bequests. The Fund can be used to buy more war relics and cover administration costs.\n- **Requires financial accountability**: The Fund's books must be kept and audited in line with the *Audit Act 1901–1924*, with the Auditor-General (the independent government financial watchdog) checking the accounts.\n\n### Who does it affect?\nPrimarily the Commonwealth Government and the Board of Management it appoints. It also affects the Australian public, who gain access to a permanent, curated memorial and collection honouring WWI service and sacrifice.\n\n### Why does it matter?\nThis Act is the founding legal document of one of Australia's most significant national institutions. It gave the Australian War Memorial a formal legal existence, a governance structure, and a dedicated funding mechanism — ensuring the memory of those who served and died in WWI would be preserved and publicly accessible in perpetuity."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"2 (Definition of 'the War')","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Defining 'the War' as a singular, past event with a fixed commencement date means every operative provision that references 'the war' (ss. 3, 10, 13) is textually confined to WWI only. Sections 10(2)(a) and 13(a) restrict the Board's acquisition powers to articles 'relating to the war', so the Board has no statutory authority to acquire WWII, Korean, Vietnam or any other conflict material under this Act's own terms. This is historically absurd given the Memorial's actual function, though later amendments addressed this in practice.","confidence":0.85,"description":"The Act defines 'the War' as 'the war which commenced on the fourth day of August One thousand nine hundred and fourteen' — that is, World War I — yet the Act was assented to in 1925 and contains no mechanism to extend coverage to any future conflict. The definition permanently locks the Memorial's statutory purpose to a single, concluded war, creating an absurdity as the Memorial subsequently became the national memorial for all Australian wars."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"9(1)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The phrase 'under the hand of each member' imposes a unanimous signature requirement that is inconsistent with the majority-decision rule in s. 7(2). A dissenting or absent member has no obligation to sign, yet their signature is mandatorily required. A member on sick leave (for whom a deputy may be acting under s. 5(3)) creates further ambiguity: does the deputy sign, or must the ill member still sign? This makes the delegation power practically unworkable without unanimous cooperation.","confidence":0.9,"description":"The delegation provision requires a delegation instrument to be signed 'under the hand of each member of the Board', yet the Board may have up to twelve members (s. 5(1)) and s. 7(1) provides that only five members form a quorum. This means a valid Board decision (made by a quorum of five) cannot alone authorise a delegation — every single member must sign the instrument, including those who voted against it or were absent."},{"type":"other","section":"7(3)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Under s. 7(2), 'the decision of the majority shall prevail.' If votes are evenly split, there is no majority, so no decision prevails. The Chairman's deliberative vote participates in creating the tie but cannot break it. No other tiebreaker is provided. The Act therefore has no resolution mechanism for deadlocked votes, which is particularly problematic given the Board can have an even number of members (up to twelve) and the quorum of five allows for an even number of voters if the Chairman is counted.","confidence":0.92,"description":"The Chairman is granted a 'deliberative, but not a casting, vote.' A casting vote is only ever needed when votes are tied. By denying the Chairman a casting vote, the Act provides no mechanism to break deadlocks at Board meetings, leaving tied decisions unresolved with no fallback rule."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"8","severity":"low","reasoning":"The Act contemplates two legitimate responses to a member's absence: (1) appointment of a deputy under s. 5(3), and (2) vacation of office under s. 8 after three absences. There is no carve-out in s. 8 for absences covered by a deputy, creating ambiguity about whether deputisation 'resets' the absence count. A member could validly have a deputy appointed yet still technically accrue absences toward involuntary vacation of office.","confidence":0.75,"description":"A member vacates office if absent from 'three consecutive meetings of the Board of which not less than seven days' notice has been given' — but s. 5(3) allows the Governor-General to appoint a deputy for an absent member. If a deputy is validly appointed, the absent member's seat is filled; it is unclear whether the member's own absence still counts toward the three-meeting vacation threshold, potentially penalising members who have gone through the proper deputisation process."},{"type":"other","section":"3(2)","severity":"low","reasoning":"The Act came into force in 1925 but the building was not opened until 1941. For sixteen years, the Board had statutory duties to manage a Memorial whose physical building component had no legal specification. The Act contains no transitional or interim provision addressing this gap, creating a period of technical non-existence for a key component of the defined Memorial.","confidence":0.8,"description":"The Memorial's composition depends on a building 'specified by the Governor-General by notice in the Gazette.' Until such a notice is issued, the Memorial — as a statutory entity — has no building component and is arguably incomplete as a legal construct, yet other provisions (ss. 4, 10) immediately impose duties regarding its management without any contingency for the absence of a Gazette notice."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"7(1) — Quorum of five members","section_b":"9(1) — Delegation requires signature of each member","confidence":0.9,"description":"Section 7(1) provides that five members constitute a quorum for conducting Board business, and s. 7(2) provides that majority decisions prevail. Section 9(1) then requires that any delegation be made 'under the hand of each member of the Board.' These provisions are in direct tension: the ordinary business rules permit decisions by a quorum majority, but the delegation power requires unanimity of signature from all members, up to twelve. A quorum majority cannot lawfully execute a delegation instrument."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"5(1) — Board appointment 'not more than twelve members'","section_b":"7(1) — Quorum of five members","confidence":0.85,"description":"The Board may be constituted with as few as one member (the Act sets a maximum of twelve but no minimum). A quorum is fixed at five, meaning if the Governor-General appoints fewer than five members, the Board can never form a quorum and is entirely unable to conduct any business. The Act creates an institution that can be rendered legally inoperative by under-appointment, with no minimum membership safeguard."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"4 — Minister acquires exhibits from appropriated moneys","section_b":"10(2)(a) — Board acquires exhibits from the Fund","confidence":0.82,"description":"Section 4 gives the Minister the power to acquire exhibits using parliamentary appropriations. Section 10(2)(a) separately gives the Board the power to acquire exhibits from the Fund. No hierarchy or coordination mechanism is established between these two parallel acquisition powers, creating potential for conflict over what is acquired, duplication of expenditure, and ambiguity about which body has ultimate authority over the Memorial's collection."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"10(2)(b) — Board may sell or dispose of exhibits subject to Minister's approval","section_b":"12 — Fund vested in and under control of Board","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 12 vests the Fund in and places it under the control of the Board, suggesting the Board has autonomous financial authority. However, s. 10(2)(b) requires Ministerial approval for any sale or disposal of exhibits, and s. 10(2)(d) directs sale proceeds back into the Fund. This means the Board controls the Fund but cannot independently decide what enters it via sales, subordinating the Board's financial autonomy to Ministerial oversight in a way that is not clearly reconciled."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"3(3) — War relics defined to include articles 'having relation to the war'","section_b":"13(a) — Fund used to acquire articles 'relating to the war'","confidence":0.78,"description":"Both provisions restrict the Memorial's scope to 'the war' as defined in s. 2 (WWI only). However, s. 10(1)(a) gives the Board management duties over 'the Memorial collections' without the 'war' restriction. This creates an internal inconsistency: if the Board somehow acquired non-WWI material (e.g. through a bequest under s. 11(2)(e) with no subject-matter restriction), it would have management duties over that material under s. 10(1)(a) but no Fund authority to acquire more of it under s. 13(a), and it would fall outside the definition of 'war relics' under s. 3(3)."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/australian-war-memorial-act-1925","history":"/api/acts/australian-war-memorial-act-1925/history","analysis":"/api/acts/australian-war-memorial-act-1925/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/australian-war-memorial-act-1925/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/australian-war-memorial-act-1925/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/australian-war-memorial-act-1925/documents"}}