The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Ballarat has today been officially declared a national memorial by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin.

“Today’s declaration ends a long process for the people of Ballarat and the POW community who have lobbied for national recognition for their memorial commemorating the suffering of Australian prisoners of war,” Mr Griffin said. “It is the first national memorial declared under new legislation introduced by the Australian Government to allow military memorials outside the Australian Capital Territory to be recognised for their national significance."

" Today’s declaration delivers on the Labor Party’s election commitment to recognise the ex-Prisoners of War Memorial as a national memorial. The former Government claimed that it was not possible to nationally recognise the Memorial.  In contrast, the Government committed to national recognition before the election, introduced legislation in March, which passed in June and attained royal assent in July.  In early September the Prime Minister agreed that the memorial could be declared a national memorial,” said Mr Griffin.

The Ballarat ex-POW memorial recognises the deprivations experienced by the 35,000 Australians held prisoner of war during the Boer War, the two World Wars, and the Korean War.

“There are only around 1600 ex-POWs alive today and if it were not for the efforts of the Ballarat RSL, the Ex-Prisoners of War Association, the Ballarat community and their Member of Parliament, Catherine King, today’s declaration would not have occurred,” Mr Griffin said. “This has been a genuine community campaign for recognition and I applaud their efforts.”

Catherine King, Federal Member for Ballarat, said the people of the Ballarat electorate, supported by people from across Australia, have long believed this memorial is nationally significant. 

“Today is a great day for all veterans and their families – indeed for everyone who believes the suffering endured by our Prisoners of War deserves national recognition,” Ms King said. “This national status reflects a strong desire of the Australian people to appropriately honour our POWs.”

Today the Minister signed the declaration making the Ballarat Ex-POW memorial a national memorial and the declaration will gazetted shortly. The Government is providing $160,000 over four years to maintain the memorial.