History of the Griffith War Memorial Museum

The site of the Griffith War Memorial Museum was originally built in the 1930’s in the Art Deco style and was designed by a local architect, Mr AB Long and built by a local named Henry A Hurley both of whom were also responsible for designing and building the Griffith Cenotaph.  The Crown Land on which the museum is located was also dedicated as a war memorial.

The entire building was also originally painted white but ended up being painted pink later on and was intended as a replacement for the original Soldiers Memorial Hall which was destroyed by a fire in March 1934. The building was opened and dedicated by Keith Hampden Todd on the 30th of September 1939. In the early days it was used for many social, civic and RSL gatherings as well as plays, dances and voting at elections.

The Griffith War Memorial Museum was officially opened on the 25th of July 2009 by Lt Colonel Peter Morrissey in the presence of the museum’s founders Paul Mathers, Roy Stacey, Garry Smellie, Pat Cox and Darryl Clausen as well as many others representing the Griffith local community.

The objective of the museum, and the volunteers who help run it, has been to display items of military interest and aspects of the social history linked to the military operations of ex-servicemen and women and their families from Griffith and the surrounding districts.

The museum aims to achieve this by displaying service records, photos, audio and DVD resource material, stories, clothing, weapons and other military artefacts as well as allowing members of the public, school students and other interested parties to access this information.