$10m for new Vietnam Veterans Museum
THE State Government is investing $10 million to help deliver a new purpose-built site to house the National Vietnam Veterans Museum on Phillip Island. The investment will support the museum to modernise its exhibitions, increase visitor capacity...
THE State Government is investing $10 million to help deliver a new purpose-built site to house the National Vietnam Veterans Museum on Phillip Island.
The investment will support the museum to modernise its exhibitions, increase visitor capacity and improve visitors’ understanding of the Vietnam War and its impacts.
It will also enable the museum to better engage with the veterans’ community and its volunteers.
The museum’s new $37m site will be located at 24 Churchill Road, Newhaven and will replace their current location at 25 Veterans Drive, Newhaven.
The museum will be used to permanently display and store the collection of more than 40,000 items of memorabilia and artefacts.
The development consists of the main building with a total area of 4206sqm containing exhibition areas, visitor services spaces and support area spaces.
The exhibition spaces are contained in approximately one half of the building and include three areas; a central theme area, a supporting theme area and an indoor memorial space.
Approximately half of the building will consist of visitor service spaces, support spaces and plant.
The visitor services spaces include ticketing, retail, reception, café, training, meeting and function rooms and amenities.
Externally the development includes 60 car parking spaces, an additional overflow parking area to accommodate 30 spaces, bus parking area, special purpose spaces, commemoration garden and several event spaces.
The new site is vacant agricultural land that is used intermittently for cattle grazing.
Today also marks the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan in 1966, where Australian soldiers fought one of their fiercest battles of the war at a rubber plantation near the village of Long Tan.
The government is investing $200,000 in the Supporting Those that Served program – funding of $50,000 will ensure that the stories and history of Vietnam Veterans will be digitally recorded, with $150,000 in grants for ex-services organisations to provide wellbeing support.
