Embodied memory at the Australian War Memorial

Much of the literature that deals with what Jay Winter (2006) labels 'historical remembrance' makes clear reference to the issue of identity- particularly national identity. As Martin Heisler (2008a, 2008b; see also White 2000) explains, this is because processes of national-identity formation often look for a moment in the past that can be fleshed out with testimonies of survival, sacrifice or overcoming significant hardships. Borrowing James Wertsch's (2008a: 60; see also 2008b) terminology, these can be described as 'schematic narratives' that simplify complex histories and efficiently organize- through repetition- how a society (collectively) ought to 'think about' and respond to a nation's past. As a number of scholars highlight, museums and memorials, along with a host of other heritage sites, are often utilized in the construction and maintenance of these sorts of memories (Smith and Waterton 2009; Sather-Wagstaff 2011; Macdonald 2013). Less often, the focus of debate is on the ways in which these collective memories articulate with us as individuals and settle into our own personal worlds as feelings and affects. To remedy this, our chapter picks up a task originally cast in the work of Geoffrey White (2000: 505), whose aim was to examine the 'practices that traverse the "out there" of collective representation and "in here" of personal cognition and emotion' for visitors to the US national memorial to the Pearl Harbor attacks. In parallel to White, this chapter takes the Australian War Memorial (henceforth 'the Memorial') as a focal point, foregrounding a particular instance of historical remembrance: that concerned with the Kokoda campaign of the Second World War. Alongside Gallipoli, the Kokoda campaign is frequently called upon as foundational fodder for Australia's collective memories, serving as a reminder of the quintessential national character. While much has been written about the relationship between Kokoda and the Australian imaginary- along with the work it does in representing contemporary Australian identity - less scholarly attention has been channelled towards understanding it beyond its representational nature. In this chapter, then, we start from the premise that Kokoda is not a representation in and of itself, confined to the past; rather, to borrow from Curti (2008: 108), it is 'a continually embodied process working towards a future'.