Office of Australian War Graves

Office of Australian War Graves

The Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG) is a branch within the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs and was formed on January 1, 1975. The OAWG acts as Australian agent for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

The responsibilities of the OAWG generally fall within the following five areas.[1]

  • Processing of new official commemorations
  • Maintenance of war cemeteries, plots, individual graves, post-war commemorations and battle exploit memorials
  • Management of major projects at overseas locations
  • Provision of research services for commemorative information, and
  • Issuing permission to use the relevant Service badge.

The OAWG is also responsible for the maintenance of some 20,000 graves of Commonwealth war dead in 76 war cemeteries & plots and in numerous civil cemeteries, as well as Memorials to the Missing listing over 3,000 names throughout Australia, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

See also

References