Despite the proliferation of memorials and monuments commemorating war within Australia, few of our commemorative activities have an authentic connection to the human remains of war. This paper considers Australia’s place within the global network of Commonwealth war cemeteries, and asks what is the future for these dedicated military mortuary spaces as the memory of World War Two moves into the post-memory stage, and survivors can no longer participate in conflict commemorations.

By considering the spaces and places that hold the human remains of war, both repatriates and those who died within Australia, investigation is made of who and how these mortuary spaces were populated, and who and how these spaces have historically been used for mourning and commemorative activities. And, further, can the increasingly distant familial connections to those interred in these war cemeteries ensure the relevance and longevity of these spaces. As descendant pilgrimage to the symbolically acknowledged cemeteries of World War One inevitably begins to decline following the centenaries of that conflict, it is timely to consider our war dead within the broader global context of Commonwealth cemeteries and question what is the future of these spaces.