This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

21st October 2014

WW1 Galleries at the Imperial War Museum

The new £40m WW1 galleries at the Imperial War Museum in London are absolutely spectacular. I was fortunate to be given a private tour during my visit to London last week, when I met IWM Director Diane Lees and discussed the museum’s plans to send a WW1 exhibition to Melbourne next year. The path through the gallery neatly juxtaposes action in various fields of conflict with what was happening on the home front at the time. So, for example, as the war becomes increasingly industrial, we see massed ranks of women taking up employment in the armaments factories.

Diane Lees and HE Paul Madden
Diane Lees and HE Paul Madden

The museum makes excellent use of technology with really eye-catching exhibits that are easy to touch and absorb the narrative. It covers the various fields of battle including the Western Front and East Africa, where my two grandfathers fought, as well as Gallipoli where Australian and British soldiers sacrificed so much.

Brendan Nelson, Director of Canberra’s National War Memorial, had told me about his own recent visit to the IWM. The two institutions work closely together, exchanging staff and experience. Australia’s War Memorial is also currently revamping its WW1 galleries, to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War.

Whilst in London I also visited the British Library to meet Director Roly Keating to discuss his recent visits to state and national libraries in Australia. Many of our cultural institutions have close relationships with their Australian counterparts. Roly kindly arranged for his curators to show me some of their Australia-related treasures. It was a particular privilege to read Captain James Cook’s log of his landfall at Botany Bay in 1770, written in his own handwriting.

Lloyd George’s message to Australia
Lloyd George’s message to Australia

About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.