This week the ANU Japan Institute launched a moving exhibition from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum at the Menzies Library. 

This powerful exhibit ‘Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Atomic Bomb’ will deepen your understanding of the damage caused by nuclear weapons. It includes 30 panels that through personal accounts and photographs tell the story of the atomic bombs, Hiroshima and Nagasaki before and after the war, and the devastating impact, rebuilding and survival. 

Through this display, the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific hope to bring the reality of nuclear war to the understanding of later generations. 

The launch included an emotional presentation from atomic bomb survivor Ms Yoshiko Kajimoto and a welcome address by Professor Helen Sullivan (Dean of the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific). Former ANU Chancellor Professor the Hon Gareth Evans provided the keynote address, and he spoke passionately about the need for better policy approaches internationally to nuclear disarmament. 

University Librarian Roxanne Missingham welcomed the exhibition to the Menzies Library. 

“It is exceptionally important to remember the lessons from Hiroshima,” said Roxanne. 

“For a National University created as part of post-war reconstruction, our role in helping to impart knowledge of the devastation of World War II and the need for a better approach to controlling nuclear bombs is vital.” 

Exhibition panels from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum are supplemented by a display of publications from the ANU Library covering the impact of nuclear weapons, and a small exhibit of documents, photographs, posters and badges on peace activism and international disarmament movements from the trade union and personal papers collections of the ANU Archives. 

Please come and view the exhibition in the Menzies Library. It will be on display until 30 November.