What Virtual War Memorial Australia does

Virtual War Memorial Australia (VWMA) is a non-profit digital memorial organisation registered as Virtual War Memorial Limited (ACN 613 555 347) and headquartered at ANZAC House, Victoria Drive, Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 2014 with approximately 10 employees, it operates a free, web-based platform (vwma.org.au) that documents Australian service personnel from the Boer War through Afghanistan, alongside memorials, units, conflicts, places, and cemeteries. The corpus comprises 103,101+ serviceperson records, 973+ mapped memorials, and 3,523,643 indexed places of military and historical interest, supported by an interactive map, a daily Honour Roll, and multimedia content including original podcasts and short films.

The platform combines a genealogical/commemorative archive with an educational product. Its flagship Schools Program is delivered under a formal partnership with the South Australian Department for Education and provides curriculum-aligned resources for Year 9-10 Australian History and Year 10 Civics and Citizenship, plus multiple SACE subjects; participating schools include Ceduna Area School, Loxton High School, St Mary's College, and St George College, among others. A Schools Program Manager, professional learning workshops, student biography research tasks, the VWMA Excellence Awards, and the Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize form a self-reinforcing pipeline where student research expands the national record. Community Pages offer branded aggregation for RSL sub-branches, schools, and local organisations.

VWMA's revenue model is donation- and grant-driven, with no paid product offering. Income derives from public donations and government grants, including the SA Department for Education Schools Program grant, the Australian Government ANZAC Centenary Local Grants Program, and the SA ANZAC Day Commemoration Council. Core content partnerships with the Australian War Memorial and ANZAC Day Commemoration Council SA support the Honour Roll, while additional partnerships (Veterans SA, 10th Battalion AIF Association Inc, Central Council of Women's Auxiliaries RSL SA) provide localised historical content.

Name

Virtual War Memorial Australia

Legal name

Virtual War Memorial Limited

Website

https://vwma.org.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Non-profit digital memorial platform documenting 103,101+ Australian service personnel from the Boer War to Afghanistan, serving schools, families, researchers, and community organisations through free access, curriculum-aligned Schools Programs, podcasts, and community pages funded by donations and government grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Adelaide

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Donations: Virtual War Memorial Australia accepts donations from the public to support its operations. Donors are recognised on a Donors page. Registration is required to make a dedication and receive a receipt.
2. Government Grants: The organisation receives grant funding from government bodies including the South Australian Department for Education (Schools Program grant), Australian Government ANZAC Centenary Local Grants Program, and SA ANZAC Day Commemoration Council.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Virtual War Memorial Australia operates a free, publicly accessible web-based digital memorial platform that documents the records and personal experiences of 103,101+ Australian service personnel across conflicts from the Boer War to Afghanistan. The platform combines searchable databases of servicepeople, memorials, units, conflicts, places, and cemeteries with interactive mapping, an Honour Roll, and a Schools Program that provides curriculum-aligned teaching resources and student biography research tasks for Australian History and Civics education.

Product overview

Virtual War Memorial Australia operates a unified digital remembrance platform comprising the core Virtual War Memorial Digital Platform for exploring Australian military history, paired with educational programs including the Schools Program for curriculum-aligned teaching resources and student engagement initiatives, a collection of educational podcasts and films documenting Australian military stories, branded Community Pages for organisations, and recognition features such as the Honour Roll and Excellence Awards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Virtual War Memorial Digital Platform A free, publicly accessible web-based platform enabling exploration of Australian military history, featuring searchable databases of servicepeople, memorials, conflicts, units, places, and cemeteries across conflicts from the Boer War to Afghanistan.
• Schools Program Curriculum-aligned educational program supporting Australian History (Years 9-10) and Civics and Citizenship (Year 10) teaching, including serviceperson biography research tasks, professional learning for teachers, and student awards. Targeted at South Australian schools and supported by the South Australian Department for Education.
• Community Pages Branded web pages for subscribing organisations, including local government areas, RSL sub-branches, schools, and community groups, to aggregate people, memorials, and events relevant to their community or organisation.
• Ohlstrom Short Film Short film biography of Patrick Ohlstrom using his WW1 diary and service record, created with award-winning Writer and Director Eddie White, with accompanying educational resources.
• Podcast Collection Educational podcast series exploring Australian military history stories including 'From A Whisper To A Bang!' (Australian Prisoners of War), 'Walking in Two Worlds' (Ngarrindjeri ANZACs Cyril & Rufus Rigney), 'Bringing His Spirit Home' (Private Arthur Thomas Walker), 'The Sudden Storm: The Bangka Island Massacre', and 'When the War Comes Home: Beachport Mine Tragedy'.

Quantifiable outcome

• 103,101 Australian service casualties documented on the platform
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Australian War MemorialcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Australian War Memorial provides content support to the Virtual War Memorial Australia, including supporting the Honour Roll feature. This is a core partnership providing institutional credibility and access to authoritative historical records.
• ANZAC Day Commemoration Council SAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides grant funding and content support for the Honour Roll feature. Supported by a grant from the ANZAC Day Commemoration Council SA.
• South Australian Department for EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormal partnership supporting the VWMA Schools Program. The Department provides grant funding for the program which is delivered to South Australian schools. The Schools Program is aligned with Australian Curriculum: History (Years 9-10) and Civics and Citizenship (Year 10), and supports SACE subjects.
• 10th Battalion AIF Association IncminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports digital content for Adelaide 10th Battalion memorials, commemorative crosses, and Pathway of Honour, providing historical photographs and information.
• Central Council of Women's Auxiliaries RSL SAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports digital content for the Adelaide WW2 Servicewomen Memorial.
• Veterans SAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a linked partner organisation on VWMA website, with Veterans SA logo displayed as a donor/sponsor.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Australian War Memorial: Australia's official national war memorial and museum, and VWMA's core content partner. Maintains authoritative records on Australian service personnel, runs its own digital offerings including the Honours and Awards database, and shares overlapping commemorative and educational mission with VWMA but at much larger institutional scale.
• Imperial War Museums: UK national museum organisation covering conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth from WWI onward. Operates the Lives of the First World War permanent digital memorial, shares the dual museum/commemoration/digital-archive model that VWMA aspires to at a larger, international scale.

Direct peers

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Maintains records of the 1.7 million Commonwealth servicemen and women who died in the two World Wars. Operates a global database of named casualties, graves, and memorials that is directly comparable in structure and intent to VWMA's serviceperson profile system.
• Australian Dictionary of Biography: National biographical reference work published by ANU covering notable Australians including service personnel. Shares the contributor-driven, education-aligned biographical research model that VWMA extends into the dedicated military-history domain.

Others

• National Archives of Australia: Australia's official government archive holding military service records, war diaries, and personnel files. Provides authoritative primary source material that VWMA draws upon, and operates digital record-discovery tools for genealogical and historical research.
• Ancestry.com: Global genealogy platform with extensive military record collections and family-history search tools. Competes for the family-history researcher audience VWMA serves, though operating at vastly larger commercial scale with subscription-based monetisation.

Emerging players

• Together We Served: Online military social network and veteran registry aggregating service profiles, unit histories, and remembrance content across US and allied forces. Comparable as a community-driven digital memorial and military genealogy platform, though focused on living veterans and the US market.
• Fold3: Genealogy platform owned by Ancestry specialising in military record collections, including service records, casualty lists, and unit histories. Operates a commercial subscription model for accessing digitised historical military documents similar to those surfaced through VWMA.
• Lost Soldiers of Rorke's Drift (and similar digital war memorials): Veterans Affairs Canada and similar country-specific digital memorials that combine biographical records, commemorative mapping, and educational resources. Comparable model of state-affiliated veteran commemoration delivered through a digital platform.

Regional players

• NZ War Memorial / Pou Maumahara: New Zealand's national centenary programme and associated digital memorials commemorating New Zealand service personnel. Closest geographic and thematic counterpart to VWMA for the Australian forces, with parallel educational and commemorative goals.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/VWMASchools
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC4GeGPw_qc9CWQPkD3sVTIg
• Facebookfacebook.com/VirtualWarMemorialAustralia
• Instagraminstagram.com/vwm.aus

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Virtual War Memorial Australia