Move over, Sydney Opera House. Australians have a new favourite landmark.

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra has been named the number one landmark in Australia and the South Pacific in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Awards.

The Memorial edged out the Sydney Opera House as Australia’s most must-see landmark, coming in at 23 on a list of the world’s top man-made landmarks.

With more than 1.14 million visitors last year, Australian War Memorial director Dr Brendan Nelson said the popularity of the war memorial was a “paradox”.

“There is much, much more here than war; it’s a place of love and friendship. Love of family and of country, honouring those who devoted their lives not to themselves but to us, and their last moments to one another,” Dr Nelson said.

“When people visit the Australian War Memorial they come expecting the story of Australians at war. What they often leave with, however, is a deeper understanding of Australia as a nation.”

More than 5000 people have reviewed the war memorial, one lauding it as: “One of the best places in the world to remember fallen soldiers without glorifying war in any way.”

The Australian War Memorial’s latest accolade comes off the back of a record 4.4 million visitors to the nation’s capital last year.

The Opera House came in second.

Source: Canberra Times (18 May).