The director of the Australian War Memorial, Brendan Nelson, is courting corporate and private donors in a bid to see his ambitious plans for the memorial realised.
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Dr Nelson, who started the job in December, does not want company logos adorning the exhibits but is ''systematically'' looking for greater involvement of business and individual philanthropists.
The memorial received $48 million over four years from the federal government in 2011 and, last year, $27 million for the refurbishment of the First World War gallery. Last year, it received $2.7 million in donations and sponsorship.
The former defence minister said that while government funding was critical, extra money would make the difference between an ''outstanding exhibition and a stunningly outstanding exhibition''.
Dr Nelson is giving priority to a new exhibit on the war in Afghanistan. The exhibit, which was to take years to finish, is now due to open in August.
''This is our longest war,'' he said. ''We owe it to Australia to explain the narrative.''
The exhibit, which will feature relics and paintings from war artist Ben Quilty, will also have a strong multimedia focus.
''This is not inexpensive,''' Dr Nelson said, explaining he was in the process of securing a company to help fund the exhibition.
While he could not say how much the Afghan exhibit would need, it is believed to require thousands as opposed to millions.
The former ambassador to Belgium and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has not been shy about making changes to the institution, which was conceived by historian Charles Bean in 1916.
Along with starting a new daily Last Post closing ceremony, the Anzac Day service on Thursday was shown on a big screen for the first time. From midnight, the names of iconic Australian battlefields were flashed on to the front of the memorial building, along with images of Australians at war.
Dr Nelson has other plans as the memorial gears up for the centenary of Anzac commemorations, which start next year.
He wants to see the memorial mount a Mark IV tank (used by the British Army in the First World War), a train that was used to pull equipment at the Somme, and a Howitzer gun outside the building. ''Where possible, we've got to get our stuff out,'' he said. ''[But] that's going to cost money.''
The NSW Returned and Services League said it was aware of Dr Nelson's plan to seek more corporate funding. ''That's not a problem,'' president Don Rowe said.
He said it cost a lot of money to run the memorial and the government had not been ''overly generous'' with funds.
