The Australian War Memorial's two tower cranes have been named "Duffy" and "Teddy" by Canberra school children who won the name-the-cranes competition.
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Apparently, Duffy is named after Simpson's Donkey because "Duffy is used to doing the heavy lifting", according to Dakota of Neville Bonner Primary School on her entry.
The second crane will be known as "Teddy" after Teddy Sheean VC, Australia's most recent Victoria Cross recipient. Teddy was named by Lara from St Gregory's Primary School.
The two six-year-olds entered the competition run by the Memorial and the ACT Defence School Mentor Program.
Other suggestions were "Anzac", "Mavrik", "Save Grandpa" and "Biscuit".
It could have been worse.
Competitions to name big pieces of equipment have a habit of going wrong. Think of the attempt by a British government agency to ask the public to vote on a name for a new polar research ship.
The winner was Boaty McBoatface.
The agency got around the embarrassment by naming a yellow submarine Boaty McBoatface instead.
The War Memorial avoided this problem by insisting that a "panel" (presumably of reliable staff) chose the winning names from a shortlist.
So Craney McCraneface did not get a look in.
Duffy will be used on the New Anzac Hall site at the back of the $550 million construction project.
Teddy will work to the side on the new C.E.W. Bean Building.
Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said he was delighted at the outcome.
"To see names entered such as Poppy, Anzac and Biscuit, accompanied by the fantastic colouring-in done by the students made for a great day at the Memorial," he said.
The cranes are the most prominent part of the site. They will move materials and machinery weighing up to 24 tonnes.
One of them has a 75-metre long arm and a top height of 21.8 metres above the Memorial's dome.
The first prize is a tour of the AWM's warehouse where a multitude of planes are kept, away from public view.
The winner will also get a $100 voucher to spend in the memorial's shop. Second prize is a $50 voucher.
Building of the $550 million project is now well underway, both at the back where the old Anzac Hall has been demolished and work on its replacement begun, and at the front looking down Anzac Parade towards Lake Burley Griffin.
The memorial's management argues that the old premises were too small for all the entries stored behind the scenes so a bigger space - 7000 square metres bigger - is needed "to tell stories of recent conflicts and peacekeeping operations".
If all goes to schedule, the new south entry and the Bean Building will be finished by the end of 2024, and Anzac Hall by the end of 2025. Interior work, though, will not be done until 2028.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
