[1] After an appeal for finances by then Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian people subscribed more than the eventual cost of £100,000, then a vast sum of money for such a public memorial (equivalent to $13,840,000 in 2022), indicating the gratitude of the nation.

A committee, which included Richard Casey (then Minister for External Affairs and a former Australian Ambassador to the United States) and Sir Keith Murdoch, was formed to examine designs for the monument.

The memorial is a hollow, octagonal, tapered column with a steel framework sheeted with aluminium panels that were sandblasted to give the appearance of stone.

Two murals feature at the base, one relating the story of American combat in the Pacific and the other a profile map of the United States in copper.

The column is topped with a bronze sphere surmounted by a stylised figure of the American eagle by the distinguished sculptor and Royal Navy veteran, Paul Beadle.