Memorial by Prime Minister Paul Keating on 11 November 1993. Construction and dedication: 1927–1934 The foundation stone was laid on 11 November 1927, by the Governor of Victoria, Lord Somers. Although both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments made contributions, most of the cost of the Shrine (£160,000 out of a total of £250,000; equating to about £ out of £ in ) was raised in less than six months by public contributions, with Monash as chief fundraiser. Monash, who was also an engineer, took personal charge of the construction, which began in 1928 and was handled by the contractors Vaughan & Lodge. Monash died in 1931, before the Shrine was finished, but the Shrine was the cause "closest to his heart" in his later years. Work was finally completed in September 1934, and the Shrine was formally dedicated on 11 November 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester, witnessed by a crowd of over 300,000 people—a "massive turnout" given that Melbourne's population at the time was approximately 1 million, and, according to Carl Bridge, the "largest crowd ever to assemble in Australia to that date". During World War II, the Shrine housed an air raid shelter and zig-zag trenches were dug on the grounds to protect civilians from bomb blasts. Post World War II: 1945–1985 After World War II it was felt necessary to add to the Shrine an element commemorating the Australian war dead of the second great conflict. Once again a competition was run, with A. S. Fall and E. E. Milston as the joint winners. Milston's design was eventually chosen as the one to go ahead, and the result was the World War II Forecourt, a wide expanse of stone in front of the Shrine's north face; the Eternal Flame, a permanent gas flame set just to the west of the north face; and the World War II Memorial, a 12.5-metre-high (41 ft) cenotaph a little further west. The Forecourt replaced a reflecting pool that had previously stood in front of the Shrine. These enlargements were dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 February 1954. Australia's involvements in later wars, such as the Korean War, the Borneo campaign (1945), the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian Confrontation in North Borneo and Sarawak, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, are commemorated by inscriptions. In 1951 the body of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, Australia's military commander during World War II,