Military Memorials of National Significance meet a set of ten criteria laid down in the Military Memorials of National Significance Act of 2008 which received assent in the Australian Government on 12 Jul 2008. All such memorials are on public land within a State or the Northern Territory but outside the Australian Capital Territory. The Act allowed memorials outside Canberra to be recognised as National Memorials and the first to receive such recognition was the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial at Ballarat. The Member for Ballarat, Catherine King was instrumental in passing this legislation.