'The finest war memorial in the Empire' The people of Hay built a school as the war memorial for Hay to commemorate those who served in World War I. The museum tells both the stories of Hay and district war service from the Boer War to the present and the history of the school. The school was built in1923 by the Hay community and was once described as ‘the finest war memorial in the Empire.’ This museum within a school aims to connect young people of today to young people from their collective past.