Defending Country has often noted the Australian War Memorial's penchant for incremental, unpublicised changes, and for balancing a small change with a stand fast or retreat. We used a metaphor from the Rocky Horror Show to make the point: a jump to the left and a step to the right.
Now the Memorial has quietly made a welcome change to one of its key corporate documents, Corporate Plan 2025-2030 (2026-2027 Update), dated 2026 and published recently.
This document suggests the Memorial in 2026 is paying more attention to its 2022 Australian Wars policy, which committed it to 'a broader and deeper depiction and presentation of the violence perpetrated against Indigenous Australians'.
The words 'Frontier Wars' appear three times in the document. First, on page 9 under 'KEY ACTIVITY 1 Commemorate, reflect and understand Australian experiences of war and service', there are these words as two of the five 'Outcomes':
• Expanding and deepening our collection, gallery displays, research and online content relating to Australia’s Frontier Wars.
• Working with other cultural institutions and related entities to provide context to conveying the Frontier Wars.
This is a significant change, seeming to show willing on the Memorial's part, while recognising the complementary role of other institutions. It is pretty much a restatement of parts of the August 2022 Council determination, leaving out the (always manifestly silly) attempt to prioritise cases where victims of frontier violence had gone on to serve Australia in uniform. (This post analyses the Memorial's previous apparent forgetfulness about that determination and includes its full text.)
Then, on page 15 of the corporate plan, there is a 'strategic response': 'Complete the pre 1914 galleries including frontier wars'. That space needs content and the Memorial has a team working on it, towards the Outcomes on page 9.
On the other hand, the chart on page 17 of the plan still does not include 'First Nations' or similar as a 'Key Stakeholder' of the Memorial, though it does show these 11 stakeholders: Australian Defence Force; Ex Service Associations; Federal Government; Department of Veterans' Affairs; Council Staff Volunteers; ACT Government; Visitors (onsite/online); Schools/Education(onsite/online); Memorial Supporters (Public, Corporate, Philanthropic); Cultural Sector; Tourism Sector.
There is added, however, a 12th stakeholder, 'Australians'. Given that almost all of the other 11 stakeholders are Australians, the use of the word here could be taken as a cautious euphemism for 'First Nations Australians', or perhaps for all of us, including First Nations people.
Cautious does as cautious is. That jump to the left on pages 9 and 15 of this glossy document doesn't carry over to the chart on page 17.
Maybe next time? Meanwhile, do the changes in the latest corporate plan mark a brave new world for the Memorial? Let's hope so.
A previous post, giving more of the context, but now including the above revisions.
Picture credit: Aboriginals fighting against the Europeans invading their natural homes: Myall Creek massacre 1838 (Samuel Calvert c. 1870/Wikimedia Commons)
We welcome a response from the Memorial and will publish it without amendment, taking account of our Moderation Policy.
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