Update 12 October 2025:
Teaching the Australian Wars: A Night of Truth-Telling and Collective Reflection
Culture is Life, in partnership with Ngarrngga and the University of Melbourne, recently hosted an unforgettable evening of conversation as part of the ongoing education impact campaign for The Australian Wars.
Held at the University of Melbourne and streamed nationally, the Teaching the Australian Wars panel brought together celebrated filmmaker Rachel Perkins, leading academic and advocate Professor Marcia Langton, Culture is Life CEO Belinda Duarte, and senior secondary history teacher Bill Lewis.
The panel explored the power of Aboriginal-led resources in classrooms, highlighting how The Australian Wars documentary series is enabling teachers to feel more confident in delivering content through an Indigenous lens. Teacher Bill Lewis reflected, “Educators need to have confidence that the stories are told from an Indigenous perspective… When you show clips from the resources it’s an opportunity to show Indigenous voices and perspectives.”
The discussion didn’t shy away from difficult truths. Professor Marcia Langton reminded us that “Everybody knows about the ANZACs. But not many people know about the Myall Creek massacre, the only successful conviction of British subjects murdering Aboriginal people.” These stories must become essential knowledge for all Australians.
The resources include teacher's guides and more than twenty clips from the the landmark three-part documentary series, The Australian Wars. Centring First Nations voices, the series and resources help teachers, students and the wider community navigate conversations in classrooms across Australia.
'I’d love you to share the clips with any teachers and parents that you know', says Rachel Perkins, director of the documentary. 'The team behind the series and I have a dream for it to be seen by every high school teacher around the country. Now more than ever we need to come together and learn about the true history of this country. Until it is acknowledged and understood, we cannot move forward.'
As previously on Defending Country, we have great pleasure in promoting this excellent resource.
Picture credit: Detail from promotional poster for The Australian Wars, 2022, dir. Rachel Perkins (used with permission SBS).
More from
General
category
