DETAILED PROGRAM FOR THE CONFERENCE, INCLUDING ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS
Defending Country welcomes this conference as an opportunity to debate Australia's history. 'History means interpretation', as EH Carr said. It is never immune from rewriting; it changes as new evidence emerges and new interpretations are made. The discipline of history is a contest between interpretations.
Defending Country: who and what
Defending Country represents Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous (see Biodata below), whose primary objective is ensuring that the Australian War Memorial properly recognises and commemorates the Australian (Frontier) Wars. Achieving this objective is a key part of Truth-telling leading towards Reconciliation.
‘Defending Country’ is the common thread linking Australia’s wars at home (the Australian Wars) and abroad (Australia's overseas wars).
‘Defending Country’ applies to all who have fought for Australia or parts of it. It applies just as much to First Australians (Arrernte, Noongar, Wiradjuri, and others), defending their Country on Country (and dying on Country), as it does to uniformed Australians fighting our overseas wars.
'Defending Country' is the theme that binds together:
- First Nations warriors who resisted settler-invader, police and military power;
- First Nations women, children and old folk who died with their men or suffered massacre, rape and poison;
- men and women in the country’s uniform (including Indigenous service people) who fought for King and Empire, for Australia, or ‘to defend our values’.
Broadening the focus of the Australian War Memorial leads to reframing Australian commemoration as a whole and will help address systemic racism against First Nations Australians.
What we commemorate becomes important. Not properly commemorating deaths in the Australian Wars shows we do not regard them as important.
Not all wars look like Gallipoli
The Australian Anzac Legend has grown from the invasion at Gallipoli in 1915 and similar massed, heavily-armed efforts overseas.
Not all wars look like that, as Professor Henry Reynolds, distinguished Patron of Defending Country and a Keynote Speaker at this conference, said in the 2022 documentary, The Australian Wars, directed by Rachel Perkins, also a Keynote Speaker here.
It was war [Professor Reynolds said] because of what it was about, not the way it was fought. And my view is, not only was it war but it was our most important war. One, it was fought in Australia, two, it was fought about Australia and, three, it determined the ownership and the control, the sovereignty of a whole continent.
It was guerilla warfare, like that fought against imperial powers in other parts of the world, as War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said in April this year:
Because, you know, it was warfare, it was guerrilla warfare and they should be given the dignity of people understanding that they formed war councils, that they actually fought a war of manoeuvre. They were outgunned, they were outmanned, but they still resisted, and they resisted in war-like ways, and that’s the story that will be told in the galleries.
The importance of context
There is an important difference, however, between the two quotes just above: Director Anderson emphasises how the Australian Wars were fought; Professor Reynolds looks at why they were fought and what they meant for Australia.
Defending Country prefers the Reynolds view: Australia is built on the Australian Wars, the wars fought here, the wars that determined the ownership and control of this country.
The War Memorial has a history of hedging its bets on the Australian Wars. A focus on battles without the context of what they were for and what they meant risks adding to this history.
Not just a numbers game
The War Memorial has more than 103,000 names on its Roll of Honour. Meticulous research has gone into the inclusion of some of those names.
It is impossible to reach this level of detail for deaths in the Australian Wars. The number of First Nations deaths, men, women and children, is somewhere between 20,000 and 100,000, along with perhaps 3000 settler deaths.
The Memorial for many years has accepted the figure of 20,000 and a Memorial publication dated January 2026 noted that more recent research 'raises the possibility that the Aboriginal death toll may have been well over 60,000'.
Rachel Perkins said in 2022 that the Australian Wars were 'a story about war and the people who lost their lives in war, the same number of people who lost their lives in all of the wars Australia’s ever been involved in'.
Yet, pinning down the number of deaths is not really the point. We can never get an accurate figure because bodies were burned and buried, bones scattered, euphemisms (like 'dispersed' for murdered) prevailed, and records were not kept or were destroyed.
People who obsess about numbers need to be asked this question: how many deaths do there need to be before you take notice?
Not an either-or thing
Some people say, 'Of course, frontier conflict is an important part of our history but it is not an appropriate subject for the War Memorial'. They go on to propose the yet-to-be-built Ngurra Cultural Precinct, the National Museum of Australia, the Australian Museum in Sydney or somewhere else.
Yet, this is not an either-or matter - either the Memorial or some other institution. As a foundational event for Australia, the Australian Wars should feature in all of our cultural institutions and locations in cities and towns, with each institution and place emphasising a different aspect, just as the complete story of Australian service in uniform resides in the National Archives, the National Museum, the National Library, shrines in state capitals, local memorials and war cemeteries overseas, as well as the Australian War Memorial.
Exploring the Defending Country website
There are key articles under the drop-down menus on our website pages: 'About', 'Australian Frontier Wars', 'News' and 'Resources'. There are FAQs with our answers. There are over 300 posts under News. The Resources section includes links to hundreds of books and other resources, most dating from the past 30 years.
Biodata
Megan Davis AC, Thomas Mayo, Henry Reynolds, Clare Wright OAM
Ghillar Michael Anderson (Eualeyai); Larissa Behrendt AO (Eualeyai/Gamillaroi); Heather Burke; Anna Clark; Liz Conor; Ann Curthoys AM; Paul Daley; Philip Dwyer; Ray Edmondson OAM; Meredith Edwards AM; Stephen Gapps; Tom Griffiths AO; Anita Heiss AM (Wiradjuri); Bruce Kercher; Greg Lehman (Trawulwuy); Melissa Lucashenko (Bundjalung/European); Janet McCalman AC; Mark McKenna; Jeff McMullen AM; Henrietta Marrie AM (Gimuy/Walubarra/Yidinji); Lyndon Ormond-Parker (Alyawarra); Michael Piggott AM; Yves Rees; Lynette Russell AM (Wotjabaluk); Kim Scott (Noongar); Julianne Schultz AM; Boe Spearim (Kooma/Murawarii/Gamilaraay); Lynley Wallis.
Veterans for the proper recognition and commemoration of the Australian Wars
Bob Hall, Nick Jans OAM, Cameron Leckie, Greg Lockhart, Peter Michelson OAM MID, John Phillips, Noel Turnbull, Graham Walker AM MID SVCG
Defending Country Memorial Project Inc.: who we are
Peter Stanley, Pamela Burton, Noel Turnbull, David Stephens, Carolyn Holbrook
Picture credit: promo for the Conference
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