I realised that this was not the usual Australian War Memorial crowd when I looked around and noticed that there was not a single blue blazer with regimental tie among the 200-plus audience. In fact, I was the only person present wearing a remembrance poppy. The Australian War Memorial’s new Reg Saunders theatre (named in honour of the second Indigenous officer in the Australian Army) was full, but of people who don’t usually come to the national war memorial.
A capacity crowd paid $10 a head on 14 November to hear film-maker Rachel Perkins and historian Henry Reynolds discuss their long-awaited collaborative book, The Australian Wars. The book has involved no fewer than 22 other authors, but especially Sydney-based historian Stephen Gapps and Wiradjuri scholar Mina Murray. Together they have created what is justifiably regarded as the first national survey of frontier conflict from 1788. While the result is uneven, in coverage, detail and style, it will nevertheless surely be seen as a landmark in the evolving recognition of the fact and significance of the conflict which marked the European occupation of the continent. Indeed, Rachel Perkins’ naming this conflict as ‘the Australian Wars’ arguably may become the most significant legacy of the book and the earlier documentary.
The event opened with a longer-than-usual Welcome to Country by Michael Bell, the Memorial’s Indigenous Liaison Officer. This was no ordinary welcome. Bell, a Ngunnawal/Gomeroi man, restated the Memorial’s commitment to representing frontier conflict. While he did not dwell on the reasons for the institution’s repeated refusal to recognise or engage with this part of our national history, and while he did not reveal any new decision or development, Bell acknowledged the Memorial Council’s commitment (in August 2022) to 'a broader and deeper depiction and presentation of the violence perpetrated against Indigenous Australians'. Before an audience as committed as the one the event attracted, and in a written text (one perhaps authorised by Memorial management) Bell's address was a significant step in the institution’s faltering and often perplexing progress toward recognising and representing the fact and importance of the Australian Wars.
Rachel Perkins and Henry Reynolds took the stage, to warm and deserved applause. Perkins (of Arrernte/Kalkadoon/Irish heritage) described her growing awareness of the facts of frontier conflict in her family and personal history, and her response as a film-maker. In a gesture directed at the War Memorial (whose recalcitrance on the issue she criticised in the documentary), she acknowledged the Memorial’s place as a focus of mourning. Reynolds recounted how, as a young academic in Townsville in the 1970s, he had become aware of the absence of frontier conflict in the published history of North Queensland, and how that became the dominant theme in his career as an historian, with his book The Other Side of the Frontier (1981), a key foundation text in the burgeoning field of what became Aboriginal Studies.
The discussion in the Q and A session (which saw a welcome and unusually lengthy airing of questions and ideas) disclosed differences of understanding and intent, even among an audience supportive of The Australian Wars. Some questions aired reservations about calling frontier conflict ‘wars’ - Reynolds responded that conflict was about possession of the land, sovereignty and, indeed, survival - or about whether the Memorial apparently dedicating just 1.1 per cent of its gallery area post-redevelopment to the Australian Wars was adequate. This stingy and ludicrous allocation is not as widely known as it should be, despite it being public for more than two years and despite much publicity from Defending Country and Honest History. (The most recent example.)
Still, the prevailing tone of the evening was one of hope and expectation. The fact that the Memorial hosted such a gathering (even if only as a commercial venture – over a hundred books were sold at what was a paid event) itself betokened a potential change of heart, mind or policy towards a subject which has seen undue and protracted disputation over many years. (Memorial Council members Dr Karen Bird and Warren Snowdon were present.) Defending Country has proposed a compromise solution but the Memorial has fudged its response.
Perkins and Reynolds expressed a generous willingness to give the Memorial a chance to demonstrate its bona fides on the issue at the heart of Defending Country’s existence, observing that it was ‘early days’. In fact, it’s not; though we do seem to be closer in 2025 to a satisfactory outcome. As I said in asking a question, I gave a paper at a War Memorial history conference in 1981, arguing that frontier conflict was war.
So, the 14 November event was something for which I had waited a long time. I very much hope that the renewed expectations it - and the book itself - has aroused will be met, but in less than 44 years …
Michael Piggott, one of Defending Country's distinguished supporters, also attended the event and provided comments on a draft of Professor Stanley's post.
Picture credit: the queue to have copies of the book signed (Peter Stanley).
Earlier related posts: https://www.defendingcountry.au/news/missing-in-action-australian-wars-policy-not-mentioned-in-war-memorials-key-documents; https://www.defendingcountry.au/news/fobbing-off-doesnt-cut-it-correspondence-with-the-war-memorial-about-the-australian-wars; https://www.defendingcountry.au/news/difficult-knowing-what-to-make-of-memorial-council-appointments---but-heres-hoping ; https://www.defendingcountry.au/news/silence-on-the-australian-wars-no-longer-an-option-book-review
Defending Country will publish (subject to our Editorial and Moderation Policy) without amendment any comment the Memorial or the Minister or the Department of Veterans' Affairs wish to make on this post.
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