Dr Samuel White was a speaker at the recent Australian War Memorial conference on Imperialism and Resistance and he published a version of his paper in the Canberra Times shortly after. He has now written a piece for the ABC Religion and Ethics page, entitled 'What does the Australian War Memorial Act actually say about the frontier wars?' (9 October 2026).
Dr White's article looks at whether particular conflicts between Indigenous peoples and colonial forces could properly be characterised as 'wars'. Even if they were wars, however, that does not mean these conflicts fall within the Australian War Memorial Act 1980.
A restrictive view is that the Memorial is concerned with 'Australians' serving in recognised military forces and therefore cannot accommodate conflicts fought (before 1901) between First Nations peoples and colonial forces. In fact, however:
The Act contains no requirement that a war must have been fought overseas. It does not establish 1901 as the beginning of Australian military history, nor does it require the Commonwealth of Australia to have existed when the fighting occurred. Most importantly, it expressly reaches back into Australia’s colonial military past.
The Act's definitions of 'Australian military history' and 'Defence force' do not preclude the Memorial dealing with the Australian (Frontier) Wars but nor do they mean that every instance of frontier conflict can be covered. Whether a conflict was war 'requires attention to its particular historical circumstances'. Whether police, settlers, or other groups were a 'military force of the Crown [under the Act] would itself require careful examination'.
A conflict involving a formally constituted colonial military force may fit more readily within the statutory language than one fought principally by police or settlers.
There is something unsatisfactory about that distinction. Whether Aboriginal resistance was warfare should not depend upon whether the colonial government responded with soldiers wearing one uniform rather than another, or whether medals were issued.
Dr White discusses further aspects then concludes:
Although many instances of conflict ... would fit comfortably within the definition of the Act, there nevertheless may be a good case for Parliament to amend it. An express reference to conflicts fought in Australia between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and colonial forces could remove uncertainty and avoid distinctions based upon the particular administrative status of the colonial forces involved.
Samuel White is the Scientia Senior Lecturer in Military Law and War Studies at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, based within the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Army Fellow at the Australian War Memorial.
Picture credit: Aboriginals fighting against the Europeans invading their natural homes: Myall Creek massacre 1838 (Samuel Calvert c. 1870/Wikimedia Commons)
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