"Lest We Forget"
The Frontier Wars
'For the Australian War Memorial to include meaningful exhibits about the wars that were fought on this land would be a powerful act of truth-telling in service of the nation.' #AnzacDay2023 #VoiceToParliament https://t.co/ypSY96imsJ
— Michelle Arrow (@MichelleArrow1) April 23, 2023
"The recent media rounds of the new chair of the Australian War Memorial Council, Kim Beazley, appear to presage a major shift in the institution’s attitude to the frontier wars. Beazley explained it is “enormously important” that the current $550 million renovation of the war memorial provides significant coverage of violent conflict between settler and Indigenous Australians.
He elaborated:
Beazley’s attitude, which complements that of Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh, signals that the Australian War Memorial is not impervious to the changed political landscape. Yet there remains resistance to Beazley’s vision on a war memorial council composed of Coalition government appointees and ex officio military officers, and among conservatives more generally."
"Dadirri"
The Australian War Memorial is a morally charged national space that
promotes a powerful national origin story.
National character finds its purest expression in Anzac, we are told.
The story of frontier warfare is another powerful – and arguably alternative – foundation story.
It tells us Australia was built on
invasion, dispossession and violence,
and that the nation can only ever approach
authenticity and wholeness
once it gives a proper recognition to this reality.
As we prepare to head to a referendum later this year to vote on the proposal for
an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, it is worth remembering that the Voice
is the proposed first stage in a three-step process: Voice, Treaty, Truth.
For the Australian War Memorial to include meaningful exhibits
about the wars that were fought on this land would be a
powerful act of truth-telling in service of the nation.