Wominjeka! Yumalundi!*

We pay respect to First Nations people and to their Elders past, present and emerging. This website was developed in Naarm (Wurundjeri Country, Kulin Nation) and Kamberri (Ngambri and Ngunnawal people) on land that always was and always will be Aboriginal and has never been ceded. This website contains information and images (including images of people who have died) that may cause distress to First Nations people. 
* Wominjeka means ‘welcome’ or ‘come with purpose’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Yumalundi means ‘Hello’ in the Ngunnawal language of the Canberra traditional owners.

Defending Country

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.

For an expanded explanation of Defending Country, link here.

As a veteran I can’t see how my service was somehow more deserving of being commemorated than that of First Australians warriors who fought bravely against superior forces. (Noel Turnbull, 104 Field Battery, Vietnam, 1968-69)

The Australian Frontier Wars

Read why the Australian Frontier Wars are important to Australia and Australians. In summary:

  • Australia is built on the Frontier Wars.
  • The Frontier Wars killed tens of thousands of Australians.
  • Intergenerational trauma cannot be left in the silence.
  • What we commemorate shows what we regard as important.
  • We need to close the Commemoration Gap.
Australia was fought for in an endless war of little, cruel battles. (David Marr, Killing for Country, 2023, p. 131)

Reading List Selections

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Frontier Wars
Tasmania
The Black War: Fear, Sex and Resistance in Tasmania (2014)
Clements, Nicholas
Between 1825 and 1831 close to 200 Britons and 1000 Aborigines died violently in Tasmania's Black War. It was by far the most intense frontier conflict in Australia's history, yet many Australians know little about it. This book takes a unique approach to this historic event, looking chiefly at the experiences and attitudes of those who took part.
Frontier Wars
Tasmania
The National Picture: The Art of Tasmania’s Black War (2018)
Lehman, Greg and Tim Bonyhady
Benjamin Duterrau and his National picture project are at the core of this publication because he was the colonial artist most interested in Tasmania's Aboriginal people, and the only artist who chose to depict, on a substantial scale, their conciliation or pacification by George Augustus Robinson. Tasmanian officials tried to use paintings to show to Aboriginal people 'the cause of the present warfare' and the 'real wishes of the government': 'the desired termination of hostility'.
Frontier Wars
Tasmania
The Vandemonian War: The Secret History of Britain’s Tasmanian Invasion (2017)
Brodie, Nick
The Vandemonian War was fundamentally a war between the British colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and those Tribespeople who lived in political and social contradiction to that colony. Brodie exposes the largely untold story of how the British truly occupied Van Diemen’s Land deploying regimental soldiers and special forces, armed convicts and mercenaries. This was a war of sweeping campaigns and brutal tactics, waged by military and paramilitary forces subject to a Lieutenant Governor who was also Colonel Commanding.

Related sites and organisations

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Patrons and Supporters

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Defending Country thanks these distinguished Australians for agreeing to be Patrons of our website and project. While each of them supports the objectives of the Defending Country campaign, they do not necessarily endorse every post or every word on the defendingcountry.au website and do not necessarily agree with each other on everything.

Patron
Thomas Mayo
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Patron
Clare Wright
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Patron
Henry Reynolds
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Patron
Megan Davis
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Testimonials

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Repost of 2024 post on Closing the Gap, along with comments on the position in 2025.
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General
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Analysis of documents and exhibits at the Memorial
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Repost from Honest History website of Lyndall Ryan's 2018 review of Stephen Gapps' book The Sydney Wars
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Review by Adelle Sefton-Rowston of two new collections of poems by Jazz Money and Elfie Shiosaki
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Announcement of AC award to Professor Megan Davis
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Events