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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)
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Reading List Selections
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Frontier Wars
Western Australia
Every Mother's Son is Guilty: Policing the Kimberley Frontier of Western Australia 1882-1905 (2016)
Owen, Chris
The policing of Aboriginal people changed from protection under law to punishment and control. The subsequent violence of colonial settlement and the associated policing and criminal justice system that developed, often of questionable legality, was what Royal Commissioner Roth in 1905 termed a ‘brutal and outrageous state of affairs’.
First Nations History
Western Australia
Jilya: How one Indigenous woman from the remote Pilbara transformed psychology (2024)
Tracy Westerman
From humble beginnings in the remote Pilbara, psychologist and Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman has redefined what’s possible at every turn. Despite neither of her parents progressing past primary school, and never having met a psychologist before attending university, Tracy went on to become the first Aboriginal person in Australia to complete a PhD in Clinical Psychology, rising to become one of the country’s foremost psychologists.
First Nations History
Western Australia
Living in Hope (2017)
Byrne, Frank with Frances Coughlan and Gerard Waterford
This is the story of the early years of my life. The story of a boy who was taken away from his mother and his family forever when he was just six years old. He had no say in it. His family had no say in it. The government had all the say in everything.
Other Resources
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
Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man. He is the …
Patron
Clare Wright
Professor Clare Wright OAM is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster who has worked in …
Patron
Henry Reynolds
Professor Henry Reynolds of the University of Tasmania is Australia’s leading historian of the …
Patron
Megan Davis
Professor Megan Davis AC is Co-chairof the Uluru Dialogue and was a leading campaigner for the YES …