War Memorial souvenir programs sidling towards recognising the Australian (Frontier) Wars?

In 1904, the late Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote and published a book entitled One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. The book was about doctrinal differences in the nascent Russian Communist Party but the title describes rather well the recent journey of the Australian War Memorial regarding the Australian (Frontier) Wars.

2020 Anzac Day

The Memorial's website has the Order of Service for the Anzac Day Dawn Service. There is an item 'Playing of the didgeridoo: Seaman Lynton Robbins, Royal Australian Navy'. That's all; no sign of any official words to go with the sound.

2021-22 Remembrance Day

From 2021 on, the Memorial put out a glossy souvenir program for Remembrance Day. The 2021 version was eight pages long, containing the Order of Service, names of speakers and wreath-layers, plus the Ode, In Flanders Fields, and mentions of the Last Past, the Rouse, a musical item from the Band of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, the National Anthem and Acknowledgements, including to Traditional Custodians.  

There were some official didgeridoo-related words, the same in both years (2021, 2022) except that the 2022 version inserted the words 'or Worimi' (coastal NSW country) after 'Ngunnawal' (Canberra country).

Playing of the Didgeridoo [2021]

The didgeridoo (or, as it is known by the Traditional Custodians of the Yolngu clans of North East Arnhem Land, the yidaki), is not traditionally played in Ngunnawal country. It is played here today with the permission of the Ngunnawal people to acknowledge and pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have contributed to the defence of Australia in times of peace and war.

We have added the emphasis to those words, including 'the defence of Australia in times of peace and war'. While the matter is not, as the lawyers say, 'free from doubt', that sounds like an acknowledgement of Indigenous service in uniform.

No nod there to the Australian (Frontier) Wars, though Remembrance Day 2022 was only a few weeks after Council Chair Brendan Nelson's claim that the Memorial envisaged 'a much broader, much deeper depiction and presentation' of frontier conflict. The retreat from that remark had begun almost immediately, under pressure from the RSL, the Nationals, News Limited, Andrew Bolt, and Quadrant. Remembrance Day 2022 was pretty much Dr Nelson's final big outing at the Memorial before he took off to the big job with Boeing in London.

2023-24 Remembrance Day

The Didgeridoo words changed in 2023 and stayed the same in 2024:

Playing of the Didgeridoo

The didgeridoo – known by the Yolngu of North East Arnhem Land as the yidaki – is not traditionally played in Ngunnawal country. It will be played here today with the permission of the Traditional Custodians to pay respect to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have taken part in the defence of Australia, part of a long and ongoing tradition of defending Country.

Emphasis added again. Why the change from 2022? By early 2023, new Council Chair Kim Beazley was in place and spruiking the importance of giving First Nations people 'the dignity of resistance', in a separate section of the Memorial and in a substantial way. Perhaps his arrival helped to tweak the words in the souvenir program. As far as Defending Country knows, Mr Beazley still holds the same views.

The words 'the defence of Australia' were now part of the bigger picture of 'defending Country', which seemed to encompass - again, not free from doubt - a time before there was an Australian Federation. It's still a bit vague, though; perhaps the backing and filling which seems in 2023 to have afflicted the Memorial's approach to the Australian (Frontier) Wars was reflected in the cautious words of the 2023 version.

There was no further tweaking for the 2024 version, despite the hopeful vibes coming from the refreshing of the Council. The internal pushing and pulling seemed to be persisting. After all, the 2024 Council still included Major General Greg Melick, National President of the RSL, who had claimed in October 2022 that 'a major feature [in the Memorial] on frontier wars will piss off the majority of Australia’s 600,000 veterans' and in June 2023 that the Memorial’s displays should be confined to those who fought ‘in Australian uniforms’. 

Tony Abbott was still on the Council as well. Defending Country said earlier this year that Mr Abbott 'was a rusted-on enthusiast for the traditional Anzac story – blokes going overseas to fight for King/Queen and Country'.

So what?

Given the differing views on the Council, a fly on the wall at the 13 November Council meeting might have picked up some useful intel. Meanwhile, to find out what's going on, the rest of us are reduced to parsing the words in souvenir programs.

Forward and back? The continuing relevance of those words of VI Lenin should be noted. The Memorial has stumbled on from its For Country, For Nation exhibition in 2016. The Honest History review of that show mentioned 'allusions [throughout the exhibition] that hint that something is going on, beneath the official Memorial stance that it is not the place to commemorate the Frontier Wars'.

When will the Memorial have the courage - or perhaps the numbers on its Council - to get beyond allusions, beyond cautious dissembling?

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Picture credit: People celebrate Victory in the Pacific Day at the Australian War Memorial main building in August 1945 (Harold Abbott) (AWM)

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Related piece from Defending Country Secretary, Noel Turnbull.