The Australian War Memorial has announced it will develop a 'much broader' and 'deeper' recognition of the Frontier Wars, the bloody conflicts fought between British colonialists and the sovereign First Nations following the 1788 invasion.
The War Memorial, which currently has no dedicated section to the only wars ever fought on this continent's soil, has been under building pressure to give greater acknowledgement to the significant and protracted battles fought across the mainland and lutruwita (Tasmania) across the for more than a century.
It comes as a new SBS/NITV documentary series exploring the dark era, The Australian Wars, attracts greater scrutiny of the period, and the lack of national awareness around it.
Series director, Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman Rachel Perkins, said the significance of the announcement should not be downplayed.
"It is a monumental shift," she told the ABC.
"It is a watershed moment in Australian history. It can't be underestimated, the change that this heralds."
Perkins said historical demands for recognition of the sacrifices made by First Nations warriors during the Frontier Wars had been unjustly denied on various grounds.
"Firstly, that [the conflicts] did not meet the Australian War Memorial Act; [also] that it wasn't set up to commemorate this sort of warfare; and that [such an exhibit] would be better suited at the Australian Museum.
"This is a major shift, but not... just for the War Memorial, it's a major shift in the way we understand Australian history."
Perkins' series takes an unflinching look at the horrors of colonial violence, and the atrocities visited upon Aboriginal people across the continent by a numerically and technologically superior enemy.
Though the announcement comes in the midst of the series' broadcast, the director said the change could not be attributed to her work alone.
"In the making of our series, we worked closely with the War Memorial... I never saw this coming. I thought, 'Maybe in a generation'... but not right now.
"The Council of the Australian War memorial needs to be congratulated, because they have accepted this part of Australian history."
Important to 'raise awareness': minister
In a press conference announcing other developments at the national site, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh and outgoing Memorial Council chair Dr Brendan Nelson confirmed that ongoing developments at the national site would include an expanded section on the Frontier Wars.
Mr Keogh said the Memorial already recognised First Nations’ defence of their land to some extent, but the redevelopment offered the opportunity to do much more.
“I’m aware that as part of the expansion program, the council is looking at how it can have some greater reflection upon that,” he said.
“I think that the recognition and reflection on frontier conflict is something that is a responsibility for all of our cultural institutions, not just here in Canberra, but across the country.
“It’s important that we do raise awareness for people across the country about the importance of frontier conflict and the impact that that had on our First Nations people and properly reflect upon and understand our history. There are already some elements of that here in the War Memorial and that will be expanded upon as part of the overall expansion project.”
