As Aaron Smith writes in The Guardian, unofficial recognition has been growing of those killed on Australian soil in colonial frontier conflicts, but official commemoration is still being debated. Read more in Aaron Smith’s story on 24 April 2023:
Chair of the Council of the Australian War Memorial (AWM), Kim Beazley, a former leader of the Australian Labor Party, leader of the Australian Opposition, Australian Ambassador to the United States and Governor of Western Australia, has recently indicated his willingness to present Australia’s frontier conflicts in the AWM’s new exhibition spaces under construction:
Mr Beazley is also on record as saying that First Nations warriors, who resisted colonisation, need much greater recognition at the AWM as part of Australia’s truth-telling:
An unexpected and very welcome addition to the Order of Service was made to the annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans and Services Association’s Commemoration Ceremony held in Canberra on Anzac Day, 25 April 2023. In Captain Michael Jones’s introduction to Warrant Officer Munyarryan’s Commemorative Address, Captain Jones referred to Australia’s frontier wars. As part of the Commemoration Ceremony, AWM Council Chair, Kim Beazley, received a traditional message stick from Warrant Officer Class II Tommy Munyarryan. Warrant Officer Munyarryan is from the Wangurri Clan of the Yolgnu Nation in the Northern Territory. He is a 30-year veteran of NORFORCE and a senior cultural leader of his clan.
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Warrant Officer Class II Tommy Munyarryan (Yolgnu Nation, Wangurri Clan, Northern Territory), about to hand over a traditional message stick to Kim Beazley, Chair of the Council of the Australian War Memorial. Captain Michael Jones, SO2 First Nations Strategy Culture and Diversity, Army, looks on. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commemoration Ceremony, was held at the For Our Country Memorial, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia on Anzac Day, 25 April 2023. Photo: Jane Morrison |