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Generations of War
2017 Narratives of War Symposium
Military Historical Society of Australia
Conference 17 - 19 November 2017
University of South Australia
Level 5, Hawke Building, City West Campus
North Terrace, Adelaide
Contents
Welcome …………………………………………………………………………………………………....…………. 1
Acknowledgements ………..…………………………………………………………………………..…………. 2
Guest Information……………………………………………………………………………………….…………. 3
Keynote Speakers……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6-7
Supporting Reservists Session ……………………………………………………………………..………… 8
The Storyright Project: Taster Session Workshop ………………………………………………….. 9
Daily Program………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10-13
A-Z Presenters…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14-51
Notes……………………………………………………………………………………………………..………… 52-53
Symposium Image: The Anzac Centenary Memorial Walk supplied courtesy of Veterans SA. Photograph by Terry Cook, Pecan Lighting
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Welcome The Narratives of War Symposium in conjunction with the South Australian branch of the Military
Historical Society of Australia (MHSA), is pleased to present an expanded, wide-ranging conference
to produce three days of stimulating presentations and discussion around the conference theme –
Generations of War. Delegates to this event come from all over Australia and it is our hope that the
diversity of the panels and papers will contribute significantly to the ways in which we respond to
conflicts small and large.
Each new generation experiences conflict – and especially war – in a new and different context.
The technological aspects of today’s conflicts, for example, require knowledge and skills that
would have been unthinkable in the Great War. Yet some things are common to all wars – people
die, science advances and acts noble and ignoble are produced. The Generations of War
conference gives voiceto narratives new and old and in so doing, we hope, adds to our
understanding of the human condition.
The conference theme – Generations of War – is designed to encourage presentations on social,
cultural and political change as it occurs locally, nationally and globally, as well as critical
reflections on the power of social groupings in facilitating or resisting these directions.
The conference will interest anyone with an academic, personal and/or professional interest in
Australia's military heritage and its relevance to operational service today.
To the delegates, we thank you for your contributions – for your insights and for the discussions
your papers produce. We especially thank you for being a part of this first combined event and we
look forward to it being the forerunner of many more to come.
The organising committee: Michael English, Leanne Glenny, Kerry Green, Elizabeth Hobbs,
Stephanie Krawczyk, Paul Skrebels, Brad West, Julie White
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Acknowledgements Professor Kerry Green, Dr Brad West and Dr Leanne Glenny from the Narratives of War Research
Group at UniSA wish to acknowledge the following contributions:
The Honourable Martin Hamilton-Smith for hosting the welcome event and Veterans SA for their partnership in supporting and promoting the 2017 Symposium/Conference
Dr Pamela Schulz, OAM and the Defence Reserves Association for their sponsorship of the
Reservists Panel Session
Dr Paul Skrebels, Ms Elizabeth Hobbs and Mr Michael English, Military Historical Society (SA Branch) for their assistance and sponsorship
Federal Council of the Military Historical Society of Australia for their support and sponsorship
Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare, Member, Veterans Advisory Council of SA, for continuing to be a
goodfriend of the Narratives of War Research Group through her efforts in facilitating the
involvement of Veterans SA
Dr Nigel Starck, independent scholar, for proof-reading of this symposium program
Professor Jason Bainbridge, Head, School of Communication, International Studies and
Languages, for his valuable support
Ms Stephanie Krawczyk and Ms Julie White, School of Creative Industries, University of South
Australia for their care and unstinting work in bringing the symposium/conference to fruition
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Guest Information Conference Venue The conference is being held in the Hawke Building, North Terrace, Adelaide atthe University of South Australia's City West campus. See map on page 5.
Conference Welcome Reception Meet and greet your fellow delegates on Friday, 17 November at 5:30pm. The symposium is being officially opened by the Honourable Martin Hamilton-Smith, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. The reception is at the City West campus’s Kerry Packer Gallery, Level 3 with drinks and canapes hosted by the minister.
Registration Desk The registration desk is located in the foyer area on Level 5 of the Hawke building and will be open at 8.30 am on Saturday, 18 November 2017. Lunch on Saturday and morning/afternoon teas will alsobe held in the foyer area. There will be a number of staff and volunteers located at the registration desk at the beginning of the conference to assist with any inquiries.
Food Morning and afternoon teas will be provided. Lunch on Saturday is also being provided and kindly sponsored by the Defence Reserves Association; refreshments are available through the generous assistance of Dr Pamela Schulz. Although there is a range of reasonably priced cafes and restaurants on Hindley Street, which borders the City West campus, some of these might be closed on Sunday.
Accessibility Wheelchair access is available for all rooms.
Mobile Phones and Social Media As a courtesy to others please ensure all mobile telephones are turned off or in ‘silent’ mode during all sessions. Participants are able to tweet from the conference using #NoW2017.
Emergency Exits and Assembly Area
In an Emergency, call Security on 8302 4444 or extension 88888 if calling from an internal phone on campus. Call Security for all emergencies, including first aid assistance, suspicious circumstances and fire, and follow their directions. You can call Security from any handset located throughout the campus. If an evacuation occurs please follow Security’s instructions. The evacuation point is the evacuation point for Hawke Building is the Lion's Courtyard, opposite the Fowler's Lions Building.
Campus Map
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Evacuation area
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Conference dinner The conference dinner will be held in the dining room at the Naval, Military and Air Force Club of South Australia at 6.30pm on Saturday, 18 November. The venue is located at 111 Hutt Street, Adelaide, in the South- East corner of the Central Business District, a five- minute taxi or 20- minute walk from the conference and easily accessible via multiple modes of transport. Please come along and meet colleagues and new acquaintances while enjoying a three-coursedinner.
Dress Code: Gentlemen are expected to wear a jacket and tailored trousers and a shirt with a
collar. Ladies should dress conservatively and follow the same formal or smart casual dress code as
gentlemen.
Bookings are essential through our website: Unisa.edu.au/now-2017
Swap Meet Members of the Military Historical Society of Australia (MHSA) will have memorabilia items to showcase, swap or display throughout the weekend. If you want to be involved in this please contact Michael English at [email protected]
Military Historical Society of Australia Council Meeting Council members will meet in Room H6-11, Level 6, 11.15 – 12:45 on Sunday, 19 November
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Keynote Speaker Melanie Oppenheimer, PhD (Macquarie U), M. Litt (UNE), BA & Dip. Ed. (UNE)
War Stories: from Global to Local
1917 was the worst year for Australian casualties in our war history. The impact
of the war more broadly on Australian servicemen and women, their families
and Australian society was felt for decades afterwards. It created a lost
generation and a permanently altered world. The conflicts and wars which
Australia has been involved in since then reveal that each generation
experiences war and suffering both differently and the same, especially those
who survive and return home to civilian life. This has been the theme of many
seminal novels and autobiographies from Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on
the Western Front to Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. In this address, I take
the symposium theme – Generations of War – and use a range of family
narratives from different conflicts to seek out new voices and reveal hidden
stories. I explore how family narratives and differing experiences of war help to shape us and our national
histories, and provide us with a better understanding of the impact of war in this centenary year of the global
conflict known as The Great War.
Professor Oppenheimer was appointed to the Chair of History at Flinders University in July 2013. She
previously held positions in Australian History at the University of Western Sydney and the University of New
England. Melanie held the position of Dean of the School of History and International Relations for twelve
months from July 2016. Her research interests include the role of voluntary organisations and patriotic funds
in times of peace and war; the history of volunteering and voluntary action; and gender and imperialism. Her
recent ARC- funded projects focus on soldier settlement schemes post-WWI; the 1970s Australian Assistance
Plan; Meals on Wheels; and sustaining volunteering in Australia. Her recent books include a centenary history
of Australian Red Cross, The Power of Humanity. 100 Years of Australian Red Cross (HarperCollins, 2014);
The Last Battle: Soldier Settlement in Australia, 1916-1939 (Cambridge University Press, 2016) co-authored
with Bruce Scates; and the edited volume (with Mandy Paul and Margaret Anderson) SA on the Eve of War
(Wakefield Press, 2017). Melanie is a current member of the ARC College of Experts.
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Keynote Speaker Professor Alexander C. McFarlane AO, MB, BS, (Hons) MD, Dip. Psychother. FRANZCP
The Failure of Language to Speak of Trauma Language, whether it be written or spoken is the essential tool for
recording human experience in history. Many of the great works of
literature have been sculptured from the reflections of the traumatic
experiences of authors who have either been soldiers in war or from the
individual traumas of their private lives. These authors have often created
a transformative voice that have nurtured culture shifts in the
understanding of the private lives of individuals caught in momentous
international events. Paradoxically, the trauma of war and violence
disrupt people’s linguistic capacity. The neurobiology of post-traumatic
stress disorder demonstrates the disruption of cognitive function and
expressive language. Particularly in fear states, the struggle to create
narrative representations is a fundamental underpinning of the way that the brain becomes frozen in the face
of terror.
There are few areas of endeavour where the integrated efforts of clinicians, neuroscientists and writers are
so important in disentangling the challenge of capturing human experience in ways that disrupt the
perpetuation of violence and war within our communities. This presentation will explore the historical
struggle of the way that writers have given trauma a voice but this has often remained unheard in
clinical environments. Perhaps more than any other area of clinical science, activist clinicians in coalition
with those who have suffered have brought attention to the suffering of millions that for centuries has
gone unnoticed. The challenge is how to ensure that politicisation of this knowledge does not dilute its
potency through the way that victimhood is often claimed through identity politics.
Alexander McFarlane is Professor of Psychiatry and the Head of the University of Adelaide Centre for
Traumatic Stress Studies. He is an international expert in the field of the impact of disasters andpost-
traumatic stress disorder. He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Society
for Traumatic Stress Studies for outstanding and fundamental contributions to the field of traumatic stress
studies. He has held to roles of the Senior Adviser in Psychiatry to the Australian Defence Force, and the
Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a retired Group Captain of the RAAF specialist reserve. Apart from his
interest in disaster victims, military personnel and other civilian accidents, he has significant experience in
the provision of careto emergency service personnel. His research is supported by the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and NHMRC program and partnership grants. He has published over 350 articles and
chapters in various refereed journals and has co-edited three books. In 2011 he received the Officer of the
Order of Australia award, which recognised his “outstanding contribution to medical research in the field of
psychiatry, particularly post-traumatic stress disorders, to veterans’ mental health management, and as an
author”.
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Panel Session - Supporting Reservists: In Search of a
Research Agenda Saturday, 18 November 11.15 pm -12.45 pm
Chair:
Opening Remarks:
Panel:
Dr Pamela Schulz, OAM
Dr Brad West, University of South Australia
Major General Neil Wilson
Brigadier Rob Atkinson
Brigadier Michael Burgess
Major Dr Kate Ames
Captain Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare
Sociological research on the military has tended to focus on active or regular members of the armed forces.
However, reservists as a proportion of the military are growing in number and increasingly being deployed
to conflict zones and utilised in conventional military roles as well as in non-traditional ones, including in
post- disaster contexts. To address this traditional academic neglect this panel session draws together
reservist personnel, military researchers and members of the Defence Reserves Association SA and SA
Veterans Advisory Council. Drawing inspirations from Moskos’s foundational research in the area, the
panel discussion will explore the ways that reservists may have a distinctive military experience and face
particular problems in relation to balancing civil military role identity, particularly in relation to career
management, commemoration, deployment, enlistment and trauma management.
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Workshop - The Storyright Project: Taster Session Sunday, 19 November 11.15 am -12.45 am
This 90-minute ‘taster’ session introduces delegates to ‘The StoryRight Project’, exploring story-telling as a
tool for personal and professional development. Drawing on the research presented in their paper ‘From
Timor to Taji – An Analysis of Story-Telling on Operations’, Dr Ames and Dr Mascall-Dare will demonstrate
howtheir methodologies work in practice, inviting delegates to develop their own short autobiographical
narrative ina guided workshop format. Insightful, highly interactive and enjoyable, this session will invite
delegates to revisit their own skills and expertise – seeing themselves through a new lens, with new
perspective.
Dr Kate Ames is a cultural sociologist whose scholarship is in the area of culture, language, and interaction.
Her particular interest is in interaction, storytelling, and community membership that occurs in and for the
public. As a communication practitioner, she has a background in journalism and public relations which are
herareas of teaching. She is recognised for her teaching quality in distance education, and she complements
her communication scholarship with research into education practice. She is an Australian Army Reserve
Public Affairs Officer, and celebrates 20 years of service in 2017. This service includes deployments to East
Timorin 2009 and 2010.
Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of South Australia and a member
of the Narratives of War Research Group. An award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author, her
research interests are focussed on ethnographic journalism and journalistic ethics in the context of Anzac
commemoration and coverage of veterans’ affairs. She is a serving member of the Government of South
Australia’s Veterans’ Advisory Council and an Australian Army Reserve Public Affairs Officer, posted to
Headquarters 9th Brigade. She returned from a six-month deployment to Iraq earlier this year.
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Friday, 17 November 2017 5:30 - Welcome Reception
7:30 Hosted by the Honourable Martin Hamilton-Smith, Ministerfor Veterans’ Affairs Kerry Packer Gallery, Level 3, Hawke Building (Drinks and canapes provided)
Saturday, 18 November 2017 – Morning Session 8:30 – 8:55
Registration (Level 5 Foyer)
8:55– 9:00
Welcome (Bradley Forum, Room H5-02)
Room: H5-02
9:00– 9:45
Keynote Speaker: Professor Melanie Oppenheimer - War Stories: from Global to Local
Room: H5-02 Room: H6-12
Ways of Remembering (Part 1) Other Battles (Part 1)
Chair: Brad West Chair: Leanne Glenny
9:45– Kerry Green James Hurst 10:15 Negotiating censorship: comparing World ‘Here I am in Anzac Cove’
War 2 with Vietnam The Anzac Centenary - remembering or
commemorating?
10:15– Peter Bishop Jeremy Sibbald
10:45 ‘Dunkirk’: film, memorialising and the telling Letters from home - primary sources of of war the SA home front
10:45– 11:15
Morning Break (Level 5 Foyer)
Room: H5-02
Supporting Reservists: In Search of a Research Agenda
11:15- Chair: Opening Remarks: Panel:
Dr Pamela Schulz, OAM Dr Brad West Maj Gen Neil Wilson, Brig Rob Atkinson, Brig Michael Burgess, Maj Dr Kate Ames, Capt Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare
12:45
12:45- Lunch (sponsored by the Defence Reserves Association and Dr Pamela Schulz) 1:45 (Level 5 Foyer)
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Saturday, 18 November 2017 – Afternoon Session
Room: H5-02 Room: H6-12
Justice Wellbeing (Part 1)
Chair: Sharon Mascall-Dare Chair: Kerry Green
1:45- 2:15
Jennifer McKay Are states able to self-assess the gravity
of illegal destruction of the environment in the ICC?- Renewed scope for ecocide after Sept 2016
Karin Foxwell and Fiona Dale Experience of War and the Human Spirit: then and now. Utilizing Art Therapy interventions to facilitate spontaneous creative exploration to gain personal insight into the effects of trauma
in the veteran population
2:15- 2:45
Melanie Clark Equals in Battle/Battlers at Home: Aboriginal equality and the
Anzac myth
Paul Sutton Mustard Gas: the experience of the 25th
Battalion, AIF in October to November 1917
2:45- 3:15
Michele Cunningham Justice or Revenge? The Japanese on
Trial
Janet Scarfe Mixed Blessings: The postwar lives of Australian
WW1 nurses
3:15- 3:45
Afternoon Break (Level 5 Foyer)
Room: H5-02 Room: H5-02
Other Battles (Part 2) Wellbeing (Part 2)
Chair: Leanne Glenny Chair: Kerry Green
3:45- 4:15
Sue Page Daughters of the Air
Lisa Ranson Legitimacy, identity, agency and responsibility: the language of PTSD in the Australian Defence Force
4:15– 4:45
Claire Woods To Singapore and Back: nurses of the
Australian Army Nursing Service in Malaya 1941 – 42 and after
Paula Dabovich From well to wounded and back again: identity and
agency in high risk/highly cohesive military personnel undergoing rehabilitation in the
4:45- 5:15
Corinne Ball ‘We had to move and we wanted to go home but what can we do in home?’
Displaced Persons and their stories in the Migration Museum collection
Miranda Van Hoof/ Ellie Lawrence-Wood Mental Health in the Australian Military:
What do we know?
6:30 Naval & Military Club Dinner, 111 Hutt Street, Adelaide
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Sunday, 19 November 2017 – Morning Session
Room: H5-02
9:00– 9:45
Keynote Speaker - Prof Alexander McFarlane - The Failure of Language to Speak of Trauma
Room: H5-02 Room: H6-09 Room: H6-12
Storytelling Other Battles (Part 3) Ways of Remembering
(Part 2)
Chair: Kerry Green Chair: Leanne Glenny Chair: Paul Skrebels
9:45– 10:15
Belinda Fairless “Up Hill 60 in the Dark”: William
Allan’s Wars
David Faber Peace-mongers: Adelaide Quaker Peace Witness & the Conscription Crisis
Luke Hynes-Bishop Memory,
Conflict and Common Ground in Colombia
10:15– 10:45
Kate Ames / Sharon Mascall-Dare From Timor to Taji: An analysis of
storytelling on operations
Cheryl Jenner Violets, wattle and white feathers: South Australian women’s activism on the World War
1 home front
Brad West Turkish re-enactments at
Gallipoli as state-sponsored pilgrimage: The 57th
Regiment Walk and the limitations of AKP
10:45– 11:15
Morning Break (Level 5 Foyer)
Room: H5-02 Room: H6-10 Room: H6-11
On the Homefront Workshop - The storyright
project: Taster session MHSA Council Meeting
Chair: Leanne Glenny
11:15– 11:45
Rachel Harris Conflict on the Home Front –
Narratives of Race and Gender in South Australia, 1939-1945
Sharon Mascall-Dare and Kate Ames
MHSA Council Members
11:45- 12:15
John Moreman Aircrew Losses and Parents' grief in the Second World
War
12:15- 12:45
Christeen Schoepf The Cheer-Up Roll of Honour: a
multi-generational commemoration of the significant war work of South
Australian women
12:45- 1:45
Lunch Break (Level 5 Foyer)
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Sunday, 19 November 2017 – Afternoon Session Room: H5-02 H6-12
Drawing on Memory Technology/Memory
Chair: Sharon Mascall-Dare Chair: Kerry Green
1:45- 2:15
Susan Kellett Waller’s Army Nurse: resurrecting sacrifice
in the Hall of Memory
Philip Marriott Virtual narratives on virtual conflicts: a
generation of computer gamers
2:15– 2:45
Lynne Dore Lost but not forgotten: the Boer War
remembered
Leanne Glenny Online veteran communities: a
generational shift in connectedness
2:45– 3:15
Bronwyn Hughes ‘Yrs Affectionately Mont’: letters from a
young artist at war
Ron Hoenig A luftmensch: Poor Jews and the inequities in
memory of war
3:15– 3:45
Afternoon Break (Level 5 Foyer)
Room: H5-02 Room: H6-12
Remembering Place Remembering Through Artefacts
Chair: Brad West Chair: Leanne Glenny
3:45– 4:15
Richard Gehrmann Australian military experiences of
Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier from 1880 to 1947
Chris Yardley Military history on postage stamps: WW1
Centenary Commemoratives
4:15– 4:45
Helen Vatsikopoulos The Greek Civil War: silences and post-
memory narratives
James Hurst Killing in a sepia twilight: a ‘new’ 200-year-
old- painting
4:45– 5:15
Nigel Starck The Regeneration of Singapore’s World
War 2 Memories
Damien Wright Churchill's Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth military intervention in the
Russian Civil War 1918-20
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Presenters
Ames, Kate and Mascall-Dare, Sharon….…… 15
Ball, Corrine……………………………………….……… 17
Bishop, Peter …………………………………….……… 18
Clark, Melanie………………………………….……….. 19
Cunningham, Michele ………………………………. 20
Dabovich, Paula………………………………………… 21
Dore, Lynne ……………………..………………………. 22
Faber, David …………………………………………..… 23
Fairless, Belinda ……………………………………..… 24
Foxwell, Karin and Dale, Fiona ………………..… 25
Gehrmann, Richard ……………………………..…… 26
Glenny, Leanne ………………………………………... 27
Green, Kerry ………………………………….………... 28
Harris, Rachel ………………………………………..… 29
Hoenig, Ron …………………………………………….. 30
Hughes, Brownyn ………………………………….… 31
Hurst, James ……………………………………………. 32
Hurst, James ………………………………………….… 33
Hynes-Bishop, Luke ………………………..……..… 34
Jenner, Cheryl …………………………..….….…….35
Kellett, Susan ……………………….……..….……. 36
Marriott, Philip …………………………………….. 37
McKay, Jennifer ………………………………..….. 38
Moreman, John ……………………………..…….. 39
Page, Sue ………….………………………………….. 40
Ranson, Lisa ……….………………………………... 41
Scarfe, Janet ………………………………………... 42
Schoepft, Christeen ……………………………… 43
Sibbald, Jeremy ………………………………….… 44
Starck, Nigel ……………………………………….… 45
Sutton, Paul …………………………………………. 46
Van Hoof, M & Lawrence-Wood, E ……..… 47
Vatsikopoulos, Helen …………………………... 48
West, Brad …………………………………………... 49
Woods, Claire ……………………………….……... 50
Wright, Damien …………………………….……… 51
Yardley, Chris ………………………………….……. 52
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Kate Ames and Sharon Mascall-Dare
From Timor to Taji: an analysis of storytelling on operations
Since the foundation of the Australian Army Public Relations Service in 1994, the ‘hometowner’ has been a
regular output, combining story-telling, biography and key messaging in a personal profile article that is
released tothe media for publication. In this paper, the authors analyse the evolution of the genre drawing
on their own personal experiences as public relations practitioners deployed on operations with the
Australian Defence Force. They demonstrate how soldiers’ stories are the result of interplay between
ethnographic interviewing, autoethnography and constructions of collective memory.
Dr Kate Ames is a cultural sociologist whose scholarship is in the area of culture, language, and interaction.
Her particular interest is in interaction, storytelling, and community membership that occurs in and for the
public. Asa communication practitioner, she has a background in journalism and public relations which are
her areas ofteaching. She is recognised for her teaching quality in distance education, and she complements
her communicationscholarship with research into education practice. She is an Australian Army Reserve
Public Affairs Officer, and celebrates 20 years of service in 2017. This service includes deployments to East
Timor in 2009 and 2010.
Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of South Australia and a member
of the Narratives of War Research Group. An award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author, her
research interests are focused on ethnographic journalism and journalistic ethics in the context of Anzac
commemoration and coverage of veterans’ affairs. She is a serving member of the Government of South
Australia’s Veterans’ Advisory Council and an Australian Army Reserve Public Affairs Officer, posted to
Headquarters 9th Brigade. She returned from a six-month deployment to Iraq earlier this year.
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Corinne Ball
‘We had to move and we wanted to go home but what can we do in home?’:
displaced persons and their stories in the Migration Museum collection
The Migration Museum in Adelaide holds around 200 documents, photographs and objects relatingto
displaced persons who migrated to South Australia in the years after World War 2.
These items have been donated by displaced persons themselves, or by their children and families, and
illustrate civilian experiences in Europe both during and after the war. From passports to prescriptions, bath
tubs to baby clothes, the objects provide a physical link from the past to the present, and bear significant
cultural meaning. As museologist Susan Pearce writes, it is the selection and display of objects by people
that turns them into ‘material culture’: they become part of the world of human values.
This paper will detail how displaced persons’ objects come into a museum collection, how they are
interpreted and cared for, and will discuss what donation to a museum can mean to a displaced person or
theirfamily.
Objects from our collection will be highlighted, and significant stories shared.
Corinne Ball, BA (Hons), MA Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, Deakin University; Curator at the
Migration Museum, a museum of the History Trust of South Australia. She manages the Migration Museum
collection, and has a keen interest in the way museums use objects to tell personal stories to a wide
audience.
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Peter Bishop
‘Dunkirk’: Film, memorialising and the telling of war
The 2017 release of the film Dunkirk raises questions about war films as forms of memorialisation. This is
especially pertinent when the film concerns iconic albeit controversial events and attempts a high degreeof
authenticity. As with any public memorialising questions are provoked such as, why was it made, what is it
trying to achieve, who is the imagined audience, and how is it situated within a range of broader,
contemporary, social and political, psychological and emotional issues?
Along with the other issues, in this talk I’m particularly concerned with the question of audience and the
generational aspects of memorialisation. Previously I’ve focused on WWII memorialisation and
contemporary young people, several generations removed from the conflict. However, while continuing
such reflections,in this talk I’m more concerned with that generation born immediately after the war,
specifically those whose parents, such as mine, were veterans of Dunkirk and the circumstances
surrounding it.
The film therefore acts as a segue into the much broader topic of wartime experiences conveyed by
parents, sometimes unwittingly and not always negatively, to their children and how such reminiscences
canbecome an integral part, not just of the family story, but of the child’s identity. While obviously not
directly experiencing the event, for me ‘Dunkirk’ is just one such intersection of personal story and WWII
history.
Therefore, watching the film invokes a specific, intimate involvement, positioning me as a certain kind of
audience.
Peter Bishop is Adjunct Associate Professor in The School of Communication, International Studies &
Languages at UniSA. He has been a regular contributor to the Narratives of War conferences and his
numerous publications include: ‘Reconciliation travel and the writings of war (2008); ‘Playing in the
wreckage: a family visit to the site of D-Day’ (2009); ‘Memorialising the complexities of war: liberation and
the bombing of Normandy’ (2012); ‘Reporting WWII North Africa: disrupting colonialism and orientalism in
Moorehead’s ‘The Desert War’ (2017).
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Melanie Clark
Equals in Battle/Battlers at Home: Aboriginal equality and the Anzac myth
Heeding the call to arms, two generations of Aboriginal Australians volunteered for the world wars in
significant numbers. The stories of these men collectively challenge accepted Anzac mythology. Under-
recognised and with war gratuities denied, many Aboriginal servicemen returned home to an unchanged
Australia, to find the battle for equality continued. A socio-cultural term in Australian English, the Battleris
loosely defined as an ‘ordinary Australian who shows courage and perseveres through adversity’ (oed.com;
macquariedictionary.com.au), which extends to Australian national identities, including the Digger. Why has
the Battler so rarely evoked the marginalised experience of Aboriginal World War 1 and World War 2
veterans and volunteers? The use of the term 'Battler' is ultimately exclusionary, steeped as it is in
nineteenth and early-twentieth century colonial, racial, social and gendered ideological rhetoric.
Positioning many Aboriginal Australians of the World Wars as Aussie Battlers, this paper will provide an
historical overview of the under-researched but recurrent Battler trope, with reference to several South
Australian Aboriginal generational narratives relating to WWI and WWII. Extending the Battler to include
Aboriginal Australians, this paper seeks to contribute to social justice by providing a more balanced viewof
Australia’s Anzac legend.
Melanie Clark is a Flinders University sessional academic, tutor and PhD candidate undertaking the project
Fair Dinkum Anzacs? Reconsidering diversity in Australian national Identity. Fair Dinkum Anzacs is an
extensionof her honours thesis, Re-imagining ANZAC: the Anzac myth in black and white, which explored
Anzac’s position in Australian society, the absence of indigenous war service from Australian history, and the
effect of such an absence on national identity. If not found with her nose in a book, then you’ll find her
behind a camera observing the world through a different lens.
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Michele Cunningham
Justice or Revenge? The Japanese on trial
In September 1945 Australian investigators discovered that only six men out of 2400 Australian and British
prisoners of war at Sandakan in British North Borneo had survived their imprisonment. Thus began the task
of fact-finding to charge many Japanese and Formosan guards with war crimes for the atrocities that were
committed. The investigations encompassed the physical evidence of hundreds of graves at the camp-site;
bodies along the track between Sandakan and Ranau, 160 km away, and graves near Ranau; statements
from the survivors; records kept by the Japanese; and interrogation of the Japanese commandant and staff.
This paper will explore the impediments to finding the facts and consider how, and to what extent, the
truth was compromised in the process of the trials. Some of the issues to be explored include the reliance
on written statements and hearsay evidence, given that all but one of the survivors were too ill to appear at
theearly trials; and the language and cultural differences between the accused, the witnesses, and the trial
personnel, including the interpreters. These issues can present serious impediments to a fair trial in any
theatre of war and for any generation. A special focus in the paper will be the conflicting evidence given by
the one survivor of Sandakan fit enough to attend the early trials. This will include his many statements,
his verbal evidenceat these trials and at the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo, and his relationship
with some of the Japanese at the camp.
Dr Michele Cunningham is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of History at The University of
Adelaide. She has published two books about the experiences of prisoners of war and internees in Sandakan
and Kuching in Borneo. Defying the Odds: surviving Sandakan and Kuching recounted the experience of
Australian officers, British soldiers and internees particularly in Kuching. Hell on Earth: Australia’s greatest
war tragedy focused on the 2,500 Australian and British soldiers who remained at Sandakan after the
officers were transferred. All but six of these men died from malnutrition, illness and the effects of
mistreatment or execution bythe Japanese.
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Paula Dabovich
From well to wounded and back again: identity and agency in high risk/highly cohesive military personnel undergoing rehabilitation in the Australian Army
Through analysis of in-depth interviews with 13 rehabilitating members of an Australian Army high-risk unit
who talk about their health, in this presentation we examine the meaning these soldiers attach to their
military service and how this impacts on their health, healthcare behaviours and ideas of themselves forthe
future. We talk about the need to develop culturally sensitive primary healthcare principles to garrison
health services and ex-service organisations that emphasize personal agency and interpersonal trust during
clinical interactions, especially when military personnel are faced with transition from Defence. We also
highlight the need and ways in which society might recognise and respond to the value of veterans,
particularly during sensitive times of adaptation to health and transition.
Ms Dabovich joined the Army in 1992 and is a commissioned graduate of the Royal Military College. She
completed a Bachelor of Nursing in 2004 and worked as a registered nurse at Sutherland Hospital NSW. Ms
Dabovich is currently a member of the SA Health Veteran Mental Health Precinct (Glenside) Research
Partnership Committee, the Veterans’ Health Advisory Council, the Veteran Advisory Council and is a PhD
candidate at the University of Adelaide (Thesis topic: From Well to Wounded and Back Again: identity and
agency in high risk highly cohesive soldiers undergoing rehabilitation in the Australian Army. The
combination of military service, work as a nurse and study under the tutelage of the Director of the
University of Adelaide’s Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies, Professor Sandy McFarl, gives Ms Dabovich a
broad base of experience from which to draw upon when considering the needs of the veterancommunity.
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Lynne Dore
Lost but not forgotten: The Boer War remembered This paper deals with the discovery of a Boer War memorial window hidden beneath the floorboards of St. Paul’s Anglican Church Euroa, Victoria and provides commentary on a rural community’s response to grief and commemoration as well exploring the role played by the Reverend Frederick Wray in raising the memorial. Dedicated in 1903 to the memory of Private John Charlton of the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles who died of enteric fever in South Africa in 1901, the memorial once offered consolation and solace as well as religious guidance to the church’s congregation. The construction of a new chancel along with the removal of the window in 1929 marked a significant shift in both ecclesiastical attitudes and architectural design, as well as a change in the narratives that underpinned the window’s original inception and design.
Hidden and forgotten for eighty years, the stories that once inspired remembrance were replaced by the tragic events of World War 1 while a second memorial to Charlton was relegated to the rear of the church, no longer providing the potent ‘aide to memoire’ that it once had.
While it is acknowledged that memorials may lose their potency over time, the rediscovery of Charlton’s memorial demonstrates it is possible to resurrect and reinvigorate meaning. The memorial’s recent placement on permanent display at Victoria’s Shrine of Remembrance now ensures that the stories that once inspired past generations
Lynne is an archaeologist with an interest in conflict archaeology and has also undertaken research on the
industrial history of Wandong in central Victoria and other related projects and has written a couple of
books on Wandong’s history. In 2016 Lynne was part of a team involved in the conservation of the John
Charlton Memorial, funded by the Victorian Government and Veterans Council of Victoria as part of the
Centenary of ANZAC program initiatives. Lynne has presented a number of papers on tourism and heritage-
related projects and continues her interest in the Boer War.
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David Faber
Peacemongers: Adelaide Quaker peace witness and the conscription crisis
Quakers brought to South Australia a contribution to dissenting traditions that featured `peace testimony’,
a secular tradition of pacifism drawing them into contemporary debates about militarism and war which
raged throughout the European world on the eve of the Great War and during the conflagration. The home
front, a concept originating in that conflict, was mobilised as never before, primarily through the
mainstream press. Small groups pitted against the ruling consensus their speakers, flyers, small publications
and community networks in an uphill battle against the patriotic war party. Very early in the war its
advocates began calling for conscription. Compulsory military training had been effectively opposed before
the war by Quakers and some other Christians and radicals, often Socialists. By 1916 these despised groups
had secured a stunning and unexpected victory in the Conscription Referendum: the carrying of South
Australia for the No vote had been a nationally significant factor. This paper asks, with particular reference
to South Australia, by what communication techniques did this generation of peace activists engineer this
historic defensive political victory in a context of wartime social conflict? What can we learn for today
about the manner in which debates about war and peace are likely to be conducted?
Dr David Faber is Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Flinders University of South Australia, Vice-President ofthe
Adelaide Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History and on the Council of theHistorical
Society of South Australia.
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Belinda Fairless
“Up Hill 60 in the Dark”: William Allan’s wars
William Allan was born in 1892, and moved to Sydney as a small child. He enlisted in 1915 and spent his war
engaged in some of the thickest fighting. His “rough” war diary was unearthed in 2017 and is currently
being researched and transcribed. In it, William gives a brief but striking insight into his experiences on the
Western Front as part of the 1st Australian Division. When war broke out in 1939, William was a grazier at
Aberdeenin northern New South Wales. He enlisted into the Intelligence Corps 1941 after the death of his
nephew, Lt. Robin Garrett, and the enlistment of another nephew, Antony. The story of William Allan and
the discovery of his diary brings fascinating new insight into the experiences of an ordinary man in the
carnage of war, andthe devastation the loss of his nephew had upon the family, making him willing to face
war a second time. The loss of friends, the horror of his experiences, and his interest in the smaller things
around him are described in stark detail in William’s diary, and the familial bond between an uncle and his
nephews is shown in letters he kept from Robin and Antony.
Belinda Fairless is currently studying a Master of Arts at the University of New England. She is interested in
the First World War, focusing on trauma and the experiences of women. Her honours thesis ‘No one weeps
for the shattering of our lives: the female experience of shell shock in modernist women’s literature’, was
completed in 2015 at Western Sydney University. William Allan is her great-granduncle, and she discovered
his war diary amongst his papers.
Karen Foxwell and Fiona Dale
Experience of War and the Human Spirit: then and now. Utilising art therapy interventions to facilitate spontaneous creative exploration to gain personal insight into the effects of trauma in the veteran population
As a mental health profession, art therapy utilises the creative process to explore, identify and improve the
emotional, mental and physical well-being of all individuals. Implemented by The Road Home – The Repat
Foundation as part of a Wellbeing Program on Ward 17, Veterans’ Mental Health & Rehabilitation Unit at
The Repatriation General Hospital, South Australia; weekly art therapy consultations have been conducted
using imagery and biological landscape drawing as narrative, to reveal and process the layering of previous
traumatic experience and the effects on the human soul in the present day. To understand the human
condition is to invite in curiosity and compassion for the self and all aspects of the human experience. The
presenter will introduce the concept of art therapy, how it is utilised with veterans on their journey to
recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. With a strong focus on
the here and now, together, we navigate the journey of war, peace, conflict and reconciliation within the
individual’s personal landscape.
Karin has been facilitating one-on-one Transpersonal Art Therapy consultations with inpatient and
outpatient Veterans on Ward 17, Veterans’ Mental Health & Rehabilitation Unit, Repatriation General
Hospital, SA since October 2016. She also consults privately in counselling and art therapy and is a
transpersonalphysical therapist focusing on holistic/somatic mind and bodywork and has been a practising
and exhibiting artist for many years. She lives in the Adelaide Hills. Karin has actively practised ongoing self-
inquiry for over 25 years and her primary motivation is to continue to explore and understand the human
condition, how lifeexperience impacts effects of emotion and to assist others to step boldly toward
themselves with curiosity and empathy, to unlock the possibilities of living a whole and happy life.
Fiona Dale is the Wellbeing Program Manager, The Road Home – The Repat Foundation. Fiona is a qualified
social science and community development manager with 30 years’ experience in the community sector
supporting vulnerable individuals and groups to develop their resilience. Working across a range of sectors
within diverse communities, Fiona has developed a passion for working alongside of people to develop
creative responses to social issues.
In 2014, Fiona commenced work with The Repat Foundation with the aim of implementing a veterans’
health and wellbeing program at The Repatriation General Hospital, South Australia. The program has
provided art-based engagement as an adjunct therapy across the hospital for three years, with a particular
focus on Ward 17, Veterans’ Mental Health and Rehabilitation Unit. Fiona is supported by a team of an art
tutor, arttherapist, musicians, veterans and volunteers on this road to recovery from the invisible wounds of
war.
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Richard Gehrmann
Australian military experiences of Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier from
1880 to 1947
While there is understandable interest in the contemporary Australian military experience of Afghanistan,
earlier generations of Australian soldiers were very familiar with the region and its people. This paper is
focused on the forgotten history of Australians at war in Afghanistan and on India’s North-West Frontier
from 1880 until Indian independence in 1947. Individual Australians served in Afghanistan and northern
India both as members of the British or Indian armies and as exchange officers as a result of the association
between Great Britain, the imperial Indian government and Australia. Australian service included the
Second andThird Anglo-Afghan wars, the North-West Frontier campaigns, and garrison duty during World
War 2.
These commitments are significant as they draw out transnational perspectives of Australian military
service at a time when earlier generations of Australian soldiers had to negotiate their position both as
Australians and as members of a wider empire. The examination of individual case studies in this paper
demonstrates how Australians saw themselves as distinctly different from their British imperial
counterparts, while Australian perceptions of harsh terrain and warlike enemies remained a common
sentiment, over severalgenerations.
Richard Gehrmann is a Senior Lecturer in International Studies at the University of Southern Queensland
whose recent research publications include articles and chapters on contemporary war and society, and
Australians in colonial India. With Jessica Gildersleeve, he is the editor of the book Memory and the Wars on
Terror: Australian and British perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan Memory Series (forthcoming 2017). As an
Australian Army Reservist he served in Iraq in 2006-07 and in Afghanistan in 2008-09.
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Leanne Glenny
Online veteran communities: a generational shift in connectedness
Over the last century, the structure and nature of local communities has changed significantly. Soldiers
returning from the battlefields of World War 1 came back to small, well-connected communities of people
who had all experienced the impacts of war, be it on the front line or the home front. The current
generationof returned service personnel however, are coming home to communities that are not as
cohesive and largely ignorant of war and conflict. In transitioning from the tight military community into the
civilian world, today's veterans are seeking a sense of belonging and taking advantage of new technologies
to connect withlike- minded veterans and supporters. These new online communities vary in origin,
purpose and composition and the number of sites and members continue to grow. This paper is an initial
scoping study into online veteran communities that are forming on Facebook. It seeks to determine the
characteristics of Australian military- based collectives that use Facebook to reach out and engage with
others, providing support that is not necessarily found elsewhere. While numerous closed groups exist, this
research limits itself to completinga content analysis of open Facebook Pages and Groups, where all
information is public. Three main areas are investigated: (1) who is leading the conversation; (2) what issues
are discussed; and (3) what form the content is taking. Findings reveal that while some Facebook sites are
set up by established organisations (governmental and non-profit), communities are also gathering around
private individuals who have created sites. Someof these individuals have leveraged their success to build
support groups with a wider presence outside social media. Common topics covered include military news
and histories, political policy changes, commemorations (of battles and individuals) and medical
(particularly mental health) issues. Depending on the site, content is both original and shared, and consists
of status updates, photographs, videos, memes, and jokes. There are positive opportunities and outcomes
created through these connections. However, the unverified nature of information being posted, combined
with the increasing popularity of these sites, also presents risks to sustaining a well-informed and engaged
veteran community.
Leanne Glenny is the program director for postgraduate studies in communication at the University of South
Australia and a former Army officer. Her research interests are in the fields of public sector communication
and ethics. She is currently leading a research team investigating the language used in discussions of post-
traumatic stress in the veteran and first responder communities. The project, supported by The Road Home –
The Repat Foundation, involves examination of traditional media framing, social media conversations and
attitudes of the affected individuals and their families.
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Kerry Green
Negotiating censorship: Comparing World War 2 with Vietnam
US commentator and television critic Michael Arlen called the Vietnam War “the first living-room war”,
referringto the graphic film and images US news crews broadcast into the homes of Americans in the
Sixties and Seventies.
News media critics agree the coverage, which outraged President Lyndon B. Johnson, was largely anti-war
and was influential in bringing the conflict to an end. President Johnson complained that television
coverage was misleading and one-sided, but the coverage continued. Stories about American artillery
barrages that devastated villages or search-and-destroy operations that went awry were common, he
insisted, while enemy atrocities wentunreported. This presentation compares the largely unfettered news
coverage of the Vietnam War with the strict bureaucratic censorship procedures that angered editors
during World War 2 in Australia and asks if those conditions couldbe reinstituted in the name of the War
Against Terror.
Kerry Green is Professor of Communication in the School of Communication, International Studies and
Languagesat the University of South Australia. He is a former newspaper editor who teaches print
journalism and conducts research into traumatising reporting practices. He is a past president of the
Journalism Education Association of Australia.
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Rachel Harris
Conflict on the Home Front – Narratives of Race and Gender in South Australia,
1939- 1945
As at 30 September 1945 there were 637 females registered as enemy aliens in South Australia, of which48
were German and 246 were Italian. While much literature exists on the experiences of male aliens and their
internment in Australia between 1939 and 1945, there is very little that gives voice to this generation of
World War 2 women: the mothers, wives and daughters these men left behind. By using this group of South
Australian women as a case study, this paper explores the narratives of race and gender that permeated the
everyday lives of these women, who either by birth or by marriage, were classed as a threat both to social
order and the efficient prosecution of the war effort. Often forced to report their daily movements at the
local police station, these women found that such restrictions significantly curtailed their ability to gain
employment, keep house and care for their children. For some, such was the strain they appealed to the
Australian Government to be interned with their husbands – a request that was granted. By drawing on
archival material, much of which was penned by the women themselves, I will argue that analysis of the
racial and gendered conflict experienced by these women offers an alternative perspective of the South
Australian home front to that described or depicted in previous accounts.
Rachel Harris hold a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Arts (honours in
history) from the University of Adelaide. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of History atthe
University of Adelaide. Her doctoral thesis considers the lives of civilian women in South Australia during
World War 2.
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Ron Hoenig
A luftmensch: Poor Jews and the inequities in memory of war The term luftmensch (literally man of air) is Yiddish and describes humans in such a state of precarity that they live ‘off the air’. There is a secondary implication that these are dreamers and wanderers. I first came across it some thirty years ago, writing a study of American Jewish literature of the 1930s (Hoenig 1973). Now, undertaking a genealogical research of my ancestors, particularly a currently fruitless search for my maternal grandfather, the term resonates with a much more bitter tang. My grandfather, Chaim Ezra Berkovits, has left few traces, except in the lives of his children, all of whom have now died. Even his body leaves no mark because, as a victim of the Holocaust, a by-product of World War Two, his corporeal remains are now air and there is no grave on which I can place a stone. Currently, a number of Jewish authors have documented their searches for their ancestors in Eastern Europe. These include fictional works, such as Too Many Men (Brett 1999)and historical autobiographical searches such as Baker’s The Fiftieth Gate (Baker 1997)and Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost: A search for Six of the Six Million Tim Bonyhady’s history of his family Good Living Street (Bonyhady 2011) and, in a different light, the book and the film Woman in Gold (Curtis 2015). Most of these memorials reflect on wealthy or even semi-aristocratic lives. In this paper I want to reflect on my personal search and my slightly embittered recognition that poor Jews like my grandfather, who supported eight children as a haberdasher travelling to markets, leave little in the way of marks of their lives. In this paper I will reflect on the inequities of memory, and the possible impact that a class imbalance in formal and family research will leave as future generations look back on the civilian victims of the war.
Baker, MR 1997, The Fiftieth Gate, HarperCollins,
Bonyhady, T 2011, Good Living Street: The fortunes of my Viennese family, Allen and Unwin, Sydney
Brett, L 1999, Too Many Men, Harper Perennial, New York.
Curtis, S (dir.) 2015, Woman in Gold, BBC Films/The Weinstein Company, 2015.
Hoenig, R 1973, Alien Visions: The Jewish-American Novel in the 1930's, City College of New York, 1973. (Department of English)
Dr Ron Hoenig is a lecturer and tutor in journalism at The University of South Australia. He completed a PhD in Journalism and Cultural Studies in 2012 with his thesis entitled 'Reading alien lips: Australian press depiction of lip sewing by asylum seekers and the construction of national identity' and has written several papers examining the treatment by Australian print media of recent asylum seekers. He was born of Hungarian Jewish refugee parents in Israel. His family moved to Australia in 1952, and he studied English in Melbourne and did a masters at the City College of New York on Jewish novels of the 1930s. He has a background in the arts and multiculturalism, having worked as a teacher, playwright, actor, community arts administrator and arts bureaucrat.
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Bronwyn Hughes
‘Yrs Affectionately, Mont’: letters from a young artist at war
During the First World War, letters provided a thin, and often broken, line of communication between
thoseat home and the serving men at war. Letters from soldier sons, fathers and husbands were often
treasured, kept in safe-keeping, to be re-read by the old to the young, and to later generations to maintain
a link despite distance and time. Men wrote with various degrees of competence and flair and their letters
ranged from the mundane, boastful, grumbling, maudlin, descriptive to informative (as far as the censor
wouldallow).
William ‘Mont’ Montgomery was a 24-year-old student artist at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School
before he enlisted and his letter writing began shortly after he entered Broadmeadows Camp in February
1915. He had an eye for detail and, coupled with an enquiring mind, his letters take on the colour and
texture of a good painting; his 300-plus letters reveal the young, naïve man maturing as he gained
soldiering and life experience over four gruelling years. With barely a blue pencil mark from the censor,
Mont’s insights into changing aspects of warfare, political situations, conscription debates and the
likelihood of peace, were remarkably acute and revealed his own changing attitudes to the war. This paper
will explore some aspects of this remarkable archive that, while a source of knowledge and solace to one
family, summed up the experience of a generation and permit insights into the generations that followed.
Dr Bronwyn Hughes is an art historian with research interests in monumental art forms – stainedglass,
sculpture, mosaics – within architecture, landscape and Australian society. Art and war are combined inher
current research projects: a five-year study of commemorative stained glass throughout Victoria, Lights
Everlasting, published on-line (2015) to be followed by a similarly titled book; and a manuscript based on the
World War 1 letters of a young Melbourne artist, William ‘Mont’ Montgomery, tentatively entitled ‘Yrs
Affectionately, Mont’.
James Hurst
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Killing in a sepia twilight. A ‘new’ 200-year-old-painting
In December 1829, 49-year-old Irish-born Richard Goldsmith Meares, with his wife and eight children, left
the Gilmore’s creaking decks and set foot on terra firma for the first time in many weeks. They found
themselves on the hot, dry, barren limestone cliffs of Western Australia. They were among the first
colonists of the new Swan River Colony, and many a daunting challenge lay ahead. Fourteen years earlier,
Meares had faced amore immediate trial – the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. At the Battle of Waterloo he
had been a lieutenant inthe elite 2nd Life Guards of the Household Cavalry, personal bodyguards of the
King. He had previously studied painting at the Royal Academy of Art in London. A painting by Meares,
nestled in a family collection for many years, has only recently come to light. I believe this to represent the
Battle of Waterloo, and that I have identified the central character.
I have not yet discovered any other paintings of the battle by veterans. I believe this painting represents an
unseen side of the battle – the battle as seen from the ‘inside’, painted not by an observer, but a
participant. Regardless of its simplicity, I believe this painting, emerging many generations after it was
created, provides a rare, intimate glimpse into the individual experience of one of western history’s most
famous battles. I contend that, regardless of its artistic merit, it is a significant historical document.
Dr James Hurst is the author of Game to the Last, the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli, Oxford
University Press, 2005, now in its third printing with Big Sky Publishing. He has had historical articles
published in a range of journals and newspapers, and presented papers and talks in Australia, Canada and
Turkey. He was awarded his PhD from the Australian National University, Canberra, for his doctoral thesis
‘Dissecting a Legend, Reconstructing the Landing at Anzac, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915’, due for publication in
late 2017. He previously earned his Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology,
from the University of Western Australia. He is currently writing a book on the Life Guards during the 1815
campaign against Napoleon, culminating in the Battle of Waterloo.
James Hurst
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‘Here I am in Anzac Cove’: The Anzac Centenary - remembering or commemorating?
‘… if you destroy their achievements and their history, then it is just like they never existed …’ ‘Frank
Stokes’, The Monuments Men.
Many of today’s generations connect to the history of World War 1 primarily through public
commemorations – events such as Anzac Day and the Anzac Centenary. Governments of all levels, media,
and communities spent years planning ways to commemorate, remember, and connect with the Gallipoli
Campaign. But more often than not in high-profile events, authentic connections with the people and
events of 100 years ago have been hard to find.
If the commemorative speeches and television programs, news stories and other public rhetoric, do not
accurately represent their subject, are we really ‘commemorating’? With all the official and commercial
centennial ‘commemoration’, where is the ‘remembering’, the empathy for the people and subject? Does
not the historic event being commemorated have a place incommemoration?
This paper will focus primarily on the Nine Network’s epic centennial event, the flagship series Gallipoli,
hailed as being ‘Three years in the making’, ‘inspired’ by Les Carlyon’s book, and revealing the ‘truth’. A
headstone at Gallipoli today bears the epitaph: ‘Some day we will understand’. I will argue that, rather than
help us to ‘understand’, such modern commemorations often lead us away from the people and events
being commemorated. The truth lies in the detail; by choosing repetition of the pre-existing
misrepresentations and myths, we have missed a rare and valuable opportunity to remember,
commemorate and ‘understand’.
Dr James Hurst is the author of Game to the Last, the 11th Australian Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli, Oxford
University Press, 2005, now in its third printing with Big Sky Publishing. He has had historical articles
published in a range of journals and newspapers, and presented papers and talks in Australia, Canada and
Turkey. He was awarded his PhD from the Australian National University, Canberra, for his doctoral thesis
‘Dissecting a Legend, Reconstructing the Landing at Anzac, Gallipoli, 25 April 1915’, due for publication in
late 2017. He previously earned his Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology,
from the University of Western Australia. He is currently writing a book on the Life Guards during the 1815
campaign against Napoleon, culminating in the Battle of Waterloo.
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Luke Hynes-Bishop
Memory, Conflict and Common Ground in Colombia
The aim of this paper is to highlight the role that spaces of memory play in developing post-conflict dialogue
between former antagonists and subsequent generations in the hope of addressing issues of truth,
acknowledgement, accountability, reconciliation and justice. This paper particularly focuses on the role of
dialogical spaces, such as memory museums, commemoration work and local level memory initiatives,
which may help to foster common ground within societies struggling to overcoming violent conflict. This
paper explores an example within Colombia, a country which recently signed a peace agreement with the
main guerrilla group, the FARC, and is now attempting to implement the peace process. The example
identified is the Medellin memory museum, or Casa de la Memoria (House of Memory). This memory
initiative is highlighted as a potential site of common ground where previous antagonists and future
generations can engage with past memories and trauma in a dialogical, empathetic and reflective space
whichemphasises shared themes that characterise war and its legacy: sacrifice, loss, grief and hope for the
future. Identifying common ground, the space where shared interests, truths and concerns can be debated,
presents opportunities for dialogue about the nation’s past violence, particularly around questions of
memory, responsibility for atrocities, the causes and hopes for the future. In this case study, the memory
museum provides a space for deliberation and questioning of prior, unquestioned truths about past
repression, war and the impact upon victims – especially through the use of victim narratives. Although this
memory project emerged prior to the peace agreement, now, following the official end to the conflict, it
has taken on another role within the public sphere.
Luke is currently a PhD student at the University of South Australia in the field of International Relations,
particularly looking at how issues of memory have affected the peace process within Colombia. Hishonours
thesis also explored questions of memory, war, justice and accountability in post-conflict Peru and on the
concept of building a common ground. Luke has also published an article for Peace Studies Journal
concerning the topic of memory, conflict and common-ground. His area of focus is specifically in peace and
conflictstudies within International relations, especially within South America, where he has spent more
than two and a half years through a mixture of travel, study, volunteering and research.
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Cheryl Jenner
Violets, wattle and white feathers: South Australian women’s activism on the World War
1 home front
World War 1 is acknowledged as a defining factor in Australia’s emergence as a nation. Our national identity is
underpinned by the Anzac tradition. As a result, our history can be interpreted as militarised, and almost exclusively
male. Without disputing the rightful place of men in the commemoration of Anzac, it should be noted that civilian
women also experienced the effects of war. Through those experiences, they contributed much to the construction
of Australian history. Women’s activism during the Great War years, whether they championed Australia’s
involvement or campaigned against it, was an expression of their recently-won political voice. For some it
originated in a frustrated wish to play an active role in the war itself. For many, its wellspring was worry,
uncertainty and grief, private emotions often suppressed in the interests of public morale. While there is a body of
knowledge on women’s involvement in the conscription campaigns, and an often-sentimental narrative about sock
knitting and comfort parcels, the broad experience of home front women remains under-researched. My research
focuses on the activism of South Australian civilian women during the Great War, viewed in the context of the
conflicted environment in which they lived. Indeed, the term home front was created during World War One,
equally suggesting national unity and localconfrontation. Through examining archival records, including media
publications of the time, I am investigating the experiences of South Australian women during the war years, thus
locating them as participants inthe formation of Australian history and identity.
Cheryl Jenner is a PhD candidate at the University of South Australia. She has a background in creative writing, and a
passion for World War One history. Her current interest is World War One as experienced by women on the home
front, particularly untold stories of individual women and the groups they formed. Her thesisresearch centres on the
activism of South Australian civilian women during World War One, and their contribution to nationhood and the
construction of the Australian identity.
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Susan Kellett
Waller’s Army Nurse: resurrecting sacrifice in the Hall of Memory
It is commonly believed that the Hall of Memory, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, is a secular space.
Although this accommodates the expectations of contemporary society, it fails to recognise the influence of
Christianity upon the generation that experienced World War I and developed the memorial practices that
arose in response to it. This paper reveals the extraordinary talent of the artist who created the stained
glass in the Hall of Memory – veteran M. Napier Waller – and his ability to both accommodate and subvert
the demands of his patron. Waller allegorised Australia’s experience of war with Christ’s sacrifice for
mankind in the nation’s commemorative crown: crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are symbolised in
the Hall of Memory’s south, west and east windows respectively. Central to Waller’s conception was the
nurse Devotion. Her inclusion reveals the agenda of a man uncompromising in his ideological beliefs and
whose experience of war necessarily informed his art. Waller symbolically aligned the nurse Devotion with
the most significant woman in Christianity: the Virgin Mary. But, by positioning her as the central element in
his scheme ofglass, the artist also corrected a major oversight in the nation’s commemorative tradition; he
located a population broadly marginalised from Australian war memorialisation – its women – as the very
heart of sacrifice in the nation’s premier war memorial.
Susan’s doctoral thesis examined commemorative stained glass installed in the nation’s religious spaces to
shed new light on remembrance practices that accommodated army nurses and other minorities
marginalised from the hyper masculine narrative of secular war memorialisation. Her research interests
include the memory of nursing service in Australian modernist art and the life and stained glass of M. Napier
Waller.
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Philip Marriott
Virtual narratives on virtual conflicts: a generation of computergamers
People have played war games for as long as there has been human conflict. What has changed recently is
the nature and extent to which this occurs. At any time there are millions of people playing history-based
and stylised computer games and then discussing the experience afterwards on various Internet forums.
Someare reliving historical battles and conflicts, some are exploring different outcomes, some are just
“playing” - at personal, tactical, and strategic levels of interest. As the technology improves the immersion
and levelof “realism” is increasing. But how realistic is the experience when compared to the accounts of
people involved in the real events the games are based upon? Before, during, and after, the players talk (in
voice ortext), telling stories, reflecting, and planning. What are they talking about? Why? How does this
relate to the narratives of real conflicts? What are the players trivialising, or honouring, or learning from
theirvirtual conflicts? This paper is an initial exploratory study and attempts to make sense of the
narratives createdby the current generation of computer gamers, during and after gameplay, and the
relationship ofthese narratives to the narratives of real conflicts. It is broad in its focus and raises many
questions for further study.
Philip Marriott is a lecturer in Information Management at the University of South Australia. He is a former
Australian Naval Reservist and a reformed computer gamer. His prior research has been focused on internet
technologies and learning; he welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this area of long-term interest.
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Jennifer McKay
Are States able to self-assess the gravity of illegal destruction of the environment
in the ICC? Renewed scope for ecocide after Sept 2016
The International Criminal Court and environmental destruction as a crime against humanity in peace and a
war crime: the doctrine of gravity. This paper is based on interviews with ICC lawyers and an examination of
cases in the ICC and potential new investigations in Cambodia and Syria. From this work it can be seen that
Art. 7 Crimes Against Humanity has an increasing application in relation to the environment. This will be
discussed as well as the powers in Art 8. The protection of the environment is specifically mentioned in Art.
8 but is circumscribed by the type of armed conflict and by the use of words narrowing theprotection.
Art. 8 of the Statute of Rome is narrow in its ambit but does cover environmental destruction in
international armed conflict. The tests are in 2 (iv) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not
justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly and … intentionally launching an
attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to …or widespread, long-
term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the
concrete and direct overall and military advantage anticipated.
Professor Jennifer McKay is Professor of Business Law at the University of South Australia School of Law. She
commenced with the university in 1991 at its Magill campus as a lecturer in law after some years in private
practice.
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John Moreman
Aircrew Losses and Parents' grief in the Second World War
This paper explores the experience of grief by parents who endured the Great War and suffered loss in World
War2. Military technological advances between 1918 and 1939 were most profound in respectto air power.
Aircraft of 1939-45 were vastly more capable than those of 1914-18 and their use was greater, including in
strategic bombing, long-range patrol, fighter interdiction, close air support, and air supply. The air war was
in some respects comparable to trench warfare a generation earlier, as aircrews sustained high losses
(particularly over Europe) and a significant proportion of lost aircrews were reported “missing”.
Significantly, the parents of aircrews were from one of the generations that endured the Great War, either
fighting or on the home front. Their experience of grief has been the subject of historical studies, including a
pioneering study by Pat Jalland. Whereas in the Great War losses had been unprecedented, adding tothe
shock, by 1939 there was understanding that modern warfare could exact a terrible toll. Nevertheless, grief
was deep and prolonged. This paper is part of a project assessing official responses to air war loss and
communication with the bereaved. It uses selected case studies from Royal Australian Air Force casualty
files to explore how parents who lived through the Great War encountered, and responded to, the loss of
adult children a quarter-century later.
Dr John Moremon lectures at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University, New Zealand.
He was previously a historian in Australia’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs and a senior researcher
(defence and security) in the Australian Parliament’s research service. The first published research output
from the air war casualties project is a book chapter, “Aircrew Loss and Bereavement: Exploring Casualty
Files of the Royal Australian Air Force, 1939-45”, in Tristan Moss and Tom Richardson (eds.), New Directions
in War and History: Debating Military History (Sydney: Big Sky, 2016), 88-103.
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Sue Page
Daughters of the Air
The accelerated development of technology during wars – whether weapons, medical advances or means
of transport – is well recognised. In the same way, social progress (however temporary) means that gender
roles and expectations changed dramatically. The First World War saw developments in aviation, taking the
roleof pilots from observers to fighters. This was the first war in which flight played a crucial role for the
militaryand saw the establishment of the Royal Air Force as a distinct body. New Zealand and Australian
pilots,mechanics, observers and bombers were among those who volunteered in the Great War.
However, it was not until a generation later that women pilots were allowed to participate. Experienced
female pilots from around the world made their way to England in order to join the Air Transport Auxiliary
(ATA) – a civilian organisation that delivered planes from factories to airfields, flew damaged planes backto
factories for repairs and ran a taxi service to fly planes and personnel between airfields to where they were
most needed. They trained RAF pilots. They flew in conditions that were deemed too risky for the RAF or
navy; flying planes that were mechanically unsound, with flight restrictions that did not apply to the
enlisted men.
One in ten died. Among the women accepted into the ATA were five New Zealanders and two Australians.
These daughters of the air made history, and brought about social changes still relevant today.
Dr Sue Page is one of the founding members of the Narratives of War Research Group. Her research
interests include how war, the Holocaust and pacifism are represented to children and young adults, and
'untold stories' (particularly women's and homosexuals' experiences) relating to these conflicts. Recent
research includes investigating primary and secondary sources at the Air Transport Auxiliary Museum in
Maidenhead, England.
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Lisa Ranson
Legitimacy, identity, agency and responsibility: The language of PTSD in the Australian Defence Force
In the wake of 15 years of military engagement in the Middle East, the mental wellbeing of veteransand
service personnel is occupying the consciousness of Australian communities. As news media and a plethora
of ex-service organisations continue to reflect on the toll of conflict-related post-traumatic stress, the
Australian Defence Force is beginning to explore sociocultural reasons why military personnel are choosing
not to seek mental healthcare. ‘Stigma’ has been identified as a significant barrier in veterans’ reluctance to
seek help.
Unpacking this ‘stigma’ requires an understanding of the perceptions and expectations surrounding post-
traumatic stress in the community, and these are inherently tied to the language that is used to discuss
PTSD.
The voice of institutional authority has significant impact on social norms, yet the language used by the ADF
to address PTSD is not yet examined. A discourse analysis of coverage of PTSD in the official Defencemedia
publication Army News finds that articles may discursively contribute to self and public perceptions of its
audience in four main areas: the legitimacy of PTSD; the relationship between PTSD and the identity of the
soldier; allocation or withdrawal of agency; and responsibility for soldiers’ PTSD and the associated
challenges. This exploration of ADF language provides initial insight into the potential impact of chosen
language, and illuminates challenges that may face Defence such as balancing legitimacy and
stigmatisation, and reconciling the perception of ideal soldier with the traumatised soldier, which is
arguably the next chapter of theveterans’ PTSD narrative.
After presenting at Narratives of War in 2015, Lisa completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) with a thesis
entitled Legitimacy, identity, agency and responsibility: the language of PTSD in the Australian Defence
Force. She received the University Honours Medal for academic excellence in the division of Arts, Education
and Social Sciences. In 2017, Lisa is working with a team of UniSA researchers on a project called
Empowerment through language: Achieving positive health outcomes for trauma affected veterans and first
responders, having received funding from the Repat Foundation.
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Janet Scarfe
Mixed Blessings: the post-war lives of Australian WW1 nurses
Common to war in every generation is the return home of the survivors. Around 268 000 members of the
1st AIF returned to Australia during or after the 1914-18 war.
Previous studies of survivors have relied on repatriation files and soldier settlerrecords.
This paper takes a different approach by (1) focusing on nurses rather than soldiers and (2) by utilising a
wide range of sources including passenger lists, newspapers and family records and images. The paper
analyses the postwar lives of a cross-section of Australian Army Nursing Service members: 54 nurses with a
connection to the suburb of East Melbourne through family, employment or church attendance.
Their post-war lives were generally made up of mixed personal and professional blessings. Some flourished
but one or two committed suicide. In between were the great majority who worked, married, travelled and
lived long lives, while experiencing intermittent ‘bad patches’ due to financial difficulty and/or ill health.
Marriage led to life overseas for some and hard times at home for others. Most of the group resumed
nursing, working in new fields such as repatriation hospitals, baby health centres and/or schools. Some
becameleaders in their professional area. An unexpected finding was the irresistible lure of travel: some
worked overseas in locations such as Ocean Island, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States for years;
many travelled abroad at least once for work and/or pleasure.
This study of army nurses has brought important nuances to the generalisations and perspectives of
previous research into WW1 survivors.
Janet Scarfe (PhD, Toronto) is an Adelaide-based independent historian whose biographical essays on World
War 1 nurses of East Melbourne appear on the website emhs.org.au. She also curated the East Melbourne
Historical Society’s 2015 exhibition, ‘Gone to War as Sister: East Melbourne Nurses in the Great War’. She is
the co-editor of and a contributor to Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women’s Ministry
(NewSouth Books 2012) – essays to mark the twentieth anniversary of the ordination of women in the
Anglican Church in Australia.
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Christeen Schoepf
The Cheer-Up Roll of Honour: a multi-generational commemoration of the significant war work of South Australian Women
Carved by Miss Blanche Francis, the Cheer-Up Society Roll of Honour is the only one of its kind created in
Australia to acknowledge the war work of 500 women on the home front. By convention, these women
were always addressed by their husband’s name but here, it is significant they are recorded for the first
time on the public record with their own initials. Throughout WW1 the women performed tasks that went
beyond the feeding of troops by: providing a safe place returned soldiers could feel at ‘home’ and be with
others who had returned physically and mentally altered; providing a sense of normality at a time when
feeling ‘normal’ would never return; erecting memorials to the dead and a triumphal arch to welcome
home the living; and paying for and attending the burials of returned soldiers who died destitute and
withoutfamily. A biography of this roll of honour has collectively unpacked the stories of this significant war
work and added new layers to the emerging narrative of the South Australian experience of WW1. It has
revealedthe identities of the women and multiple generations of some families who actively volunteered at
the Cheer-Up Hut. Many would again volunteer during WW2 and bring their own daughters with them.
This paper will briefly present the work of just some of these women across two wars and multiple
generations and discuss the work of Miss Francis, whose carved and painted honour boards adorn the halls
of many of Adelaide'sbuildings.
Christeen Schoepf is a Historical Archaeologist in the final phase of her PhD examining the role of the Cheer-
Up Society of South Australia during World War 1. She has presented the significance of the work of the
society throughout Australia and internationally including Abu Dhabi, London, Christchurch and Buenos
Aires and was awarded South Australian Emerging Historian of 2014. Christeen has recreated the essence of
the home of the Cheer-Up Society at exhibitions across SA and is consulting on several other major projects
relating to the home front and collective remembrance, particularly the rolls of honour carved bywomen.
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Jeremy Sibbald
Letters from home - Primary sources of the SA home front
This paper will discuss where and how to find primary sources that document experiences of conflict. With
a focus on WW1 and WW2, personal stories of the effects of these conflicts on civilian lives and the
volunteer forces will be told through the documents held by the National Archives of Australia; including
the storiesof children, Aboriginal Australians and migrants. The two world wars crossed a generation, many
who contributed to the war effort of the first did again in the second along with their sons and daughters.
Folios drawn from records created by the 4th Military District Army Pay Office, Commonwealth
Investigations Branch, Customs and even the Post Office will give voice to the experience of individuals
during the conflict. This is an opportunity to see examples of the type of records held at the Archives and
how they intersect. A chance to discuss methods of researching primary sources held at the archives.
Jeremy has been working with the National Archives of Australia for nearly 10 years. He has presented
papers on topics as diverse as brewing and winemaking records, historical depictions of cycling, and the use
archival source material by visual artists. He is enthusiastic about seeing the great resources of the Archives
being utilised for innovative research and making the records of the Commonwealth open and available.
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Nigel Starck
The Regeneration of Singapore’s World War 2 Memories
Singapore experienced profound suffering in World War 2: bombing, invasion, occupation, interrogation,
mass execution. After the war, accordingly, the public mood was not disposed towards overt reminders of
those years. The concentration was on creating economic and social revival – war memorial sites had little
part in that. Indicative of a widespread unwillingness to reflect or remember was the decision to board up
The Battlebox at Fort Canning. This underground bunker, where the Allied commanders on 15 February
1942 took the decision to surrender, was abandoned and effectively buried. It was rediscovered in 1988 by
an inquisitive young writer on an internship at The Straits Times, Singapore’s English-language morning
newspaper. He broke in, accompanied by a photographer, published his story, attracted historians to the
cause, and – by 1997 – saw The Battlebox refurbished as a tourism attraction. Then it was closed again,
subjected to a major redesign in theme and physical content, and reopened in 2016 as a prime centre of
military history instruction and commemoration.
Less spectacular and dramatic perhaps, but in the same spirit of regeneration, Singapore’s newfound
determination to display its wartime legacy is found in:
Building a replica chapel – along with upgraded information displays and a bookshop – at Changi jail,
where 12,000 prisoners of war were incarcerated.
• Promoting the Ford Factory (site of the surrender) as a place of contemplation away from Singapore’s casinos and shopping malls.
• Developing Bukit Chandu, where the Malay Regiment gallantly resisted the Japanese invaders, as an
interpretive centre with audio-visual presentations.
Encouraging tourism to such locations, and other specified sites, under the collective banner of Reflections At.
This paper explores those initiatives, with an emphasis on the regeneration of The Battlebox. It
demonstrates, in microcosm, the mood of vigorous remembrance that flourishes in Singapore today.
Dr Nigel Starck has been a writer, broadcaster and lecturer for more than 40 years. In that time, he has
worked as a newspaper journalist and editor, television current affairs producer, and ABC overseas
correspondent. He has taught journalism and creative writing at RMIT University and at the University of
South Australia. HisPhD, awarded by Flinders University, investigated the historical development of the
newspaper obituary.
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Paul Sutton
Mustard Gas: the experience of the 25th Battalion, AIF in October to November 1917
This paper will explore the experiences of the 25th Battalion, AIF, which was subjected to a lengthy
mustard gas attack whilst on the lower reaches of the Passchendaele Ridge during the last days of October
and the first days of November, 1917. The paper will briefly outline the development and deployment of
chemical agents during the Great War, in particular mustard gas. It will then describe the events
surrounding the battalion's deployment between ANZAC and Garter Ridges during the last days of October
and the constant barrage of mustard gas that it received.
The paper will then identify the almost 300 soldiers of the battalion that suffered harm through their
exposure to the gas. Utilising the individual service dossier for each of them, their journey through the
evacuation and rehabilitation chain will be analysed and a detailed amount of data will be extracted and
discussed concerning the duration of their incapacity and the effect this had on the effectiveness of the
battalion for the next few months.
Specific individuals will then be selected for an in-depth description of their injuries, their rehabilitation and
their post-war lives to assess what continued impact these injuries had on the rest of their lives.
Various primary sources will be used including unit war diaries, service dossiers and Repatriation
Department files.
Originally from England and now living in Queensland. Paul Sutton owns and manages a network of removal
companies that operate across Africa/Asia/Pacific. He is a keen amateur historian and frequently publishes
his own works online and in print. More details can be found at his my personal website:
www.pshistory.com.
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this area. 47
Miranda Van Hooff and Ellie Lawrence-Wood
Mental Health in the Australian Military: what do we know?
There is large body of literature highlighting the negative impacts of war on the mental and physical health
of military personnel worldwide. Currently, Australia is at the forefront of this research. This presentation
will provide a summary of the status of mental health research in the Australian Defence Force to date, in
particular key findings, aims and implications of two landmark Australian studies: The Military Health
OutcomesProgramme of Research (MILHOP) conducted in 2010 and the Transition and Wellbeing Research
Programme conductedin 2015. Key findings from analysis of data collected as part of MilHOP will focus on
the prevalence ofmental disorder in current and ex-serving ADF members as well as the risk and protective
factors associated withmental health symptoms among deployed and non-deployed ADF members. Specific
focus will be given to thegeneration of veterans deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations and on the
impact of lifetime and deployment related trauma on poor psychological outcomes. The role of the
transition process from military to civilian life and the impact this has on mental health will be discussed in
detail. This paper will conclude with an overview of keygaps in understanding regarding the experience and
impacts of military service and transition to civilianlife.
Authors: Van Hooff, Miranda [Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies (CTSS)]; Lawrence-Wood, Ellie (CTSS);
Searle, Amelia (CTSS); McFarlane, Alexander (CTSS); Hansen, Craig (CTSS); Hodson, Stephanie (Department
of Veterans’ Affairs); Sadler, Nicole (Phoenix Australia); Benassi, Helen (Department of Defence)
Dr Van Hooff is Director of Research at The University of Adelaide's Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. She was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine at The University of Adelaide in 2011. During her academic career she has been an author, lead researcher and program manager on a number of high profile, large-scale longitudinal studies of traumatised populations, and has also completed a long-term study examining the neurocognitive outcomes of childhood lead exposure. More recently Dr Van Hooff was leadresearcher, investigator and author on the 2010 ADF Mental Health and Wellbeing Study (MHPWS), and currently is theChief Investigator for SA Metropolitan Fire Service Health and Wellbeing Study as well as the Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, Australia’s most comprehensive research program to examine the impact of contemporary military service on the physical, social and mental health and wellbeing of serving and ex-serving ADF personnel.
Dr Lawrence-Wood is a Senior Research Fellow with The University of Adelaide’s Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies and completed her Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Honours) in 2005 and her Doctor of Philosophy in 2011 at Flinders University. She has had substantial involvement in the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) Prospective Study, a large-scale project focusing on the impacts of deployment to the MEAO on the health of ADF personnel, and is the currently appointed Study Manager for this project. She is the Study Manager for the The Impact of Combat Study (Transition & Wellbeing Research Programme). She was also responsible for the Mothers in the MEAO project, a follow-up to the Military Health outcomes program (MilHOP) Health Studies, aimed at understanding the specific health and psychosocial wellbeing impacts of deployment, for Australian mothers who have deployed to the MEAO. Dr Lawrence-Wood has varied research experience within a number of different areas has developed a strong interest in the physical and immunological impacts of deployment and combat exposure, actively working to develop collaborations in
UniSA (thentheSACAE).
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Helen Vatsikopoulos The Greek Civil War: Silences and Post-Memory Narratives
The post-memory generation, the children of those who have experienced trauma in war, have either
received stories of war from their parents or silences. This presentation will look at the reasons why some
memories have been locked away and will ask how the explorations of those memories fill the gaps in war
narratives through my own family’s example.
In this presentation, I will discuss the burden of the post-memory generation and its role in telling the
stories of their parents. I am writing a post-memory creative non-fiction thesis where I have gathered many
oral histories to tell the narratives of the Greek Civil War. (1946-1949) More Greeks died during this conflict
thanin the previous years of World war 2 in Greece (1941-45) The Greek Civil War is still a sensitive issue
and the two state-run war museums in Greece do not have any exhibits on this episode in the nation’s
history.
Hoffman (2004) writes the second generation is the hinge generation in which received transferred
knowledge of events is being transmuted into history, or into myth. Hirsch (2012) articulates that
descendants ofthose who witnessed massive traumatic events connect so deeply to the previous
generation's remembrances ofthe past that they identify that connection as a form of memory, and that in
certain extremecircumstances, memory can be transferred to those who were not actually there. At the
same time Gazi (2011) writesthat national institutions like museums are normally seen as places that tell
nationally sanctioned views ofthe nation’s truth and ruptures, silences, difficult heritage or other voices are
hard to be accepted. Thus thegathering of oral histories by the second generation goes a long way towards
filling in the gaps.
Gazi, A. 2011, 'National Museums in Greece: History, Ideology, Narratives.', EuNaMus, European National
Museums: Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen, ed. P.A.G.E. (eds), vol. Building
National Museums in Europe 1750-2010, Published by Linköping University Electronic Press, Bologna.
Hirsch, M. 2012, The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust, Columbia
University Press, New York.
Hoffman, Eva. 2004. After such knowledge: Memory, History and the Legacy of the Holocaust, PublicAffairs,
New York.
Helen Vatsikopoulos is a Walkley Award-winning journalist In a career spanning more than thirty years, she
has worked for the ABC’s 7.30 Report, Lateline and Foreign Correspondent, and SBS Television’s Face the
Pressand Dateline. She has presented national and international programs including the Australia
Network’s Asia Pacific Focus. She has been teaching Advanced Video and long form journalism at the
University of Technology Sydney and has guest lectured at Aristotle University Greece, Jonkoping University
Sweden and Aarhus University Denmark. She regularly teaches into the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and
Innovation at UTS’s Transdisciplinary Innovation Faculty. She has made three documentaries and is currently
working on her Doctorate of Creative Arts. She has a BA from Adelaide University and a BA Journalism from
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Brad West
Turkish Re-enactments at Gallipoli as State Sponsored Pilgrimage: the 57th Regiment Walk and the limitations of AKP’s ‘Pious Generation' agenda
This paper examines the 57th Regiment Walk undertaken by Turkish youth and its political significance in
Turkey following the 2016 attempted coup. While the rite was initially established in 2006 by local
university students in response to Anzac ritual dominance of the battlefields on the 24/25th April, its
popularity soon attracted oversight and sponsorship by the state.
I outline how this re-enactment ritual is linked to the political agenda of the ruling AKPparty, particularly to
encourage: 1. Islamic and neo-Ottoman understanding of the campaign by deiemphasising Ataturk
mythology; 2. Reimagine the Kemalist ‘youth myth’ by celebrating a pious youth generation. Drawing on
ethnographic data during the 2017 Walk, I argue that the institutional political influence of the rite is
significantly curbed through: 1. Cultural diversity of participants preventing a uniformity of ritual action; 2.
A medium of commemoration that blurs remembrance and recreation. The significance of the findings will
be explored in reference to the proposed establishment of new Turkish remembrance memorials at
Gallipoli.
Brad West lectures in sociology in the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages at the
University of South Australia. He is a Faculty Fellow at the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology and has
previously held academic posts at the University of Bristol, Flinders University and Kings College London.
Amongst his professional duties he sits on the advisory editorial boards of the American Journal of Cultural
Sociology and Tourist Studies. His research focuses on the changing dynamics of national collective memory,
particularly examining how new forms of ritual and commemoration challenge and at times rejuvenate
national identity. This has included studies on the media reporting in the 2002 Bali Bombing and 2004 South
Asian Tsunami; and the broader political influence of ‘dark tourism’ at war sites in Vietnam and pilgrimage-
like activity at the Gallipoli battlefields in Turkey.
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Claire Woods To Singapore and Back: nurses of the Australian Army Nursing Service in Malaya 1941 – 42 and after
The focus of the paper is on the experiences of the AANS nurses of 2/10 AGH and 2/13 AGH who served in
Malaya and were evacuated from Singapore in February 1942. Before their evacuation, the nurses had
endured theretreat down the Malayan Peninsula and the traumas of the Battle for Singapore, maintaining
their hospitals and their dedication to wounded servicemen to the last. Just days before the surrender of
Singapore, they were orderedto evacuate on two small trading vessels. The fate of the nurses on the Vyner
Brooke is known by many; less well known is the journey of the nurses on the Empire Star.
Drawing on first-hand accounts from nurses who survived incarceration as POWs and those who made it
home, and the scraps of a box of memories, the paper presents a view of what this time of wartime service
meant for the young women of the AANS who served in Singapore and the Malayan peninsula during World
War 2. For theirs was a different kind of war; as nurses they fought against anything that threatened to
destroy life, while enduring all the bombardments of battle and hostile fire. Their story is not often told or
acknowledged.
Claire Woods, is Emeritus Professor, University of South Australia. Before her retirement, she was Professor
of Communication and Writing and the founder and leader of the Narratives of War Research Group. She
continuesto research and write in this area as well as providing commentary for ABC Radio on aspects of
Australians at war. A recent publication on which this paper is based was prepared for the Women’s
Memorial Playing Fields Trust and launched on Remembrance Day. Among her volunteer activities is her
work for Legacy, which is dedicated to supporting families of ex-service people.
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Damien Wright
Churchill's Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention inthe Russian Civil War 1918-20
At the height of World War 1 in November, 1917, Lenin's Bolsheviks (later known as ‘Soviets’) seized power
in Russia, signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers and brutally murdered Tsar Nicholas and his
children so there could be no return to the old order. As Russia fractured into loyalist 'White' and
revolutionary 'Red' factions, the British government became drawn into the escalating Russian Civil War in
support of British trained and equipped 'White Russian' Allies. By the time of their withdrawal in mid-1920,
British and Empire troops (including many Australians) were fighting the Red Army far into the Russian
interior. With very few first-hand accounts and primary source materials available, the author utilised the
power of the internet to connect with families of servicemen and women who had served in Russia 1918-20
from across the former British Empire. These descendants, in most cases children and grandchildren looking
for information on their relatives service but ableto find very little, were generous in contributing
unpublished diaries, letters and photographs towardsthe authors research. The highlight of this research
was meeting with a woman whose Australian father had been killed in Russia and awarded a posthumous
Victoria Cross. Without the utility of the worldwide web to connectwith descendants, the author’s book
would not have been possible. This presentation examines the failed British campaign to overthrow the
Soviet Union in its infancy and the process the author took over more than 15 years to research and write
the first comprehensive history of a little known conflict fought a centuryago.
Damien Wright is a professional staff member of the University of South Australia with a lifelong interest in
politics and modern history specialising in military history, technology and terrorism. His more than 15 years
of research into British military intervention in the Russian Civil War culminated in the recently published
book ‘Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil
War, 1918-20’ (Helion and Company, 2017). He has authored several published articles on British Empire
military history and is a graduate of Murdoch University Bachelor of Arts (Security, Terrorism and
Counterterrorism).
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Chris Yardley
Military history on postage stamps: WW1 Centenary Commemoratives
The postage stamp is a time capsule presenting a commemoration of an event as viewed perceived
by someone at the date of issue. In the run-up towards the centenary of World War 1,four post
offices, (of countries whose stamps I collect), announced that they would commemorate the event
annually withsets of stamps over five years. The stated motivations were similar and, of course,
omitted to point out that this was an opportunity to cajole collectors, and casual buyers of
commemorative stamps that they mightbe making a five-year commitment. In 2017 we have
achieved four of the expected five years of images. This paper records my thoughts at this juncture.
Dr Chris Yardley was absorbed into the burgeoning computer business from the early 1960s. He
retired in 2005 determined to get his stamp collection in order. He is still working at that, but it has
prompted him to develop several stories about his stamps as capsules of time and social history. He
has written and published three books in the past three years: science on stamps, a work history, and
the biography of a Lancaster bomber pilot in Second World War 2. He is a member of the MHSA and
a participant in the University of the Third Age (ACT) ‘Aspects of Military History’ course.
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