Reginald Saunders And The Australian Defence

The history wars of Australia is an area of great controversial debate. Throughout the course of Australian history, the public has been mainly subjected to one perspective that focused on the glorifying moments of European settlement and its progress such as its involvement in world wars and the transition of the nation into a globalised continent. As a result, there is a rigid dichotomy between the perceptions of white Australians and the indigenous population on subjects such as the colonisation or invasion of Australia. History told from the perspective of Aboriginal people greatly contrasts what is written in the history books and also what is exposed or encouraged towards the public. It focuses on the dispossession of indigenous people, the massacres and the attempted eradication of culture. This view of Australian history has been labeled as 'black armband history', which was first used during an interview by a historian, Geoffrey Blainey.

In World War 1, all Australian soldier enlisted voluntarily. When the war first began, this was more than enough to support the war effort overseas. But, when the news of the casualties and conditions at war became known on the home front, the number of enlistments fell rapidly. Australia was under a lot of pressure from Britain to ensure that the promised number of men would be enlisted. Under a lot of stress, Prime Minister William Hughes came to the decision the hold a referendum to see if the people of Australia agreed or disagreed with conscription and compulsory service overseas.

Earlier in the 1980s Australia formed an elite national sports system to compete with the best athletes in the world. In the 1990s Australia gained extensive amount of benefits from this system as Australia created a new generation of worldwide successful sports stars.

World War 1 (1914-1918) was the first official war that Australians took part in, only thirteen years after federating as a country in 1901. During this time, thousands of lives were lost, families were torn apart, and friends were never seen again. April 25th became the national day to commemorate the ANZAC soldiers who had served overseas. Even now, 100 years later, people still remember those who sacrificed themselves for Australia, those who fought and fell in many battles to protect the country they lived in. The Gallipoli Campaign is the most famous battle of World War 1, the battle that every Australian household knows about. However, other battles such as the ones on the

The Australian home front during WWI was drastically altered politically through the conscription vote that Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, believed necessary. 50,000 Australian men had signed up for the war before the year of 1914 had come to an end – which was a rate of over 10,000 per month – but the enlistment numbers dropped way down to 6,000 for the month of the Gallipoli landing in 1915. Once again, however, the numbers rose sharply on the home front after the news of the landing came back home, as many wished to avenge their fallen countrymen, and nobody could question the solemnity of the conflict. With five whole divisions overseas, Australia had to stay committed to their recruitment for the

Vincent Lingiari was born in 1919 (his exact birth is unknown) and was an Aboriginal Stockman that led many strikes against the government due to poor payment compared to the white people. He was born at Victoria River Gorge and was raised by his Gurindji parents. Both his father, Vincent Lin and mother worked on the Wave Hill cattle station, where Lingiari would work for the majority of his time.

Neville Bonner and Mandawuy Yunupingu are known for being resilient Indigenous Australian leaders, paving the way for the improvement in quality of life for generations of Indigenous Australians, and becoming ‘firsts’ in their respective fields (National Portrait Gallery, 2016). Bonner was the first Indigenous member of Australian Federal Parliament, representing Queensland as the Liberal Party Senator in the 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1980 elections (National Film and Sound Archive, 2015). While Yunupingu was the first Indigenous Australian to become a school principal, and shed light internationally on the mistreatment of Australian Indigenous people through his band ‘Yothu Yindi,’ (National Library of Australia, n.d.). Both men were strong Indigenous rights activists, and inspired a nation to bridge the gaps between Indigenous Australians, and contemporary Australian society.

Australia’s identity was developed because of the qualities the Australian soldiers demonstrated on the Kokoda Track, despite facing major obstacles. According to Macinnis (2007: 49), the Maroubra Force was “The name given to the mixed troops of

He was placed in command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Prior to the landings on the Gallipoli peninsula, the general decided to split his forces. As Powles described:

Born on the 21st of May, 1930, Malcolm Fraser was born in Toorak, Victoria. He was taught in the Melbourne Grammar School, from 1943 to 1948, then was taught in Oxford University, located in London, from 1949. Graduating from Oxford University in 1952, Malcolm Fraser took his career path to becoming a cultivator. He married Tamara Beggs on the 9th of December 1956 and Tamara’s named was changed to Tamie Fraser. They had four children whose names were Mark, born in 1958, Angela, born in 1959, Hugh, born in 1963 and Phoebe, born in 1966. Around the same year as Phoebe was born, Malcolm Fraser was declared the Australian Army Minister, from the 26th of January 1966 to the 28th of February 1983. Being the Australian Army Minister, Malcolm Fraser had argued about the controversial Vietnam War debate. It was about the needs of sending young Australian men, who were under 20 years old were sent to Vietnam.

Ben Hall is believed be been born in Maitland, New South Wales on the 9th of May 1837. His parents were both ex-convicts, Eliza Somers and Benjamin Hall, who sadly passed away in 1951 which explains why he robbed many different people in New South Wales, and became one of Australia’s most wanted bushrangers that Australia has ever had, to date.

He enlisted at the Australian Imperial Force on 18 September 1914 as a private in the 14th Battalion. He trained at Egypt. Jacka's battalion led him to Gallipoli on 26 April 1915. After three weeks on 19th of May, with the ANZACs now entrenched above the beaches, the Turks launched large-scale frontal assaults against their positions. The reason was just the same as every one else, war is great, you have honour and much more propaganda

Burke and Wills both came from very different backgrounds, but despite this, they both found themselves in Australia attempting to explore the continent from South to North. Robert O’Hara Burke was born in Count Galway, Ireland, in 1821, he was the second of three sons of James and Anne Burke. After leaving school he decided to migrate to Australia and in 1853 he entered the Victorian Police force. Then in 1860 he was appointed the commanding officer of the exploration expedition to cross Australia from South to North (Fitzpatrick, 2015). Having not been in the field of exploring and having no experience as a leader of an expedition it was quite puzzling how he was appointed the principal of such a significant operation. On the other hand John William Wills was born in 1834 in Devon, England, he was an only child to William and Sarah Wills. As John’s father, Dr William Wills, was interested in Australia, he decided to buy a share in a Melbourne gold-mining company and because of this his entire family moved to Australia. In Australia Wills studied surveying and later become an

Robert James Lee Hawke also known as Bob Hawke was born on the 9th December 1929 at Bordertown in South Australia. He lived with his older brother Neil Hawke, who died at the age of 17 due to meningitis, his mother Edith Hawke, who was a school teacher, and then there was his dad Arthur Hawke who was congregational minister.

Born in 1943 in Western Australia, Royce joined the Royal Australian Navy as a stores assistant, a month before his 18th birthday, and found himself posted to the HMAS Voyager, where he introduced himself as Roy, probably a more suitable name for the blokey surrounds of the Australian Navy.