November 2020

Discovery and survival: an 1872 Cape York expedition revisited – and the Girramay man who saved it

Submitted by Paul Daley on

William Hann’s exploration to north Queensland has been largely forgotten. But unlike others, he survived, thanks to his resourceful, multilingual guide, Jerry

In 1872 six white men led by William Hann, a pastoralist from the Kennedy district of the new British colony of Queensland, set out to determine the mineral and agricultural potential of the supposedly “empty” Cape York peninsula.

It's high time to question Australia's culture of military hero-worship | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

Australia has prostrated itself for too long at the altar of Anzac mythology at the expense of other national foundation truths

As the wheels of justice begin a glacial grind along the dusty tracks of Australia’s alleged Special Air Service war criminals, it is time to stop, to look inwards as a nation, and to contemplate just how the hell it has come to this.

Australia's war memorial provides worthless 'hot takes' of our Afghan war – a true history must now be written | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

The Brereton report highlights the folly of exhibiting on contemporary and current combat operations while the dust of battle is lingering

Three years ago the Australian War Memorial launched its exhibition about this country’s special forces, the Special Air Service and Commando regiments.

Australia is in for a shock as war crimes investigation brings reality of war to the Anzac myth | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

It’s time we think hard about the heavy burden of our fairytale on those we entrust to kill in the wars of our politicians

The long-awaited report into the alleged war crimes of Australian special forces soldiers will be out next week and will expose the gaping chasm between the myth of the exceptional, idealised Anzac troop and the dirty realities of war.

Focusing on the Anzac myth eclipses other national stories of pain and struggle | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on

There are plenty of monuments to war dead but few to doctors and nurses who died saving thousands during the Spanish flu

This pandemic Remembrance Day offers a unique opportunity to more honestly parse Australia’s war experience and how its storification has eclipsed other national narratives of immense pain and struggle.

Very few things about war are certain. But here’s a couple. Politicians wage it. Young (mostly) men fight it. And when things go wrong these soldiers pay the price – with their lives or future wellbeing.