The Australian War Memorial (AWM) has rejected calls during NAIDOC Week for a separate memorial to mark the sacrifices made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait service men and women.
NAIDOC committee co-chair Anne Martin and the AWM’s indigenous liaison officer Gary Oakley earlier this week said it was time for a national indigenous memorial.
This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is ‘Serving Country: Centenary and Beyond’, coinciding with the start of the First World War.
Thousands of indigenous men and women have served since the 1860s and hundreds have died fighting for Australia.
“A memorial that specifically separates indigenous service from non-indigenous service would not be supported at the Australian War Memorial,” said AWM director Dr Brendan Nelson in a statement to SBS.
“However, as I have said on previous occasions, a memorial illustrating the service of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians alongside one another on the grounds of the AWM would be strongly supported by me.”
Dr Nelson said the AWM is not campaigning for the commissioning and construction of a dedicated indigenous war memorial in Canberra.
Federal Veterans’ Affairs minister Senator Michael Ronaldson in a statement to SBS said a proposal for such a memorial needs to be a community driven.
AWM’s Indigenous liaison officer told SBS earlier this week there was mounting evidence of the contribution of indigenous Australians.
“Everybody thought there was not enough for us to talk about but now that research has been done in the last 10 years, it's not just one or two indigenous Australians who served, it's literally thousands, so the time is right to push for a national memorial,” said Gary Oakley.
The co-chair of the National NAIDOC Committee, that sits within the responsibility of the prime minister’s office, agreed.
“I think it's time that we all step forward as a nation and redress this. It's a great opportunity and I would call upon the Australian government to take this into consideration,” said Anne Martin.
“I would say Prime Minister Abbott, I would like you to take this into consideration.”
The principle of erecting war memorials to indigenous service personnel has been established with the Commonwealth funding Australia’s first in Adelaide last year with a $143,000 grant.
Another is planned for Hyde Park South in Sydney and the Queensland government is expected to announce next month it will erect one in Brisbane’s ANZAC Square.
Approval for national memorials is the responsibility of the National Capital Memorial Committee, which is chaired by prime minister Tony Abbott.
Dr Nelson said the prime minister is not directly responsible for the installation of such a memorial and the AWM is not calling on him to approve or authorise any specific memorial, whether it be for an individual or a group.
Share
