Reading suggestions and book display: JCU's NAIDOC in September

Three books that touch on Indigenous Australians and military history that are on display in Townsville for JCU's NAIDOC in September are:

Before the Anzac Dawn: A military history of Australia to 1915 by edited by C. Stockings & J.Connor
Call Number: 355.00994 BEF
The story of the ANZAC is considered a defining point in the Australian national image and is considered the start of the Australian martial tradition. Possibly due to the short history of  Australia as a nation state both our early colonial troops fighting abroad and at home and the warfare practices of Indigenous Australians is overlooked. This book examines events pre-1915.

The Australian Frontier Wars 1788-1838 by J. Connor.
Call Number: 355.00994 CON
A read that is probably the next step at examining the frontier wars. It explores the tactics and methods of warfare and places it in context to the broader history of warfare between similar forces and the particular cultural influences on this conflict of both the Aboriginal and Colonial English. An interesting points was that Aboriginal society is a rare example of a non-hierarchical society that successfully adapted its tactics. Read a review from the Australian War Memorial here.

Not Quite Men, No Longer Boys by K.C. Laughton
Call Number: 959.7043092 LAU/LAU
Aboriginal soldiers have been enlisting and conscripted in various roles into pre- Federation Colonial State and then Australian military forces from at least the Boer War era. If one counts the paramilitary Native Mounted Police and frontier conflicts this can be taken back to the 1830's. This book is by an Aboriginal serviceman who served in the Vietnam War.

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