Australian Links
Government
Anzac Centenary Program: A Department of Veterans’ Affairs website containing information on the Anzac Centenary Program 2014 to 2018 including both domestic and international events. The website lists a range of projects that have received grants.
Australian War Memorial: The Australian War Memorial “combines a shrine, a world-class museum, and an extensive archive. The Memorial’s purpose is to commemorate the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war. Its mission is to assist Australians to remember, interpret and understand the Australian experience of war and its enduring impact on Australian society.” The AWM will be commemorating the centenary of WW1 by upgrading its gallery and organising a variety of new public programs and events.
Department of Veterans’ Affairs: The DVA “delivers government programs for war veterans, members of the Australian Defence Force, members of the Australian Federal Police and their dependants. Publications include commemorative publications i.e. educational texts; books about particular wartime experiences; books about wartime memorabilia.”
National Archives of Australia: NAA selects the most valuable records created by Australian Government agencies to become part of the publicly accessible national archival collection.
National Library of Australia: The role of NLA is to ensure the documentary resources of national significance relating to Australia and the Australian people, as well as significant non-Australian library materials, are collected, preserved and made publicly accessible. For Anzac Day 2014, NLA created a Despatches from Gallipoli website containing stories of Gallipoli from the viewpoint of the official World War I correspondents.
PANDORA Archive – The National Library of Australia was one of the first national collecting institutions to take up the task of collecting websites and web documents for long-term preservation and access (commonly referred to as ‘web archiving’). The NLA has included the websites Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign and Honest History in PANDORA under the sub-category ‘WW1 commemoration – contexts and critical views’.
Access the PANDORA homepage here or use the search button below to find specific websites and web documents in the archive.
National Museum of Australia: The NMA “is a social history museum. We explore the land, nation and people of Australia. We focus on Indigenous histories and cultures, histories of European settlement and our interaction with the environment.”
Parliamentary Library (Parliament of Australia): The Parliamentary Library is currently running a series of events to commemorate WW1 called ‘A Deadly and often Doubtful Struggle: Parliament, War and Empire 1914-1918’. A special focus of these events will be on parliament’s role in addressing the big issues that confronted the nation during the course of the war, in particular, how Australia responded to the war through its parliamentary debates and legislation. The first lecture in this series of events was presented by Prof Joan Beaumont entitled ‘Going to war, 1914: the view from the Australian Parliament’ on 19 Mar 2014. The presentation notes and audio recording of the lecture can be accessed here. Also refer to the Parliamentary Library’s ‘Anzac Day Kit’ – Anzac Day – which has been compiled over a number of years by various staff members and is updated annually.
Media
The Independent Australia Media Network
Newsletters
PeaceWrites (The newsletter of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies – published at least twice a year.)
History profession and related
Australian Historical Association: AHA is “is the premier national organisation of historians – academic, professional and other – working in all fields of history” and publishes an online version of the AHA’s refereed journal, History Australia.
History Teachers’ Association of Australia: HTAA seeks to foster an interest in history and the teaching of history and facilitates discussion and the exchange of information on the teaching of history. This website links State and Territory branches. HTAA’s national conference will be held this year in Brisbane from 30 September to 3 October. The link to the conference program can be found here.
Honest History: Formed in early 2013 in Canberra, HH promotes “balanced consideration of Australian history, by making contesting, evidence-based interpretations available to students, teachers, universities, journalists and the public” and challenges “the misuse of history in the service of political or other agendas.” Refer to Peter Stanley’s article: ‘Not only, but also: A short history of Honest History‘.
Peace institutes & foundations
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS): CPACS “was established in May 1988 as a specialist research and teaching centre within The University of Sydney to promote the understanding and achievement of peace with justice. This goal coincides with the United Nations international program to create a global and local ‘Culture of Peace’. Peace with justice is not merely the absence of violence. It means the achievement of positive, lasting peace through the elimination of physical, structural, cultural and ecological violence.”
The Sydney Peace Foundation: SPF “is a University of Sydney foundation which promotes peace with justice and the practice of non-violence and awards the Sydney Peace Prize, Australia’s only international prize for peace.”
Websites and Blogs
Bruce Haigh: A former diplomat, Bruce Haigh is a patron of the Sri Lankan Human Rights Project, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney.
Douglas Newton: Douglas Newton was the Associate Professor of History at University of Western Sydney, and has also taught history at Macquarie University and the Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of:The Darkest Days; Hell-Bent; British Policy and the Weimar Republic 1918–19; Germany 1918-1945: From Days of Hope to Years of Horror; and British Labour, European Socialism and the Struggle for Peace 1889–1914. He is currently preparing a history of the campaign to end the First World War by negotiation. He lives in Sydney, Australia.
Pearls and Irritations: A blog by John Menadue. John Menadue AO is an Australian businessman and public commentator, and formerly a senior public servant and diplomat.
Peace groups and other
Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition: The AABCC campaigns against the militarisation of Australian society and the introduction of new US bases on Australian soil.
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN): IPAN aims to “(a) promote an independent Australian foreign policy that builds peace and nonviolent resolutions of conflict in our region (b) oppose the establishment of foreign military bases and the deployment of foreign troops and military in Australia and the Asia-Pacific (c) provide https://sdarcwellness.com/buy-prednisone-online/ information, analysis and opportunities for NGOs, unions, churches and community groups to participate in decision-making on Australia’s peace and security options and (d) build links with peoples and organisations in the Asia-Pacific campaigning for peace and against military bases and troops in the region.”
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN Australia): ICAN Australia “is at the forefront of global efforts to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons. With more than 60 diverse partner organisations nationwide, we aim to raise public awareness about the catastrophic humanitarian harm caused by nuclear weapons and put nuclear disarmament squarely on the Australian political agenda.”
Marrickville Peace Group: A group of individuals of disparate political views who foster activities in support of peace and in opposition to war as a means of settling international disputes.
Marrickville Residents for Reconciliation (MRR): Marrickville Residents for Reconciliation actively worked to promote reconciliation in the Marrickville local government area. Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation Inner West (ANTaR Inner West) absorbed MRR in September 2014.
Medical Association for the Prevention of War: MAPW “works for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction and the prevention of armed conflict. MAPW promotes peace through research, advocacy, peace education and partnerships.”
NSW Reconciliation Council: NSWRC “is the peak representative body for Reconciliation in New South Wales. We are a membership based organisation, made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working to promote united communities and to address the ‘unfinished business’ of reconciliation – recognition of rights, promotion of economic independence and social justice for Indigenous people. NSW Reconciliation Council raises awareness and understanding of reconciliation and Indigenous issues, advocates for social justice, equity and Indigenous Rights and grows and supports the people’s movement for reconciliation.”
Pax Christi: Pax Christi is “an International Christian peace movement with branches in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland and individual members throughout Australia. Members are “involved in peace efforts in the fields of demilitarisation and security, human rights, ecology, development, economic justice and reconciliation.”
Remembering and Healing Inc (RaH): RaH “organises Anzac Day events that model how commemorations of wars can be inclusive, remembering all who have suffered through war, on all sides, civilian and military, without any glorification of war and at the same time committing to a peaceful future.” Based in Lismore, NSW.
Stop the War Coalition (Sydney): Stop the War Coalition aims to stop the so-called “war on terror” declared by the United States in 2001 and supported by successive Labor and Coalition governments.
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF – ACT): WILPF(ACT) is a Branch of the Australian Section of WILPF which has sought continuously through and between wars to establish conditions for a just and durable peace.
Veterans
Young Diggers: YD assists serving and ex-serving military personnel and their families cope with stresses and fall-out for military service.
International Links
Media
Counterpunch (USA)
The Independent (UK)
ZNet (USA)
Websites and Blogs
John Gittings: After teaching at the University of Westminster, John Gittings worked at The Guardian (UK) for twenty years as assistant foreign editor and chief foreign leader-writer (1983-2003). Currently he is a Research Associate at the China Institute, School of Oriental & African Studies, London University, and an Associate Editor of the Oxford International Encyclopaedia of Peace.
War in Context: A blog by Paul Woodward.
Satire
Underground Magazine (UK)
Peace institutes & foundations
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation: Launched in 1963, BRPF was established in order to carry forward Bertrand Russell’s work for peace, human rights and social justice.
Oxford Research Group: ORG “brings together a group of conflict resolution experts, security and international relations specialists, psychologists, media people, political analysts and international lawyers, all linked by a determination to develop alternative solutions to conflict.”
Peace History Society: “The Peace History Society was founded in 1964 to encourage, and coordinate national and international scholarly work to explore and articulate the conditions and causes of peace and war, and to communicate the findings of scholarly work to the public.”
Plymouth Institute for Peace Studies: Established in 2014, PIPR is “a centre for interdisciplinary research groups and grassroots activists dedicated to peace and justice. As well as research, PIPR’s objective is to document facts relating to peace and justice and to make them easily available to as many people as possible. By disseminating information on the internet, at lectures, talks, and symposia, PIPR seeks to empower people for change by encouraging citizen, professional, and academic participation.”
Peace groups and other
Stop the War Coalition (UK): SWC (UK) was “founded in September 2001, in the weeks following 9/11 when George W. Bush announced the “war on terror”. It has since been dedicated to ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bringing the troops home and forcing the British government to change its disastrous foreign policies”.
Voices for Creative Nonviolence: VCN “has deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003.”
World War One Centenary Peace Project – Aotearoa:
“There has been increasing concern among peace people as the [NZ] government’s World War One (WWI) centenary programme has been unveiled, especially around the topics that are unlikely to be covered in the official programme. These include general issues around militarism, nationalism and national identity, and the privileging of military ‘heroism’ and ‘sacrifice’; as well as specific issues such as how Maori, conscientious objectors, women, and returning soldiers were treated during and after WWI.” From Introduction: read more …
Veterans
Veterans For Peace: VFP “is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars.”