Defending Country Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Military Service Since 1945

The role of Aboriginal servicemen and women has only recently been brought to the forefront of conversation about Australia’s war history. This important book makes a key contribution to recording the role played by Indigenous Australians in our recent military history. Written by two respected historians and based on a substantial number of interviews with Indigenous war veterans who have hitherto been without a voice, it combines the best of social and military history in one book. This will be the first book to focus on this previously neglected part of Australian social history.

Dr Noah Riseman is a Senior Lecturer in History at Australian Catholic University. He specialises in the history of marginalized groups in the Australian Defence Force, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. His first book, Defending Whose Country? Indigenous Soldiers in the Pacific War was shortlisted for the 2013 Chief Minister’s Northern Territory History Award. His PhD was also the recipient of the 2009 CEW Bean Prize for Military History. Dr Richard Trembath is a historian currently teaching at the University of Melbourne. With Donna Hellier he wrote All Care and Responsibility: A History of Nursing in Victoria. In 2005 he published A Different Sort of War: Australians in Korea 1950–53. Then, in conjunction with Colin Holden, he published Divine Discontent – The Brotherhood of St Laurence: A History, which appeared in 2008. Witnesses to War: The History of Australian Conflict Reporting, written in collaboration with Fay Anderson, was published in 2011 and was listed for a Walkley Award.