The Australian Wars: Truth, Violence and the Making of a Nation

For generations, Australia’s frontier wars were minimised, euphemised, or erased from the national story. In The Australian Wars, Stephen Gapps and his contributors draw on military records, colonial archives and Aboriginal histories. Gapps reframes the frontier as a series of wars fought across the continent. This conversation explores what it means to tell this history honestly: the language we use, the silences we inherit, and the responsibilities that come with confronting violence at the heart of nation-building. A vital session on truth-telling, historical method and why the past remains unfinished.