The Australian Wars

10.2k views of educational resources across platforms
1.1 million TikTok video views of 2022 #HealOurHistory campaign
650k views of Rachel Perkins 2024 Rec Week campaign posts with 4.6k shares
465 educators reached through conferences and events
1198 teachers registered for professional development webinars
Webinar surveys showed that the professional development had the following impacts:
– Increased educators’ understanding of cultural safety by 30%
– 92% of educators reported that the webinar had increased their confidence in teaching The Australian Wars Curriculum
– 88.5% of educators agreed or strongly agreed that the webinar and resources had improved their understanding of our nation’s true history and the experiences of First Nations people.

2023 – 2024 (Year 2):

Education Resource Revision and Relaunch:
– Based on feedback from present day, engaged educators, Culture is Life refreshed the Education Resources to be more accessible for teachers; packaged as smaller, subject-specific and year-specific resources. This edit also included any required updates to curriculum alignment, which evolves each year.
– Changes in licensing for the series also meant that video content from the series was able to be included within the education resources for the first time.
– With a view to increasing uptake, the re-formatted resources were re-launched, in collaboration with Rachel Perkins, during National Reconciliation Week in June 2024 alongside a new The Australian Wars Instagram account and a new official website for The Australian Wars;

Rachel Perkins’ / The Australian Wars’ NRW Social Impact Campaign:
– The Australian Wars held a highly impactful social media campaign during National Reconciliation Week 2024 and rolled out 11 videos between 27 May and 3 June from Rachel Perkinsʼ Instagram, in collaborative posts with Culture is Life, Shark Island Foundation, Blackfella films and The Australian Wars Instagram page.
– With briefings, guidance and materials provided by the project team, an influencer network of 34 influential Australians amplified the campaign by posting the videos and content on their own social media accounts. Some notable influencers included Courtney Act/Shane Janek(1.2 million followers), Turia Pitt (996k followers), Simon Baker (571.6k followers), Melissa Leong (378k followers), Laura Henshaw (328k followers), Hetty Lui (212.4k followers), and Toni Collette (212k followers).

rachelperkinsau:
“I have a favour to ask.
This week is National Reconciliation Week. The theme is ‘Now More Than Ever! Each day of reconciliation week, I’m going to be sharing short clips from the award winning documentary series the Australian Wars that I had the privilege to direct with Blackfella films.
lask you to share widely each day.
I’d also love you to share the clips with any teachers and parents that you know.
The team behind the series and I have a dream for it to be seen by every high school teacher around the country.
Now more than ever we need to come together and learn about the true history of this country. Until it is acknowledged and understood we cannot move forward.
Stay tuned for the next clip on Monday evening.”

The Australian Wars Website Launch:
– A new official website for The Australian Wars was launched as part of the above NRW campaign, to provide a central location linking to both Culture is Life and SBS Learn education resources. The website also provides options for watching the series at home, school, University and work including requesting a screening of the series.

Narragunnawali Webinar: Teaching ‘The Australian Wars’: A conversation with Rachel Perkins and Culture is Life:
– The project team established an important partnership with Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education, to host a live professional development webinar for educators in June 2024 on Teaching the Australian Wars.
– Reconciliation Australia has added links to The Australian Wars education resources on its Narragunnawali education platform, as well as making the webinar available on-demand as part of their professional development tools.
– Making the curriculum and professional development resources available across multiple platforms recognises that teachers across this broad spectrum gravitate towards different sources for learning and materials.

“I left the webinar feeling so inspired to encourage the teachers I work with to have the confidence to teach as co-learners, our Australian history and truth, starting at a local level. The quote “A shared history… if you are Australian, this is your story too and we all need to carry it’ has been on my mind since the webinar, and one that I will continually revisit.”
– Webinar participant.

“It was inspiring and practical and should be shared in all schools.ˮ
– Webinar participant.

Professional Teaching Body Engagement:
With a focus on creating a deeper impact within the education sector, the project team directed efforts at participating in key educational events throughout 2024. This targeted approach builds connections and trust to support teachers as they engage students in Australia’s complex and shared history. The Australian Wars’ Education and Impact team had a prominent presence at the following;

Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW) Wingara Education Conference, under the theme “Weaving Knowledge of Country through the Curriculum”:
– Rachel Perkins’ keynote presentation, “Australia’s Missing Origin Story”, highlighted the important role educators play as advocates for Aboriginal education.

History Teachers Association of Victoria (HTAV) annual conference, under the theme “Changing the Course of History”:
– With over 100 dedicated history teachers in attendance, Rachel Perkins’ powerful introduction asked them to help bridge Australia’s historical gaps.
– The event allowed the project team to gather positive feedback from teachers excited about integrating these perspectives in classrooms.
– HTAV subsequently featured The Australian Wars series and its resources in their newsletters, amplifying the reach to over 4,500 educators statewide.

History Teachers Associations of Australia / NSW annual conference, under the theme “History; The Unending Dialogue”:
– Historian Stephen Gapps (who features in the series) and Culture is Life’s Head of Operations Alex Shain joined Rachel Perkins on a panel exploring Australia’s frontier conflicts.
– The panel was opened with a powerful spoken word piece by Manny Williams (Culture is Life’s Programs Officer – Fullaship). Manny, a proud Kalkadoon, Pitta Pitta, and Bundjalung man, shared: “Spirit – wayuira,” reflecting the deep connection Aboriginal people hold to their heritage and resilience. By framing the panel with Manny’s perspective, the the leaders in the room were invited to consider their crucial role in caring for our Aboriginal youth as they teach this history.
– Perkins urged educators to step boldly into the responsibility of truth-telling, stating, “I encourage you to take this material on… I know that about 50% of teachers feel uncomfortable teaching this… but this is our history, it’s Australian history.” A representative from HTANSW added, “There was such a great sense of purpose and interest by the teachers who attended… Thanks for all the work you have done in making this history more accessible.”

Dhuluny Film Festival, Bathurst:
In August 2024, The Australian WarsEpisode 3 was screened at Charles Sturt University as part of the Dhuluny Film Festival in Bathurst, followed by a live in-person panel and Q&A with Rachel Perkins. The screening and Q&A panel were sold out.
This was part of a series of events commemorating the 200-year anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law on 14 August 1824 in the Bathurst region and the ensuing frontier violence. The Dhuluny Project’s goals of offering Australians the opportunity to share and understand the true history of our country and to celebrate the resilience of First Nations are closely aligned with our Education Impact Project.

Amnesty International Australia Firestick Flicks:
In August 2024, Amnesty International selected The Australian Wars, and particularly Episode 2 which focuses on the Tasmanian Frontier Wars, as its Firestick Flicks film of the month. The monthly film club aims to encourage Amnesty activists, staff, and supporters to watch First Nations films and documentaries, by providing supporting resources, discussion prompts, and reflections to foster deep learning and understanding on the path to reconciliation. Amnesty held an online discussion with Uncle Rodney Dillon, who is featured in Episode 2, about the documentary as part of the initiative.

WINNER: Best Documentary/Factual Series at the 3rd Australian International Documentary Conference Awards, 2023.

JURY STATEMENT: “From the opening minutes, we all agreed that The Australian Wars stood out as a superbly crafted piece of television. But as those opening minutes went by, it quickly became apparent how such masterful craftsmanship was serving a story of far-reaching significance… the sheer calibre and diversity of expert historical analysis elevated this mini-series to the realms of essential classroom viewing – possibly filling the gaps left open by current Australian and European textbooks.”

WINNER: Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Factual or Documentary Program at the Logie Awards, 2023.

WINNER: Best Documentary or Factual Program at the AACTA (Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts) Awards, 2024.

WINNER: Rachel Perkins and Henry Reynolds were jointly awarded the 2022 Annual History Citation Award by the History Council of New South Wales “for their outstanding contributions to the research, writing and filmmaking of Australian (Frontier) Wars history and for communicating history to broad audiences.”

WINNER: Episode 1 won the 2023 Digital History Prize at the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards.

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Rachel Perkins also received the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award at the Screen Music Awards, 2024;

“Rachel’s impact on Australian film isn’t just remarkable, it’s transformative. Her ability to tell stories that can both rattle and resonate the heart and the soul of this nation has contributed to the way we see and understand ourselves, not just as Australians, but as citizens of the world.

“Through Rachel’s storytelling, we see the power of film to bridge divides, to reflect our struggles, our triumphs, our shared humanity. Her stories, whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous, have become woven into the fabric of our national story. They challenge us to look deeper, to understand more fully and to walk in the shoes of those whose experiences may be different from our own.

“It is an honour to welcome Rachel into the esteemed ranks of Distinguished Services recipients, knowing that her work will continue to inspire, to move and to shape the way Australians see themselves for generations to come.”
– Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association Limited) AMCOS (Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society).

2022-23 (Year 1):

The Australian Wars Education Resources Launch, Year Levels 9-12.

#HealOurHistory Campaign Launch, Part 1 & 2:
– Part 1 of the #HealOurHistory campaign highlighted the voices of First Nations and non-Indigenous young people, sharing their stories of lived experiences in school, reflections on The Australian Wars documentary series, history and truth-telling and messages of strength. #HealOurHistory aimed to ignite conversations around history and truth telling and offer our young people’s personal reflections of our education system including experiences of racism and its impacts.
– Part 2 of the campaign highlighted the voices of a diverse range of adults working with our young people in a variety of educational and cultural-based settings around Australia. These recorded conversations are readily available to inspire courageous actions towards systemic change that directly positively impact our young people for future generations.

The Australian Wars Professional Development Webinar Series for Teachers, curated and hosted by Culture is Life:
– A three-part webinar series guiding educators through the themes of Recognition, Resistance and Remembrance.

The Australian Wars Screenings & Panels:
– World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education (WIPCE) on Kaurna Country (Adelaide) – exclusive screening of episode 3, 2023.
– Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Summit – screening and panel discussion, June 2023.

Funders Event at Shark Island Foundation, Sydney.

Tertiary Scoping & Project Plan.

First Nations Research Grant Scoping in collaboration with the Australian War Memorial.

The Australian Wars was broadcast on SBS in September 2022. Soon after the broadcast the Australian War Memorial’s then chair, Brendan Nelson, announced that it would acknowledge the Frontier Wars within Australia in a “much broader, much deeper depiction and presentation of the violence committed against Indigenous people”, in the process reversing its previous long-held position that the institution was conceived to represent overseas military activity, not military activity in Australia. In 2023, the new chair of the Australian War Memorial, Kim Beazley, also stated he supports “proper recognition of the frontier conflict”.