What is it about?
Knowledge about Aboriginal service in the First World War has grown significantly in recent years. Television is a valuable form of public history for sharing this new knowledge, and one that can be very effective as a medium for Aboriginal storytelling. The article discusses six television documentaries made in the 21st century about this issue.
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Why is it important?
The issue of Aboriginal war service in Australian society has started to receive much more attention, particularly as part of the response to the centenary of the First World War. Very little attention has been given to how the history of this issue has been presented visually. Television documentaries are a useful teaching tool as this is where popular and scholarly approaches intersect. The article will help readers who are visual learners to better connect with this narrative.
Perspectives
The article contributes to a broader project that aims to think about history through visual forms, particularly film and television. Visual forms provide a very different way of approaching history from the traditional written medium, but in a world saturated by images, this takes on more importance than ever. I am interested in thinking about and debating both the strengths and weaknesses of visual forms to historical studies.
James Bennett
University of Newcastle
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lest we forget black diggers: recovering Aboriginal Anzacs on television, Journal of Australian Studies, October 2014, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14443058.2014.952762.
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