Meet our formidable team of Life Governors as they discuss their time in the defence forces and how they came to serve and support the Shrine of Remembrance.

Interviewer: Mr Ray Andrews

Shrine Life Governors: Colonel George Mackenzie OBE RFD, Lieutenant Colonel David Ford CVO AM GM, Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Lombardo and Mr Peter Whitelaw

Videographer: Mr Keith Webb

Vera Deakin, a 23 year old woman from Melbourne and youngest daughter of Australia's second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, travelled to Cairo to establish the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau. Her work brought comfort and answers to grieving families across Australia. The legacies of her work endure to this day.

Join author and historian Carole Woods OAM in conversation with Leigh Gilburt, Production Coordinator at the Shrine, as they discuss Vera's remarkable contribution to the First World War.

Vera Deakin and the Red Cross is available for purchase through the Shrine shop.

Michael Madden provides a snapshot of his remarkable journey travelling across Australia and around the world to photograph 100 Australian Victoria Cross medals. Invited to Windsor Castle, he was the first Australian to see and hold the metal from which the Victoria Cross medals are created.

The Victoria Cross: Australia Remembers is available online through the Shrine Shop.

Please note, there were some technical difficulties experienced whilst filming this talk.

The Shrine of Remembrance acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we honour Australian service men and women, and we pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.

 

Please note that the audio does contain some sound effects of war, protest and discussion around suicide.

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In this podcast, an interview with independent historian Dr. Peter Yule about ‘The Long Shadow: Australia's Vietnam Veterans Since the War’, a book that explores the medical, psychological and health legacies of the Vietnam War on Australia’s veteran community. Vietnam veterans are still our biggest, recognisable veteran cohort, also regarded as today’s ‘keepers of ANZAC’.

Peter Yule is a research fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. He is interviewed by Megan Spencer, a broadcaster and podcast producer with a particular interest in remembrance and the impact of military service.

At almost 700 pages, ‘The Long Shadow’ is a broad, detailed and compelling study of the specific and unique experiences faced by Vietnam veterans involved in Australia’s most socially and politically divisive overseas war to date - and its very human cost.

In researching and writing the book, Peter says that the only stipulation given to him editorially “was to make sure the voice of the veterans was heard”. It includes powerful insights from Vietnam veterans, their family members, medical experts, veteran advocates and others. As one reviewer wrote, ‘The Long Shadow’ addresses “deficiencies of past studies’ failure to engage with the lived experience of veterans”.

‘The Long Shadow’ was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial and is published by New South Publishing. It was published on the 1st of November, 2020.

Megan interviewed Peter just after it’s publication, in early December 2020.

 

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Credits

 

Speaker: Peter Yule

Interviewer/Producer/Sound: Megan Spencer.

 

 Archival sounds:

‘Action in Vietnam 1966’. Audio supplied by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Film Australia Collection.

 

‘Or Forever Hold Your Peace’ (1970). Audio supplied by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Australian Screen Collection and used with kind permission from Richard Brennan.

 

'Christmas messages 1968, Victorian version DPR/TV/Soldiers greetings from Vietnam'. Australian War Memorial Collection, Accession No. F04694. Item copyright held by the Australian War Memorial ©, licensed under Creative Commons and used with kind permission.

 

Special thanks to:

Dr. Peter Yule for his time and for the generous interview.

 

Thank you:

Greta Wass (AWM)

Naomi Wanner (NFSA)

Richard Brennan (Or Forever Hold Your Peace)

Jez Conlon (Ho Chi Minh City sounds)

Kris Keogh

Dr. Karl James

Michael Kelly

Anne Yule

Oliver Budack

 

A commemorative and educational podcast made for the Shrine of Remembrance.

This interview is dedicated to Australia’s Vietnam veterans and their families.

 

More about Dr. Peter Yule https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/10843-peter-yule

 

More about New South Publishing http://www.newsouthpublishing.com/articles/long-shadow/

 

More about Tom Frame and his work on moral injury https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/health/unsw-canberra-shines-light-moral-injury

 

More about Megan Spencer https://www.themeganspencer.com/

 

 

 

Disclaimer

The speakers’ view are their own and while all reasonable attempts are made to avoid inaccuracy, interviews should not necessarily be understood as statements of fact or opinions endorsed by the Shrine of Remembrance.

 

If this interview raises any issues for you, please contact:

Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14

Open Arms (formerly VVCS) - Veterans & Families Counselling on 1800 011 046 website https://www.openarms.gov.au/

ADF Mental Health All-hours Support Line on 1800 628 036

 

Interview duration: 52:39

 

© 2021 All Rights Reserved.

Presented by Dr Madonna Grehan

While the exact numbers are unclear, it’s estimated that around 5000 nurses served in the military during the Second World War in a range of locations throughout the world. In this International Women’s Day Address for the Shrine of Remembrance, Madonna Grehan considers the state of nursing in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Drawing on biographies of Second World War nurses, Dr Grehan will discuss how nurses’ work, and their profession, had changed dramatically since the First World War. 

Dean Bowen's Imagining Centaur is on display daily until 2022.

Artist Dean Bowen reveals the inspiration behind his beautiful and haunting Centaur series.

Dean Bowen's Imagining Centaur is open now and can be viewed in the Shrine Galleries daily.

Interviewer: Neil Sharkey, Shrine Curator

 

Join Shrine Curator Neil Sharkey as he guides you through our special exhibition Dean Bowen's Imagining Centaur. 

Imagining Centaur can be viewed at the Shrine between 10am and 5pm daily.