After many months of work, the ARC Linkage grant application for Serving Our Country: a history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Defence of Australia was submitted in the second round on November 16.

The Serving Our Country project aims to explore the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service in Australian defence and auxiliary services from the 1890s-2000. This national project brings major agencies dealing with veterans, memorialisation and current defence personnel into collaboration with key collecting and exhibiting institutions. Partnerships between leading scholars and Indigenous families will address calls for recognition of their significant defence roles. This project will identify and research new collections, then deliver accessible scholarly and popular outcomes, including biographies and family narratives that illuminate the Australian history of race, nation, service and citizenship.

Generous cash and in-kind contribution commitments were made as part of the 140 page application by the:

• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Department of Defence
• Australian War Memorial
• National Archives of Australia and
• AIATSIS.

The proposed project has considerable partner and community support, developed throughout the ANU-DVA pilot project. It features a strong team of Chief Investigators, including:

• Lead Chief Investigator Professor Ann McGrath (ACIH)
• Professor Mick Dodson (National Centre for Indigenous Studies, ANU)
• Professor John Maynard (University of Newcastle)
• Dr Noah Riseman (Australian Catholic University)
• Dr Geoff Gray (AIATSIS) and
• Dr Sam Furphy (National Centre for Biography, ANU).

Associate Professor Glen Stasiuk of Murdoch University is also part of the research team.

Results will be announced in May 2012. Many thanks to all of the partner representatives, CI's, Research Office staff and others who assisted with preparing the grant application.

Image caption: Representatives of some of the partner and eligible organisations who developed the Linkage grant application: L to R, back: Gary Oakley (AWM, ATSIVSA), Robert Noble (DVA), Eric McDonald (DVA), Geoffrey Gray (AIATSIS), Kevin Bradley (NLA), Mick Dodson (NCIS), Ann McGrath (ACIH), L to R front: Allison Cadzow (ACIH and NCIS), Donna Boulton (Defence), Hilary Rowell (NAA).