Digital resources tagged with ‘war’

An 'Operation Babylift' baby grows up

Shane Bolt is at Yallingup beach, Western Australia, and reflects on the good fortune of his life, family and culture.

Australian Biography - Sir Marcus Oliphant

The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Sir Mark Oliphant helped to create the bomb, but even though it ended the war he can never reconcile himself to the loss of civilian life.

Australian Soldiers on Patrol in Vietnam

What does it feel like to be a soldier at war? Tense young Australian soldiers creep through the Vietnamese jungle, ever on the alert for the Viet Cong.

Axemen Fell Giant Trees

The axemen established camps throughout the eucalypt forests in the early 20th century. Their job was a combination of skill and stamina, harvesting giant trees for the rapidly growing hardwood industry.

Bruce Dawe - Anti War Poet

This encounter with highly regarded Australian poet Bruce Dawe allows us an insight into the motivation and methods of a very fine writer. His ability to express the drama and beauty of everyday life has made his work readily accessible to the general public.

Cold War Games

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics took place at the height of the Cold War. Tensions between the USSR and the USA threatened to derail the Games.

Cuc Lam's Suitcase

It may be just a small red vinyl suitcase but for Vietnamese refugee Cuc Lam it’s a symbol of a new beginning in a new country.

David Williamson's Gallipoli

David Williamson wrote the film Gallipoli in collaboration with director Peter Weir. It has greatly influenced modern Australians’ view of this iconic event from Australia's past.

Francis Ona

Francis Ona was the man who single-handedly sparked Bougainville's civil war.

From Saigon to Perth - a Vietnam War orphan

Surfie Shane is at Yallingup beach in Western Australia where he lives. Shane was one of the babies adopted through the ‘Operation Babylift’ airlift from Saigon, Vietnam, in 1975.

Harold Holt’s Briefcase

The disappearance of our seventeenth Prime Minister, Harold Holt, during a beach holiday sparked countless conspiracy theories. The items left in his briefcase are a significant time capsule of his last days as Prime Minister.

Helping Children in War-Torn Countries

Moira Kelly begs for funds from international charities to bring children from war-torn Albania to Australia for medical treatment. One of the children almost dies, but the results are worth the risks.

Intercountry adoption and cultural identity

Shane Bolt was one of 281 children airlifted out of Saigon in April 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War and brought to Australia. He was adopted by a Western Australian family. Shane’s Australian mother, Frea, remembers how the family fought anti-Asian sentiment in Perth.

Jack Hazlitt - World War 1 Digger

A World War 1 digger reflects on his work as a runner in the trenches at Gallipoli. Hopping across the trenches in full view of the Turkish snipers, the average life of a runner was 24 hours.

Joseph Lyons’ Love Letters

Politics rarely produces impassioned romantics, which makes the hundreds of letters Joseph Lyons wrote to his adored wife and confidante, Enid, as fascinating as they are unexpected

Journalist's Diary of a Conflict

Veteran ABC journalist, Sean Dorney, looks back on his time in Papua New Guinea covering the Bougainville crisis.

Kokoda - War on Film

Alister Grierson, director of the 2006 feature film "Kokoda" talks about historical accuracy and representing war experience on film.

Life in modern Hanoi

Four generations of Professor Huong’s family share a meal. The professor is concerned that his son, Tuan, will not follow his profession in classical music.

Long Road to Peace

Bougainville's nine year path from local conflict through full scale war to eventual peace is revisited by ABC journalist Sean Dorney.

Meet Professor Huong of Hanoi

Professor Huong, a cellist, was a member of the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. He survived the war by hiding in an underground refuge in rural village near Hanoi.

Menzies' Forgotten People Speech

With the “Forgotten People” radio talks, Robert Menzies begins reaching out, pitching himself in more domestic, family friendly, homely terms.

Rebuilding Bougainville

A man from the rugged mountains of Papua New Guinea's Bougainville single-handedly set up a mini power station in his village.

Return to the Thai-Burma Railway

Weary Dunlop and his elderly comrades return to the site of the Thai-Burma railway. As prisoners of war they each had to dig three cubic metres of earth a day, virtually with their bare hands.

Robert Menzies’ Camera

Robert Menzies’ lifelong passion for home movies resulted in a surprisingly personal record of the war years, including footage of a young Princess Elizabeth.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce's Cigarette Case

Stanley Melbourne Bruce treasured Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s gift of a gold cigarette case throughout his life.

The Magic Pudding Illustrations

Norman Lindsay’s The Magic Pudding is one of our best-loved children’s books and the central character, one of our great Australian anti-heroes.

Vietnam Symphony - an underground symphony family

Tuan observes that his father’s reunion with the Xuan Phu villagers is just like a family reunion. His father was a cellist in the Hanoi Symphony Orchestra that took refuge in the village during the Vietnam War.

Who Killed Dr Bogle & Mrs Chandler?

One of crime history's great unsolved cases - the mysterious deaths of Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler.

William Hughes and the 1916 Conscription Badge

William Hughes, “The Little Digger”, campaigned twice for national conscription to boost an Australian army decimated by World War One.

World War 1 and the Conscription Referenda

Prime Minister William Morris (Billy) Hughes' Conscription Referendum failed twice, in 1916 and 1917.