War memorial to feature Brereton report exhibit

The refurbished Australian War Memorial will include an exhibit focusing on the one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s military history.

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The refurbished Australian War Memorial will include an exhibit focusing on the controversial Brereton report, which found that up to 25 serving and former soldiers were involved in – and covered up – alleged war crimes, including the murder of 39 ­Afghan civilians and prisoners.

While criminal investigations and prosecutions of the military officers who stand accused are expected to take years to complete, The Weekend Australian understands the AWM has chosen to feature the dark chapter in the ­nation’s military history when it fully reopens in 2026.

Melbourne artist and veteran Kat Rae – who served in Afghanistan when the war crimes are ­alleged to have taken place – revealed she had been approached by the war memorial to have her piece Reckoning featured permanently in its Afghan gallery.

Rae said he had been “pleasantly surprised” when her 2021 piece was short-listed for the AWM’s Napier Waller Art Prize and was honoured after receiving the call for it to become a fixture of the memorial.

“When I made the piece and wrote the artist statement, I was actively throwing down the gauntlet,” Rae said. “And to the AWM’s credit, they picked it up. War commemoration shouldn’t just be about making palaces to war, but to decide when you leave that at every cost war should be avoided.”

Reckoning features 39 photographic etchings, which Rae created by meshing the images of the heavily redacted Brereton report and the AWM together to “depict where this reckoning lies”.

Rae also has requested the Brereton report itself be displayed either in hard copy or on a digital screen beside her piece.

Reflecting on her time in ­Afghanistan, Rae said the special forces were treated like the “elite”, but that this came crashing down.

“For me, I was so angry when I found out,” she said. “Thousands of us were there rotating in and out and the vast majority had all the best intentions of doing everything right. Then you hear that all these people who were so elite and … too cool for school … were actually breaking all the rules and undoing all the good work for hearts and minds that we’d done.”

As part of its response to the Brereton report, the Albanese government in September ­revealed it would cancel the awards of a group of former military officers who held senior positions at the time the alleged war crimes took place.

Rae also created Deathmin, which portrays the bureaucracy war widows like herself face when trying to access support. Rae’s late husband also served, completing several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. He took his life in 2017.

Reckoning and Deathmin are expected to feature in a five-part documentary series presented by Rachel Griffiths and investigating the power of art at times of war.

Rachel Griffiths on the red carpet at the official opening of Goddess. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Griffiths said it was critical not to conflate anti-war sentiment with veterans themselves.

“As soon as the anti-war movement around Vietnam became about ‘baby killers’ it meant that people who came home from that were tarred,” she said. “That had such a huge impact on them being forgotten. We’ve had a warning of history. If you think you’re walking down the street in uniform and people are looking at you like a war criminal today, suddenly you’re a suspect … we don’t want to conflate those things.”

Griffiths said the documentary would be a “call to arms” from veterans about the need to address challenges facing those serving and who had served in the ADF.