Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor

The Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor is an Australian official history series currently under preparation. It was approved by the Australian Government in 2015, and is due to be completed by mid-2022.

History

While scoping the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations in the early 2000s, the official historian for that series, David Horner judged that work should commence as soon as possible on a separate series covering the Australian involvement in the operations in Afghanistan after 2001 and the Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[1] However, when it approved this series in 2004, Cabinet excluded the Australian operations in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq from Horner's remit.^[2] In 2006 Horner sought the Australian Government's agreement to expand the series to include East Timor, but this was again denied, despite no additional funds being sought for books.^[1]

Horner continued to advocate for a new series over subsequent years.^[1] At the launch of the first volume in the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations to be published in April 2011, Horner stated that it was a "national disgrace" that work was not underway on the next series. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd indicated that he supported such a project in his remarks when launching the book.^[2] In September 2011 the Australian War Memorial (AWM) agreed to conduct a feasibility study into an official history on the operations in Afghanistan, East Timor and Iraq.^[1][2] This study was completed in 2012 by Horner, who judged that it would be feasible to prepare an official history of Australia's involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. The AWM Council endorsed this conclusion, and recommended that work begin as soon as possible.^[1]

A submission seeking Cabinet's approval of the project was subsequently prepared. While initial versions of the submission proposed that it cover only operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was later broadened to also cover East Timor. The final submission proposed either expanding the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations to cover operations in the three countries up to 2006 or establishing an entirely new series.^[3] The political turmoil associated with the three changes of federal government in 2013 delayed official approval, with the submission being put forward and withdrawn on two occasions.^[1]

In 2015 the Abbott Government authorised the official history.^[1] The approved scope of the series was operations in East Timor from 1999 to 2012; Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014; and Iraq from 2003 to 2011.^[4] A total of $12.6 million was allocated to the AWM for the project in the 2015–16 federal budget. The position of official historian for the series was advertised in June 2015.^[5] Craig Stockings was appointed to this role, and commenced on the project in March 2016.^[6][7] Applications for authors of the volumes in the series were sought in early 2016.^[8]

There are some differences in how the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor is being prepared compared to earlier Australian official history series. The budget for the project is much larger than that allocated for any previous official history, but the timeframe in which it is to be completed is also significantly shorter. In his letter commissioning Stockings as the official historian, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull specified that the series had to be completed by July 2022. Each of the authors was given five years to complete their volume, with Stockings having six years in which he is required to write a volume and edit the series.^[9] Stockings has written that the process of preparing the series "is a public service project, and needs to be managed as such".^[10]

Despite these changes from previous practices, the authors continue to have access to all relevant files, and the freedom to reach their own conclusions. The Government will not have the ability to influence the content of the books, other than to request that material which would cause security problems be omitted.^[11]

In July 2018 NewSouth won the tender conducted by the AWM for a publisher for the series.^[12]

Planned volumes

An Australian and an Afghan soldier during a patrol in 2013; operations in Afghanistan will be covered by three of the six planned volumes in the series

As of March 2018, it was planned to structure the series into six volumes, each written by a different historian.^[6] The planned structure of the volumes is:^[13]

• Volume I: Operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East between 2001 and 2006
• Volume II: Operations in Iraq between 2003 and 2011
• Volume III: Operations in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2010
• Volume IV: Operations in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2014
• Two works on Australian peacekeeping operations in East Timor, split into:
  • Volume I: Operations during 1999 and 2000
  • Volume II: Operations between 2000 and 2012.

In 2017 Stockings noted that the volume on Iraq may be split into two books.^[14]

References

Citations

Works consulted

• Horner, David (2016). "Researching History at SDSC". In Ball, Desmond; Carr, Andrew. A National Asset: 50 Years of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Canberra: ANU Press. pp. 121–135. ISBN 9781760460570.
• Stockings, Craig (2017). "A continuing tradition ... but a whole new ballgame". In Stanley, Peter. Charles Bean : Man, Myth, Legacy. Sydney: UNSW Press. pp. 215–228. ISBN 9781742234892.