Report to Government

Anzac Centenary educational scholarships and research grants

2.14The Board’s proposal for an Educational Scholarships and Research Grants Program has developed from its consideration of the National Commission’s recommendation for an Anzac Centre for the Study of Peace, Conflict and War. The proposed Centre was intended to be a high-profile initiative to honour the memory of the original Anzacs in the best way possible—by working towards understanding conflict and focusing attention on how the risk that future Australians will have to take part in war might be reduced. The National Commission sought to establish a tertiary education centre focusing on the study of the nature of social conflicts, causes of violence and definitions of peace, as well as research into new approaches for resolving conflicts. The proposal sought to establish a degree-granting institution as an adjunct to an existing university, rather than as a stand-alone entity.

2.15The Board acknowledges that a new dedicated tertiary centre would certainly provide a highly visible and independent educational and research body, and one worthy of contributing to the Anzac legacy. However, the Board has needed to weigh up whether the considerable cost of establishing a new educational centre would provide sufficient benefits, compared to making better use of existing educational resources and improving access to these resources. There are existing tertiary institutions, including the Australian National University and the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society at the Australian Defence Force Academy, which provide tertiary education services that already cover, or can be adapted to cover, the space identified by the National Commission. The Board believes, on balance, that a merit-based Anzac Centenary Educational Scholarships and Research Grants Program would provide a viable alternative to a new centre and deliver value for money. This approach should deliver a targeted program that makes better use of existing tertiary resources, avoids the overlaps from having separate proposals and is able to be administered in a far more efficient way than multiple educational scholarships and grants. This would be a prestigious program that honours the Anzac heritage, as the National Commission envisaged.

2.16The proposal for an Anzac Centenary Educational Scholarships and Grants Program ideally has five elements:

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  Higher degree scholarships, allowing an annual intake of students to undertake a higher degree by research over a three-year period with any Australian university on a topic relating to Australian military history and the experience of Australia at war. Recipients should be encouraged to take up teaching duties during their degrees to build their tertiary teaching skills and to prepare them for an academic career, if they wish to pursue one.
  
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  Funding of two Anzac scholarships to allow one Australian postgraduate student to study in a New Zealand university and one New Zealand postgraduate student to study in an Australian university, along the lines of a Monash or Rhodes scholarship.
  
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  A small number of undergraduate, postgraduate and academic exchanges between Australian and Turkish universities, supporting study by Australian students and academics in Turkish studies and Turkish students and academics in Australian studies. The various scholarship programs that the Board proposes should be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that they complement, rather than duplicate, existing scholarships.
  
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  Provision of history grants to support and encourage research into the experience and impact of Australian involvement in the First World War. This should be a broadly accessible scheme, not targeted purely at university-level research, but also embrace non-institutional, independent and family, local and non-professional historians. Outcomes could include books, articles, websites and other forms of publication, such as translations of important texts originally published in languages other than English.
  
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  Grant funding support for a proposal by the Australian War Memorial and the Australian National University to convene an international history conference focusing on the Gallipoli campaign. The proposal aims to present original research and to heighten awareness and interest among the public, academics, defence and veteran community and media to commemorate the most significant Anzac Centenary anniversary in 2015.
  

2.17The proposed Anzac Centenary Educational Scholarships and Grants Program is scalable depending on funding availability. For example, it may be varied by:

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  the number of scholarships or grants in each element
  
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  the value of each scholarship or grant
  
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  the number of years of operation of the program
  
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  depending on priorities, the removal of one or more of the elements.
  

Anzac Interpretive Centre, Albany

2.18The importance of Albany to the Anzac story should be recognised nationally and permanently. The National Commission recommended establishment of an Anzac Interpretive Centre, both physical and online, at Albany. The combination of a physical and virtual centre will significantly improve accessibility to the Centre’s interpretive and educational content and hence enhance its value for money. Following an initial scoping study funded by the Australian Government, the Australian and Western Australian Governments have contributed funding to enable its development.

2.19The Board considers that successful delivery of a sustainable Anzac Interpretive Centre will be a complex undertaking. It is important that all aspects of the envisaged Centre contribute to it being on a financially sound basis to avoid the risk of future dependence on subsidies or deterioration of the Centre’s capabilities and associated impacts on the Anzac heritage. The initiative need not be large scale; rather, the emphasis must be on developing a practical, sustainable Centre that provides a high-quality visitor experience within an improved, attractive and well-maintained precinct.

2.20The Centre’s building, interpretive content, use of information and communications technology, and online presentation have to be well-planned and executed. There will need to be close coordination between the three levels of government and numerous agencies. Due to the complexities involved, operational commencement by 1 November 2014 (the centenary of the first convoy) may not be achievable.