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Keeping the peace - Introducing Australia's contribution to peacekeeping cover
  • Coming Home: An investigation of the Armistice and Repatriation
  • Keeping the Peace: Investigating Australia's contribution to peacekeeping
    • Introduction
    • About this resource
    • Investigation 1
    • Investigation 2
    • Investigation 3
      • Activity 1
      • Activity 2
      • Activity 2.1
      • Activity 2.2
      • Activity 2.3
      • Activity 2.4
      • Activity 3
    • Investigation 4

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  • Keeping the Peace: Investigating Australia's contribution to peacekeeping
  • Investigation 3

Investigation 3

How has Australian contributed to international peacekeeping?

Introduction

This investigation explores Australia’s contribution to international peacekeeping since 1947, and the way in which this service is commemorated. Investigation 3 includes background information and three inquiry-based activities.

Background information

Australia has a strong record of contributing to international peace and security. In the seven decades since 1947, tens of thousands of Australian personnel have served in peacekeeping operations across the globe. Many but not all of these operations have been mandated by the United Nations (UN).

In 1947, the first Australian peacekeepers served as military observers to a UN operation in the Netherlands East Indies (present day Indonesia). Australian military personnel, through ongoing rotations, have served continuously in peace and security operations in the Middle East since 1956; and police officers had a continuous presence in Cyprus from 1964 to June 1917. During the 1990s Australia, in its role as a ‘good international citizen’, provided peacekeepers to many parts of the globe – from overseeing Cambodia’s first democratic election, to ensuring that victims of famine and violence in Somalia received food aid.

Statistics relating to the deployment of personnel demonstrate the role Australia has taken as a regional leader. Australia’s contribution to the region has included leading the multinational Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville from 1998 to 2003, commanding the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) from 1999 to 2000, and taking a leading role in the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) from 2003 to 2017.

With such a large number of personnel having been involved in often-dangerous peacekeeping operations over seventy years, it is inevitable that some Australian peacekeepers have suffered trauma, injury and death. In earlier decades, debate occurred about an appropriate way to commemorate their service. It is now recognised that although there are some aspects of peacekeeping that are unique, the operational experience of peacekeepers can have much in common with service in warlike contexts. A national memorial has been developed to commemorate the significant contribution made ‘in the service of peace’ by Australian military, police and civilian peacekeepers.


Activity 2.3

Bougainville Truce Monitoring Group/Peace Monitoring Group

Bougainville Truce Monitoring Group/Peace Monitoring Group

Source A
Source B
Source C
Source D
Source E
Source F
MEDIA RELEASE
JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence
FA149
BOUGAINVILLE TRUCE MONITORING GROUP
5 December 1997
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Alexander Downer, and the Minister for Defence, Mr Ian McLachlan, announced
today that a group of Australian officials will arrive on Bougainville on Saturday 6 December to commence truce
monitoring operations.
They will form part of a team of 85 monitors drawn also from New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. Their main function will be
to observe and report on the truce agreed between the parties to the Bougainville conflict in October and to provide
information to the Bougainvilleans on the truce process.
The Australian officials, all civilians, come from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (8), the Department of
Defence (5), the Australian Federal Police (4) and AusAID (2). They are expected to stay on Bougainville until late
January.
The Ministers said that as well as contributing civilian monitors Australia, through the Australian Defence Force, is
providing a significant part of the administrative and logistical back-up required for the effective operation of the truce
monitoring group.
Australia’s support for the truce monitoring operation was a further clear indication of its readiness to facilitate a
peaceful resolution of the tragic Bougainville conflict.
The Ministers noted that Australia played a vital role in transporting delegates to the meeting in New Zealand in
October which resulted in agreement on a truce. It hosted an officials’ level meeting in Cairns in November which
produced a commitment to assist the truce monitoring operation and to ensure its safety.
Australia had also agreed to a request to transport delegates to a planned Leaders’ Meeting, to be held in New Zealand
in mid-January.
In addition, more than $130 million has been committed by Australia for the reconstruction of Bougainville and the
restoration of services on the island.
For enquiries:
Defence Minister’s Office:
Mr Jim Bonnor: 02 6277 7800
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Mr Tony Melville 02 6262 1555/1556
Bougainvillians gather at a reconciliation ceremony between Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and Bougainville Resistance Force (BRF) guerrillas in a village north of Arawa. Beetlenut and a pig are being prepared as a traditional offering on the table

Bougainvillians gather at a reconciliation ceremony in a village north of Arawa in 1999. Beetlenut and a pig are being prepared as a traditional offering to end hostilities. After years of civil war, the signing of a ceasefire on 30 April 1998 also marked the transition of the peacekeeping operation from the Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) to the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG). [AWM P04580.074]

Members of the multinational Peace Monitoring Group on a plane from Australia to Bougainville

Members of the multinational Peace Monitoring Group fly from Australia to Bougainville to take up peacekeeping duties in March 2000. The Australian component, which peaked at about 250 people, included civilian peace monitors and unarmed Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel. [AWM P03518.008]

Two ADF personnel talking to Chief Patrick, the Chief of Manetai Village during an information patrol. The local patrol escort, wearing a pink t-shirt and holding a sheaf of papers, looks on.

ADF personnel help build confidence in the peace process by discussing and distributing peace related information, January 2001. [AWM P03517.003]

A Royal Australian Air Force dentist extracting a tooth from a local while another local man watches

A Royal Australian Air Force dentist serving with the PMG extracts a tooth at a dental clinic in the village of Atamo, May 2000. [AWM P03518.030]

Bougainville peacekeeping mission ends in tune
An unusual experiment in unarmed peacekeeping came to an end yesterday when an Australianled force of 5000 concluded a largely successful bid to bring peace to Papua New Guinea’s war-torn Bougainville Island.
Troops from Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and Fiji lowered their flags in a ceremony marking the end of their five-year mission on Bougainville, where a nine-year secessionist war left thousands dead ...

The Age, 1 July 2003


Complete this form for each operation.
Over what years did Australia participate in this operation?
What country/s did it involve?
What was the circumstance or crisis that created the need for peacekeepers?
Who authorised the operation? Was it part of a United Nations mission?
How large was the Australian force? What Australian personnel were involved, for example, Australian Defence Force, police, diplomats?
What roles did the Australian personnel perform, for example, medical assistance?
What tasks were undertaken during the operation? What did the operation achieve?
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