Providing a comprehensive and compelling account of Australian military history before the failed Gallipoli campaign, this study demonstrates the extent to which this pre-World War I history has been forgotten. It begins with detailed accounts of both traditional indigenous warfare and frontier wars between European settlers and indigenous inhabitants before moving on to a description of the setting up of colonial navies, the red coats who guarded the colonies, Australians fighting in wars against the Maori of New Zealand, cadet and rifle clubs, and the wars in the Crimea and Sudan in which Australian forces participated. With contributions from leading experts in a number of different fields, this book is an insightful and surprising look into the extent to which Australians thought about and experienced war prior to the existence of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Craig Stockings is an associate professor of history at the University of New South Wales in Canberra. His areas of academic interest concern general and Australian military history and operational analysis. He is the author of Bardia: Myth, Reality, and the Heirs of Anzac and The Torch and the Sword: A History of Army Cadet Movement in Australia as well as the editor of Anzac’s Dirty Dozen and Zombie Myths of Australian Military History. John Connor is a senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales in Canberra. He is the author of The Australian Frontier Wars: 1788–1838 and Anzac and Empire: George Foster Pearce and the Foundations of Australian Defence.