Eternal Vigilance: A History of the Returned Serices League of Australia (2005-2007)
Abstract
The proposed project is a history of the Returned Services League of Australia from its foundation in 1916 to the present not so much as an exhaustive organisational history but as an analysis of the formulation evolution and influence of the organisation's ideas about civic status and citizenship. The project will analyse the RSL s attempts to protect the reputations and interests of its members and to safeguard Australia from alien or subversive peoples and ideologies. As such the project will fill a major gap in Australian historiography and will lead to a better understanding of the legacy of war upon Australia including the Anzac legend. Expected outcomes include a monograph and a number of journal articles and book chapters
