Researcher Highlights
Sharing lessons from soldier trauma and anti-war protesting

One facet of her research focuses on the soldier experience, particularly traumatic responses to war, and how doctors, military, political authorities and the general public have historically viewed and considered traumatised soldiers.

Her research also investigates the role of protest and social movements during times of war, particularly focusing on anti-Vietnam War protests. Through this research she seeks to expand the definition of the anti-Vietnam War protester in Australia.

Through her work, Effie is using and evolving what we know about the past to shape change.

A fascination for war stories

Effie’s interest in the social side of war has its own history.

She was always gripped by not just reading sweeping histories of men in battle but a more grass-roots perspective that looks at the individual soldier and how they feel about their wartime experiences.

She has also been personally involved in activism over the past two decades and strongly believes that protest is everyone's right, and its outcomes affect all Australian lives.

"While I was studying soldiers in Vietnam during my PhD and later years, I became fascinated by those who opposed Australian involvement in the war and the ways that they demonstrated that opposition," says Effie.

From the battlefield to better policy

Her interest in the soldier experience and traumatic responses to war is a more pertinent issue today than ever.

Currently, Australia is experiencing a soldier and veteran suicide crisis that has led to a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, established on 8 July 2021.

The findings of this Royal Commission so far suggest that historical perspectives on mental health that emphasise 'weakness' still guide everyday military-medical practice.

These findings have echoed perspectives on war trauma and the traumatised soldier expressed by Australian medical authorities during the 1960s and 1970s, as Effie’s work has shown.

Investigating the positive and negative ways that traumatised soldiers have been viewed in the past can provide useful information for present-day militaries and governments about how to best approach cases of war trauma.

Taking trauma back to colonial times

In her efforts to inform future policy, Effie has also pushed our understanding of war trauma further back.

Until recent years, the First World War and the shell shock phenomenon were considered Australia's first war trauma experience. However, her work has resulted in a significant historical finding related to the existence of war trauma during the South African War of 1899-1902.

These findings have broadened the Australian history of military psychiatry to the years before the First World War and even before Federation of 1901.

This tells us that Australian soldiers have become traumatised by war for far longer than previously thought. It shows us that it wasn't only the technological advancement from the First World War that caused this trauma.

But while the insights are significant, Effie’s work in this area hasn't been easy.

"Studying the colonial period can be difficult because many archives are difficult to find", she says.

“They've either degenerated or been destroyed in the past, and we have to be very crafty by looking at lots of different types of archives to find answers.

"In the case of my research on trauma during the South African War, where military records weren't available, I used asylum records in conjunction with charity and military records, and this proved very fruitful."

This sits in stark contrast to the Vietnam War, which was the height of print media, meaning the archives are plentiful.

Lessons from Vietnam's quiet protester

In looking at the role of protest and social movements during times of war, Effie has been seeking out what she calls 'quiet protestors', using the Vietnam War as a case study.

The public memory of the Vietnam War focuses on people in the streets, blocking roads or occupying buildings and public squares in capital cities, meaning that the 'protester' in our minds is someone young, active, potentially violent and in the public domain. But not all protesters are represented by this 'wild' figure.

What she found is that our public memory of protest doesn't come close to capturing the total number of people who used their energies to protest Australian involvement in Vietnam. The public anti-Vietnam War protest movement was impressive and unprecedented, but so was the 'quieter' movement.

Effie has also been able to study this phenomenon more closely through a 2023 State Library of New South Wales Fellowship.

She realised that many of the protest techniques and the promotion of particular viewpoints about key issues during the Vietnam War continue today. Therefore, the methods of the anti-war movement can provide lessons for current activists, particularly given recent anti-protest laws in some Australian states.

From the academic to the public domain

One of the biggest impacts of Effie’s work is how it's being broadly translated for public consumption in museums and on television, radio and podcasts.

Her colonial and First World War trauma research was used as a basis for the 'Return: The Way Back Home 1914-1920' exhibition at the Monash University Library in 2020.

She also presented an accompanying public lecture called 'Returning Home: The Traumatised Male Soldier from Federation to the First World War and Beyond'.

In addition, her expertise in asylum history and colonial histories of mental health led to her appearing on the SBS television show 'Who Do You Think You Are?' in May 2023, in which she presented research on the family history of Australian celebrity Barry Humphries AC.

In 2022, Effie was also interviewed by the Australian War Memorial to mark their commissioning of a new sculpture honouring military personnel traumatised by conflict entitled 'For Every Drop Shed in Anguish' by the visual artist Alex Seton.

"This type of exposure is fantastic," says Effie. It means that society is more aware of how historical events have changed the nation, which will inform the way they approach similar challenges in the future."

This impact is what continues to drive Effie, who believes that the value of the past is to help us better navigate today and tomorrow.