The Defend Sacred Ground campaign, led in part by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott as patron, is opposing the inclusion of frontier conflict narratives within the Australian War Memorial (AWM). The group argues that while the frontier conflicts involving Indigenous Australians were real and often traumatic, the War Memorial is not the appropriate venue to document this aspect of history.

The campaign contends that the AWM’s primary role is to serve as a sacred shrine honoring those who died in service to the nation, rather than functioning as a general history or war museum. They acknowledge the frontier conflicts as painful and, in some cases, unlawful episodes in Australia's past but maintain that the Memorial’s remit should focus on officially recognized wars under the Australian War Memorial Act 1980.

The group disputes widely cited estimates suggesting up to 10,000 Aboriginal deaths in frontier wars, describing the figure as lacking empirical foundation and unsuitable for inclusion at the memorial. Campaign representatives warn that documenting frontier conflict in this national shrine risks legitimizing a narrative that could be used by a minority within the Aboriginal community to assert claims challenging the legitimacy of the Australian state, including calls for a Tomb of the Unknown Aboriginal Warrior alongside the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier.

The controversy surrounding this proposal has been ongoing since at least 2022. AWM director Matt Anderson acknowledged that prior to developing the new Pre-1914 Gallery, the memorial undertook national consultations, which reportedly showed strong public expectation for “difficult content” in the galleries. However, critics argue that this consultation was limited primarily to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members and selected historians, excluding the broader Australian public.

The Defend Sacred Ground campaign suggests that most Australians would oppose the proposal if given the opportunity to express their views, noting that proper public consultation has not yet occurred. They further claim the proposal may contravene the Australian War Memorial Act, which governs the memorial’s purpose and scope.

In correspondence with Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh, campaign co-convener Robert Hill raised these concerns. The AWM’s director responded by asserting the frontier conflicts fall within the Act's scope as "organised campaigns of war and warlike resistance" involving First Nations peoples and Crown forces. However, campaign spokespeople state that this interpretation relies on a broad and contested reading of the legislation, rather than independent legal advice.

The campaign commissioned legal advice from barrister Peter King of Queen’s Square Chambers, which reportedly raises substantial doubts about the proposal’s compliance with the Act. They accuse the AWM Council of advancing its agenda without transparency or sound legal grounding, despite the sensitive and divisive nature of the subject matter.

In light of these issues, the campaign urges Minister Keogh to intervene by instructing the AWM Council to remove all current representations of frontier conflict and abandon plans for the new gallery. They emphasize that their opposition is rooted in principle, arguing that inclusion of frontier conflict in the War Memorial is a divisive and inappropriate course for a national shrine meant to unify Australians.