Rachel Caines

Rachel Caines is a historian in the Military History Section. She joined the Australian War Memorial in December 2022, having previously worked as a researcher, tutor, and administrator in the university sector and as a historical consultant for television production companies.

Rachel researches and writes biographies for the Last Post Ceremony, and is a member of the editorial staff for the Memorial’s magazine Wartime. She is the coordinator of the Military and Naval History Course, and provides expertise on the First World War, the Frontier Wars, and Indigenous and other non-white experiences of war and commemoration.

Rachel’s Masters of Philosophy thesis, which analysed commemoration of Indigenous Australian and Māori First World war soldiers in national sites of memory, was awarded a Dean’s Commendation for Research Excellence from the University of Adelaide in 2020. She is completing her PhD, investigating the interwar experiences of Indigenous Australian soldiers and their communities. She has presented her research at national and international conferences, and is the author of work on Indigenous Australian war service and commemoration.

Main areas of interest and research:

• Indigenous Australian military service
• First World War
• Frontier Wars (Australia)
• Commemoration of war and conflict in Australia and internationally
• Animals and war