Michael Bell

Michael Bell is the Australian War Memorial’s Indigenous Liaison Officer. A Ngunnawal/Gomeroi man, he joined the Memorial’s Military History Section in 2015, having worked with several Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

Michael is working to identify and research the extent of the contribution of people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who have served, who are currently serving, who have military experience and/or contributed to the war effort. He is interested in further details of the military history of all of these people and their families. 

If your family has a connection to Indigenous service you can get in contact with Michael Bell:   Michael.Bell@awm.gov.au  

Hollie Gill

Hollie Gill is the Indigenous Assistant Curator of Art at the Australian War Memorial. She is a Gunggari woman of the Saunders family from the Maranoa region of South-West Queensland and has lived and worked on Ngunnawal Country since 2017 when she started her career in curatorship and collections management. Hollie manages and supports major Indigenous art commissions and acquisitions, and the management of the art collection. Her work is currently focused on Indigenous recognition, frontier conflict, and the development of cultural protocols for the management of Indigenous materials in the Memorial’s National Collection. Read more.   

Garth O’Connell

Garth O'Connell is a Curator in the Military Heraldry and Technology section at the Australian War Memorial. Born on Gadigal country into a Gomeroi (Kamilaroi) family, grew up on Eora and Darug country but has been living on Ngunnawal country for over 20 years. Garth has a degree in Cultural Heritage Management but has served in the Australian Army as an Infantryman, including serving overseas on multiple occasions. As an objects curator, Garth is a custodian of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander material culture collection and a subject matter expert on a range of subjects including Indigenous Australian Prisoners of War, Aboriginal aircrew of the Second World War and the Fall of Singapore in 1942. Read more.