Liam's Story: So Why Do I Wear Dad's Medals?

Abstract

This book is the first in a series to be published in relation to research about the experiences of military families being undertaken by researchers at the University of New England, NSW This research was initially prompted when Madeline Fussell, a Primary Social Science Lecturer, was approached by military families who expressed their frustration at the lack of culturally authentic and age-appropriate illustrated storybooks for their young children. They asked for books that supported the experiences of young children who had a parent deploying or absent for extended periods during training. They identified common related issues encountered by military families. Teaming up with Marg Baber, an Early Childhood Lecturer, they met with two military families and discussed some of these issues. This resulted in several research-based illustrated storybooks being written as a community project for the charity organisation, Soldier On. Further background research revealed there was almost no Australian and little international research working directly with young children to explore their experiences and understandings of their lives in military families; nor was there research that allowed young military children's voices to be heard. Marg's research aims to address this gap. Her doctoral thesis is titled 'Young children's experiences and understanding of military deployment within an Australian Defence Force family'.