Why the Winner Gets to Tell the Story
"History is written by the victors." This quote (often attributed to Winston Churchill, though that's debated) captures one of the most important truths about how we learn about the past.
The people who win wars, build empires, and hold power get to decide what becomes "history." Everyone else becomes a footnote — or disappears entirely.
How Winners Control the Story
1. They Control the Records
After conquering a people, empires often destroyed their records, libraries, and oral traditions. The Spanish burned virtually all Maya codices (books) in the 16th century. Only four survive. An entire civilisation's written history — astronomy, mathematics, medicine — lost in flames.
2. They Write the Textbooks
In Australia, for most of the 20th century, school history began in 1788. Sixty-five thousand years of Aboriginal civilisation were reduced to a brief mention. The History Wars of the 1990s-2000s were a fierce debate about how to teach Australian history — particularly colonisation, frontier violence, and the Stolen Generations.
3. They Build the Monuments
Who gets statues? Who gets streets named after them? In Australia, there are numerous statues of Captain Cook and colonial governors. Until recently, there were almost none commemorating Aboriginal leaders or the frontier wars.
4. They Define the Language
Words shape perception. "Settlement" vs "invasion." "Discovery" vs "encounter." "Primitive" vs "different." The words chosen by the winners become the default vocabulary for discussing events.
Australian Examples
For decades, the Frontier Wars — armed conflicts between settlers and Aboriginal peoples that killed an estimated 20,000-65,000 Aboriginal people (Ryan, 2012) — were barely mentioned in mainstream history. Many Australians still don't know they happened.
The Stolen Generations — the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their families between approximately 1910 and 1970 — was denied or minimised for decades. It wasn't until the Bringing Them Home report (1997) and Kevin Rudd's National Apology (2008) that this history entered mainstream consciousness.
Tonight's Question
"If you could put up one statue in your town to honour someone from history, who would it be? Why? And whose story would that statue tell?"
The Monument Investigation
- Next time you're in your town centre, look for statues, plaques, and memorials.
- For each one: who is it honouring? When was it built? What perspective does it represent?
- Research: is there another side to this person's story?
- Discuss: if you could add one monument to your town, what would it be?
- Write a letter to your local council proposing it (or just discuss as a family).
Go Further
- Read: The Bringing Them Home report (1997) — available free online from the Human Rights Commission.
- Research: The Australian Frontier Wars — how many conflicts were there? Where were they?
- Question: Should statues of controversial historical figures be removed, or do they serve as reminders?
- Visit: The Australian War Memorial is considering recognising the Frontier Wars. Research this debate.
What We Simplified
- Losers also write history. The defeated do write their accounts — they're just less widely read. Many alternative histories exist if you look for them.
- History is constantly being revised. Academic historians regularly challenge winner narratives. The process is slow but real.
- Numbers in the Frontier Wars are debated. We cited a range (20,000-65,000) but precise numbers are impossible to determine due to lack of records.
Sources
- Ryan, L. (2012). Tasmanian Aborigines: A History Since 1803. Allen & Unwin.
- Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1997). Bringing Them Home. HREOC
- Reynolds, H. (2006). The Other Side of the Frontier. UNSW Press.
- Attwood, B. (2005). Telling the Truth About Aboriginal History. Allen & Unwin.
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