The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has been involved in peacekeeping since 1947 when four Australians (the world’s first United Nations peacekeepers) were deployed to the first UN peacekeeping mission – the United Nations Good Offices Commission to Indonesia (UNGOC).

Since UNGOC, the ADF has been extensively involved in both UN and multinational peacekeeping and peacemaking operations. The tempo of these missions has notably increased since the first large deployment of Engineer Troops to South West Africa in 1989.

INTERFET in 1999 / 2000 was the largest deployment of Australian Troops since the Second World War and since 11 September 2001 thousands of ADF personnel have been deployed in International Campaigns against Terrorism operating in the Middle East, Afghanistan and South West Asia.  Australia's longest war.