The Changed Forever: Legacies of Conflict exhibition - taken from the Bendigo Advertiser:

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A NEW exhibition at the Soldiers Memorial Institute is sharing the stories of those who have been on the front line and firing line of modern conflicts.

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The Changed Forever: Legacies of Conflict exhibition, which is on tour from Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, showcases the individual accounts from Australian Defence Force veterans and immigrants who have come to Australia because of war.

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"For us here as a military museum, it's a great way to bring to the fore recent conflicts and the affect it has had on servicemen and women, and also those who reside here in central Victoria as veterans and refugees from those war-torn countries," the institute's curator Kirsten McKay said.

"I think when people think of a military museum, they do think of the First World War and it's really important to put an emphasis on more recent conflicts as well."

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The stories of Bendigo veterans Robert Milton and Kellie Dadds are both detailed in the new exhibition.

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Mrs Dadds was in the army for 22 years and was deployed to places like Afghanistan and Iraq. She said she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder in 2015.

"Part of my healing process has been getting to talk about some of those experiences so that I can heal," she said. "So it was a wonderful privilege to be asked to participate in this exhibition."

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Mrs Dadds said it was really integral to share the stories of those who were caught up in the conflicts, as well as those stories from veterans.

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"The Shrine has done something that is so unique," she said. "They have brought together two different perspectives of conflict - what it's like to be a member of the military and what it's like to be on the receiving end of military action.

"That's a side of the story that is very rarely told. What you'll see in this exhibition is very personal accounts that are stirring, very difficult for people to talk about, and really highlight the strength and resilience of we as people during some of the most traumatic experiences of our lives."

Mrs Dadds said people of all ages could learn something from this exhibition, "It's a unique perspective into modern conflict," she said. "What we often see commemorated are very historical events.

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"These are people who are still living through the trauma of what they've experienced and so they can really get that broad personal account of what it's like to live through that."