SR.P.T10 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and b e lie f, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis. (Signed) ABSTRACT During the Second World War, the Services faced a dilemma concerning the enlistment of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders: would they conform to the Commonwealth government’s assimilationist policy and permit the enlistment of Aborigines who met enlistment criteria, or would they maintain their conservative ethos, arguing that Aborigines should not be admitted to military service? Aborigines and Islanders had much to gain from admission. Military service offered employment, overseas travel, trade training and other benefits. But most importantly , it of fered a persuasive argument for the extension to Aborigines of ’citizens ’ rights' While Aborigines and Islanders sought enlistment, the Services struggled with their dilemma. The absence of an Aboriginal representation within the digger myth suggests that Aborigines were generally unsuccessful in making a contribution to the war effort and that the Services resolved their dilemma by excluding Aborigines from service. To investigate this issue, the development of Service policies in regard to the enlistment of non-Europeans was examined and the extent of Aboriginal and Islander enlistment was assessed. The formation of other relationships between the Services and Aborigines was also examined. Aborigines and Islanders made a significant contribution to the war effort, but the moral value of this contribution as a means of securing improvements in conditions for Aborigines was not able to be translated into political pressure because of lack of publicity given to the Aboriginal contribution. Throughout the war, the Services remained undecided about the question of the admission of Aborigines. They resolved their dilemma by maintaining the fiction of opposition to Aboriginal enlistment in their official policies while at the same time enlisting Aborigines, forming segregated Islander units, employing Aborigines in d_£ facto military roles and employing Aborigines as civilian labourers. Although formal Service policies denied Aborigines the right to enlist, many did so. Once enlisted, relations between black and white servicemen were marked by an egalitarianism seldom seen in pre-war race relations. Throughout the war, Service policy makers in senior Headquarters saw Aborigines as generally unsuitable for enlistment on the grounds that white Australians would not tolerate service with them. This perception was not shared by the common soldier who came into contact with Aboriginal servicemen or women. Despite their policies, the Services made significant use of Aboriginal and Islander manpower in a variety of ways. Aborigines and Islanders deserve to be recognised as having made a considerable contribution to the national war effort. To my wife, Madeline. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ABORIGINES f ISLANDERS AND THE ARMED FORCES IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR By Robert A. Hall Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, December 1987. 198796 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Mr John Robertson, Associate Professor of History at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra and Dr Andrew Markus, Monash University, Melbourne for their valuable criticism, advice and guidance throughout this project. I am grateful to the Australian War Memorial for the award of a research grant for 1986 which permitted me to visit archives in Melbourne, Perth, Darwin and Brisbane and to visit Aboriginal and Islander communities at Melville and Bathurst Islands, Milingimbi, Townsville, Cairns and Thursday Island. These visits proved invaluable. I would also like to express my gratitude to the staff of the Australian War Memorial for their patient assistance and advice. Thanks must also go to the staff of Australian Archives offices at Canberra, Melbourne and Darwin. I would particularly like to thank the many correspondents who wrote to me concerning their wartime service or who patiently allowed me to interview them. In particular, those Aborigines and Islanders who shared their memories of the war years deserve special thanks. Their often vivid contributions provided many excellent glimpses of the Aboriginal and Islander view of wartime events. Thanks must also go to many others who assisted my research, including Ms Rita Bostock and Mr Robert Topping who assisted with unearthing information and to Corporal Noel Brinsmead, who drew the maps. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Madeline, for her support and encouragement over the several years this project has taken. CONTENTS Page List of Maps and Diagrams ii List of Illustrations iii Abbreviations v Chapter 1. Introduction 1 2. The Enlistment of Aborigines and Islanders 29 3. The Torres Strait Defence Force 97 4. The Experience of Enlisted Service 163 5. Aboriginal De Facto Servicemen 214 6. Army Labourers in the Northern Territory 279 7. Employment of Mission and other Isolated Aborgines 353 8. Aborigines as a Security Threat 436 9. Conclusion 490 Bibliography 521 MAPS AND DIAGRAMS Page The Torres Strait 98 Fluctuations in the strength of Torres Strait Islanders in the Torres Strait Defence Force 114 East Arnhem Land 222 Melville and Bathurst Islands, Darwin and surrounds 246 The Northern Territory 295 North Australian mission stations and collocated airbases and radar stations 407 ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Victor Blanco in London 44 A Recruiting Interview 52 Recruit Training 85 The Torres Strait Light Infantry 108 Buglers of the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion 148 Islander Dancers with Aeroplane Headdress 153 Learning New Trades 158 Leonard Waters 170 Charles Mene with Friends 187 Bindjarpuma 231 Natjialma 232 A Patrol Resting 235 Machine Gun Training 236 The Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit on Parade 240 Gribble's Patrol 249 Gribble with Patrol Members 250 Civilian Labourers Parade forWork Allocation 298 Salting Hides 302 An Army Aboriginal Labour Settlement 320 Labourers' Pay Parade 337 Soldiers and Aboriginal Civilian Labourers of an Army Butchery 349 Aborigines Assist with the Unloading of Barges - Milingimbi. 377 i i i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS CONTINUED Page Bringing Fuel Ashore - Milingimbi 378 Manhandling Drums onto Trucks - Milingimbi 379 Purchasing a Dilly Bag - Milingimbi 387 Aborigines Rescued Many Downed Airmen 422 ABBREVIATIONS AA Australian Archives AA&QMG Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster Genera] AIC Australian Instructional Corps AIF Australian Imperial Force AMF Australian Military Forces ANGAU Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit AOB Advanced Operational Base ARA Australian Regular Army Aust Australian AWM Australian War Memorial BCOF British Commonwealth Occupation Force Bn Battalion CMF Citizen Military Forces CO Commanding Officer Coy Company DDMS Deputy Director of Medical Services DGMS Director General of Medical Services Div Division Fd Field GOC General Officer Commanding Grn Garrison GSO General Staff Officer HQ Headquarters LHQ Land Headquarters L of C Lines of Communication Lt Lieutenant MD Military District NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (USA) NCO Non-Commissioned Officer NOIC Naval Officer in Charge OBU Operational Base Unit OC Officer Commanding PMF Permanent Military Forces RAAF Royal Australian Air Force USASOS United States Army Services of Supply v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In popular myth, the Australian digger is seen as ... very much a soldier rather than an officer; he is an amateur rather than a professional; and he represents, if not a classless society though this is the ideal - then at least not an hereditary ruling class. He comes from the masses and will return to them; though he may symbolise the nation, yet he is at least partly antagonistic to many of the values of the establishment, and has enjoyed a somewhat ambivalent relationship with more patrician 1 authority figures. He is also a white Australian. Although Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders participated in both the First and Second World Wars - the wars which gave shape to the digger myth - they have been excluded from the myth and are Australia’s invisible servicemen and women. It is not known precisely how many Aborigines and Islanders served in the First AIF, but there were at least 300 from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Almost one third of this group became casualties - a casualty rate similar to that of the First AIF as a whole - indicating that Aboriginal and Islander soldiers shared the rigours of the First World War in equal measure with their white comrades. At least three Aboriginal soldiers received 1. Jane Ross, The Myth of_the Digger: The Australian Soldier in Two World Wars, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1985, p. 12. 1 2 awards for gallantry. But involvement in the First World War had been limited to those Aborigines who had enlisted and had served overseas. The First World War had little impact on the Aboriginal civilian community. The Second World War was to present a different picture of Aboriginal and Islander involvement. In the Second World War, Aborigines and Islanders were to make a much larger contribution. The age of ’total war’ had arrived. The mobilisation of the total economic power and population base ensured that few citizens escaped the impact of the national war effort. In Australia, this notion of 'total war’ found expression in propaganda posters which clamoured ’all in, Australians!’, and in the pleas of political leaders who urged a do-or-die effort and called upon all Australians to do their part. Like other Australians, Aborigines and Islanders responded to these calls and contributed in accordance with their abilities and the size of their population. But in some ways, the contribution of Aborigines and Islanders in the Second World War was greater than that of white Australians.