>> History >> Time, change and continuity >> Citizenship LEST WE FORGET — Are Indigenous Australians Part of the Anzac Tradition?
Celebrating and Commemorating the RSL in Australian history and life 2006 is the 90th anniversary In July 2006 this report of the formation of what appeared on a website. is today called the Read it and discuss: Returned & Services League of Australia 1 What is Noel Pearson’s (RSL). criticism of ANZAC Day? An unofficial ‘Black Digger’ badge suggested It began in 1916 as 2 What is the RSL’s attitude by the website
Good historical inquiry In this case that means: Your plan or notes for this unit: involves these stages:
What are the aspects • How have Indigenous Australians been 1 you are exploring? part of the ANZAC tradition? What are the key • What impact has this had on their place questions you want to as citizens in Australian society? answer at the end? • How has the RSL been involved in this?
What questions will • What was the role and position of 2 help you develop Aboriginal men before involvement in knowledge and military conflicts? understanding of • What did they do in the conflicts? the period? • Did they provide a vital element? • What impact did this involvement have on them and other Australians? • What impact did this involvement have on their place in Australia? • What was the role of the RSL in this process?
Gather and sort Look at the information and evidence 3 information and presented in this article. It covers three main evidence. conflicts: World War I, World War II and Vietnam. It is presented randomly here. You will need to look at each piece and decide where it fits chronologically, as well as which of the key questions it addresses, and what it actually tells us.
Analyse the information Decide whether it is reliable and typical, and 4 and evidence. what conclusions you can draw from it.
Tell the story, the Decide what the story about Indigenous 5 narrative, in a way that involvement in the ANZAC tradition is, answers the questions and how you can present that story. and is supported by For example, do you tell the story the evidence. chronologically? Or do you answer each key question separately by referring to evidence from the three conflicts? Or do you have some other structure for telling the story?
Present your answer in This could be written, oral, dramatic, 6 an appropriate format. illustrated, multi-media, or a combination of several of these.
You may find that there are gaps in your knowledge, wars, or the role and place of Indigenous people in or that there are other aspects that you think today’s Defence Services. These are all areas that should be explored — such as the involvement of may be further researched. Indigenous women and civilians during Australia’s
14 © Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 Evidence collection for exploring the issue: Are Indigenous Australians SOURCE 1 Part of the ANZAC Aboriginal rights before World War I At the outbreak of World War I most Aboriginal people did not Tradition? have citizenship rights, such as voting. They were also specifically denied some benefits that were available to others — such as old age pensions. Many were under the control of Protectors or Missions, and did not have control over their own wages if they earned any, or even freedom of movement or How might freedom to marry whomever they wanted. a lack of rights Adapted from Robert A. Hall, ‘Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in the Second World War’, influence an individual’s in Desmond Ball (ed.), Aborigines in the Defence of Australia, ANU Press, Sydney, 1991 pages 58–9 willingness to fight for his or her country? SOURCE 2 Extracts from the reminiscences of Glen James on his Vietnam service as a national serviceman: I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve fought for our country in Vietnam. Initially James I joined on 17 June 1968 at Puckapunyal, and was discharged exactly two years later in was discriminated Melbourne. I spent twelve months and twelve days on active service in Vietnam. against for his race. Things were tough in those days for Aboriginal people. As I was growing up, I Suggest why this might experienced a lot of taunting and, of course, I thought, holy hell, what’s going to happen have happened? here when I go into the Army? I was going to meet a whole lot of new people who are going to think, “Oh yeah, there’s a bloody blackfella.” And, you know, I could sense people looking down on me because I was Aboriginal. What did he I had to prove that I was as good as they were. I had to play footy and I had to go into do about it? boxing. That really sort of broke the ice for me. And from then on it was just plain sailing until we shifted to Sydney for our corps training and I had to meet a different group of people. You just keep meeting different groups of people in the Army and each time you just had to keep jumping over the same hurdle, trying to get past their prejudice and find Why else might acceptance. I had to be very tolerant at times. the early racial The closest I felt to blokes before Vietnam was when we were up at Canungra, discrimination have Queensland, for our jungle training. We all had to help each other. When you are training on disappeared later Heartbreak Hill fellas were really helping you, dragging you along or carrying your pack or in his service? gun for you. It didn’t matter what colour you were because we were all bloody struggling. In Vietnam I was a field engineer. When the infantry was confronted by land mines and so forth, we used to go and check them out and blow them up. We also built bridges across roads that were busted up and so on. We had to look after the local people as well. There was a lot of community work, dams and markets were built or upgraded. It was terrific! We were good to the kids, we used to take out lollies to them and they’d come out of their way to say hello while we were building around the village. James went on The good mates I met were terrific, fantastic. We brought the best out in each other to be a leading AFL umpire, and created a good atmosphere. We had our R and R times together. You would see people and umpired a Grand Final unwind and by the time they got out of the Army they were different people. Locked in in 1982. What qualities did that environment together, we had to make the best we could of the war. It was no good he show in the Army that brooding over the fact that you were in the Army for two years. Let’s have a good time and would have helped him appreciate everything else that’s going on around you. That’s what we tried to do. achieve this feat? Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the Somme to Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993
© Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 15 SOURCE 3 A letter from the RSL, What does the November 1940 RSL want to know? What does this suggest about their attitude to Aboriginal servicemen’s rights?
SOURCE 4 How significant was the service rendered by Aborigines and Islanders? Between 830 and 850 Torres Strait Islanders served in the
Army. Although no document sets forth the number of in
and and was made to recognise the contribution made by Aborigines and Islanders in the war, and today many Australians Wings remain ignorant of it.
Robert A. Hall, ‘Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in the Second
World War’, in Desmond Ball (ed.), Aborigines in the Defence of Australia ,
ANU Press, Sydney, 1991 pages 58–9
the RAAF Historical Section, Canberra. Section, Historical RAAF the Cartoon courtesy of of courtesy Cartoon
How many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders served in the military in World War II? Was this ▲ A cartoon that, despite its mildly racist tone, shows an awareness service recognised Is this a and appreciation of Indigenous people’s knowledge of their at the time? environment, and the way that skill was used for the Allies’ benefit. significant Why did number? such numbers serve? 16 © Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 SOURCE 5 Aboriginal contributions in World War II Although they were not classed or treated as Australian citizens, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander
servicemen and women fought and died for Australia , 18 November 1942. during World War II. The Australian Army [and] the Royal Australian
Navy both … excluded persons ‘not substantially of The Bulletin European origin or descent’ until the threat of Japanese invasion necessitated the recruitment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was more lenient, accepting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders early on because of a critical shortage of manpower due to the demands of the Empire Air Training Scheme. Despite the early ban on their enlistment, a ▲ Another mildly racist image that again reveals an awareness of the number of Aboriginal irony of the policy that banned Indigenous Australians from enlisting
volunteers either claimed another nationality or just because they were non-Europeans. in
How did the services What impacts did Were Indigenous treat Aboriginal people at war service have on the Australians treated the start of the war? Aboriginal and Torres Strait justly by Australians? Islander men, and on the Explain the reasons white community? behind your answer. SOURCE 6 This source Aboriginal service in World War I provides figures for The Aboriginal soldiers of the First AIF [Australian Infantry Force] served alongside only a small number of white Australian soldiers — there were no segregated units — and endured the hardships Aboriginal soldiers. and terrors of the battlefield; supporting and being supported by their white comrades. Why? Of 154 Aborigines who enlisted from Queensland, 18 were killed in action, 22 wounded and 5 gassed. This casualty rate — about one in every three soldiers — mirrors the rate for the whole of the First AIF and testifies to the fact that the Aboriginal soldiers bore What conclusion their share of the fighting. By the Second World War, Aboriginal servicemen had already earned themselves a reputation as competent and reliable soldiers. They were to become about the nature of much more heavily involved in the Second World War. Aboriginal men’s war Robert A. Hall, ‘Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in the Second World War’, in Desmond Ball (ed.), service does the Aborigines in the Defence of Australia, ANU Press, Sydney, 1991 pages 32-2 author draw?
© Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 17 SOURCE 7 Joy Murphy’s dad returns from World War I When my Dad, as an ex-serviceman of WW1, returned to [the Aboriginal Protectorate Why did Joy Murphy’s at] Coranderrk … he knew that the closure was [imminent]. But he’d hoped that when he dad feel that he had got back that his Mum would still be there and she was. And she was one of five people, a claim to the soldier elderly people who said, “I’m not going. This is my place, I’ve had all my children here, I’ve settlement block? brought all my children up here, I’ve raised them here. This is my country, this is my home, this is my husband’s place. I want to die here”. And so they were granted leave to stay. But on return from the war, my father had to get permission from the police to visit Do you agree that his Mum and then he had to be escorted onto Coranderrk, and he was only allowed one half an hour with her before he was sent off to Lake Tyers in Gippsland. he had such a claim? When my Dad returned from the war, the land was supposedly sold up for soldier settlement, and like so many of our Aboriginal men at that time, who served not only for their country but for their families so that there might be some equality in life later on. Yeah, What was his Dad was, I don’t know that he was bitter about it, but he was terribly hurt, and so what he response to the decided he would do was buy a block of land in Healesville. And he said this will always be a place for the Wandin family. So I’m pleased to say we, that still have that block of land rejection? and that house and my youngest brother still lives there today.
SOURCE 8 did not discriminate’, and so on. What a shock we were to the local population, black and white. One bystander A ‘Freedom Rider’ remembers racism called out ‘who the hell do you think you are?’ My diary records: ‘People gathered round, many jeering, many just in a country town in the 1960s watching. The RSL characters offered us cold drinks, but Walgett was a tiny town with a huge reputation for racial we refused them. At lunchtime many heated discussions discrimination. It had come to Sydney press attention the broke out. Charlie Perkins spoke terrifically and I think previous year when two nine year old boys were gaoled for most people listened very attentively’. Pat Healy recalls that stealing crayons and table tennis bats, not so different from ‘Charlie spoke, very well I thought, about the treatment more recent stories in the Northern Territory. But our sights of the black servicemen who weren’t allowed to use or be were set on another striking example of racial discrimination. members of the Walgett RSL’. That evening, however, the What better than the local RSL Club, which refused students were ordered by the Reverend Dowe to leave the Indigenous ex-servicemen membership, allowing them in church hall where we were staying. He was angry that we only on ANZAC Day, and sometimes not even then. had demonstrated and I think was pressured by members Though the exclusion of Indigenous ex-servicemen from of his congregation to throw us out. So, the bus had to the Walgett RSL Club was perhaps a small matter compared leave Walgett in the middle of the night, and as it did so, a with the massive problems in housing, health and education grazier’s son, Joey Marshall, used his green pick up truck confronting Indigenous people at the time, it had great to drive the bus off the road. After ramming the bus three symbolic importance. times, it was forced to leave the road, and only narrowly For it was in the commemoration of war that Australian missed rolling over in the deep ditch at the side of the road.
popular culture found its most profound sense of Professor Ann Curthoys, The Freedom Ride — Its Significance Today nationhood. This was as true in Walgett as everywhere else,
18 © Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 throughout Australia? SOURCE 9 SOURCE 10 The Lovett Family Extracts from the reminiscences of In World War I the Lovetts provided five sons who between them saw overseas service in all the fronts: Graeme Atkinson on his Vietnam service Gallipoli, France and Palestine. These were Alfred, I got out of the Army in 1970 and finished my Leonard, Edward, Frederick and Herbert. Bachelor of Social Work in 1976 and then did my All survived the war. Bachelor of Arts in 1980. Then I became involved in In World War II Edward, Frederick, Herbert and Aboriginal affairs. I set up a consultancy business, their brother Samuel all served. In all there have been 19 Yuruga Consultancy Services. I’d like to highlight my members of the Lovett family who have served Australia involvement in Aboriginal affairs because I think it in the armed services. all started through my experience in the Army. It was Their ancestors had lived in the area that became Vietnam which forced me to become more aware of Lake Condah Mission for many thousands of years. the social and political issues facing Aboriginal people. On 25 September 1945 they learned that the Mission Prior to the Army, Uncle Bill Onus and Sir Douglas area was to be broken up and sold as farms to returned Nicholls used to stay at our home when we were living soldiers. Herbert wrote to the Secretary of the Aborigines up in Echuca, and they gave me an early education Protection Board: in Aboriginal affairs. But it was more of a passive education, whereas when I came out of the Army I felt a need to become more actively involved. You see, I saw an analogy between what was happening in Vietnam with what was happening here at home, in the attitude of Australians toward other Dear Sir people who were different. I didn’t approve of the I am writing to you to see if attitude of Australian soldiers towards the Vietnamese you could give me any information who were brilliant people. I saw the same racist attitude regarding the cutting up of Lake over there as in relations here between white and Condah Mission Station into blocks Aboriginal people. for Aboriginal servicemen of this war. Yes, so my attitudes to racism and the plight of If same was being done I would like Aboriginal people evolved out of that experience. I had to make application for a block. some conflicting things to come to terms with identity, national pride, patriotism and all that. Awaiting your early reply I remain Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, yours Truly Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the Somme to Vietnam, Pte HS Lovett Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993 page 72 But the Lovetts, like so many other Aboriginal 2nd Sub Dept 1st B&D. people, were forgotten heroes. They were Tocumwal, NSW denied a soldier settlement block in the area where they had been brought up. Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, How did service Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the in the Army affect Somme to Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, Graeme Atkinson? 1993 pages 1–3 What is your opinion about the Lovett family’s Why does he contribution to the talk about having world wars? ‘conflicting’ ideas and attitudes?
The Lovett family has now been honoured by having the Department of Veterans’ Affairs building in Canberra named after them. The Roll of Honour from St Mary’s Do you think Church, Lake Condah. this is a fitting tribute to this family? © Returned & Services League of Australia 19 and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 I remember from when l was a kid, Dad used to take me to SOUR C E 11 Reg Saunders the Dawn Service. Every year I’d see him cry. l used to think
Reg Saunders was the nephew of Reg Rawlings. at one time that he was just crying for Uncle Harry because Saunders fought in World War II, and was promoted to he had a lot of regrets that his brother died. They were close Lieutenant, and then later to Captain in the Korean War as kids, they grew up together, they worked together but — the first Aboriginal soldier to be made an officer. they didn’t get to spend their lives together. But I realised later he was also crying for all the mates he had lost … He was wounded several times. There were a lot of complaints after they came back Here are some memories of him from his daughter. from the war, especially in the Western Districts. The Soldier Settlement Scheme, for instance, wasn’t available to them. Dad never got soldiers’ land. He was a tram conductor, he What benefits, swept railway stations, he worked in iron foundries, timber and what costs, did service seem mills. Then he got a job with Aboriginal Affairs. He was one to have for Reg Saunders? of the first Koories to be employed there.
Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the Somme to Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993 pages 21–22 For more information on Reg Saunders go to
Does he seem to have been fairly treated after his service?
AWM 057894 AWM Explain your answer.
SOUR C E 12 Leonard Waters
Leonard Waters was an Aboriginal airman who flew 95 missions in his Kittyhawk fighter against the Japanese in New Guinea, Morotai and Tarakan. Sergeant Reg Saunders, standing, 3rd from left.
After his discharge from the Air Force, Len looked for civilian Despite his inability to benefit from his service in the Air employment. Still keen to fly, he hoped to establish an aerial Force the war years presented Len Waters and many other taxi service in western Queensland in partnership with a St Aborigines and Islanders with opportunities to develop their George businessman and bookmaker. Given the deplorable potential. Perhaps even more importantly the war years state of western Queensland roads, an aerial taxi service had presented Aborigines and Islanders (and other ethnic looked to be a good business proposition. His bookmaker minorities within Australia) with the chance to show that partner would use the service to visit country races. relations between themselves and white Australians need Following the end of the war, many people, both black not be unremittingly hostile, as many whites seemed to and white, who had demonstrated skill and leadership in believe. Indeed, Aborigines and Islanders showed that the the army, navy or air force, were forced to resume civilian digger legend — one of the most profound and positive of employment at levels well below those they had achieved Australia’s self-images — encompasses black Australians as in the services. But this seems particularly poignant for well as white. those Aborigines and Islanders who might otherwise have Robert Hall, Black Magic: ‘Leonard Waters — Second World War been able to use their war service to break free from the fighter pilot’ inAboriginal History, Vol 16 1992 page 80 stereotypes that the dominant white society imposed upon them. However, Len was not able to use his wartime skills to further his post-war career. His attempts to obtain a civil Leonard Waters pilot’s licence were frustrated by lengthy bureaucratic delays, was the only Aboriginal — does this reduce the and he lacked the financial backing to buy his share of an fighter pilot value of using his experiences aircraft and start a taxi business. He was forced to give up as a case study for exploring his dream of flying to return to his pre-war life of shearing the Indigenous place in the and bush work. Explain ANZAC Tradition? your views.
20 © Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 SOUR C E 13 Reg rawlings and Henry Thorpe Reg Rawlings and Henry Thorpe were Aboriginal soldiers who were killed in action in France on the same day — 9 August 1918 — during the fighting that finally broke the German Army and ensured Allied victory in the war. Both Rawlings and Thorpe had previously been decorated for bravery. Here are their citations.
Citation for Military Medal Near YPRES on 4/5th October 1917, L-Cpl THORPE
displayed great courage and initiative in mopping
up enemy dugouts and pill boxes. In the capture of Battalion Objective he was conspicuous for his
courage and leadership, handling his men with skill AWM P01695.001
and materially assisting his Company Commander. Reginald Rawlings.
By his splendid example and disregard of all danger he inspired those under him. Citation for Military Medal At MORLANCOURT on night 28/29th July 1918, during Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, Forgotten Heroes. the attack on [an] enemy system this soldier had the Aborigines at War From the Somme to Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993 pages 6–7 responsible position of first bayonet man in a bombing team which worked down the enemy [trench], routed the enemy and established a block in the trenches. Pte For an exercise using documents on the RAWLINGS displayed rare bravery in the performance death of Reg Rawlings go to of his duty killing many of the enemy, brushing aside all
© Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 21 SOUR C E 15 An old friendship remembered
In 1972 the 7th Battalion A.I.F. Association sent a letter to Marjorie Thorpe, the grand-niece of Harry Thorpe. The letter recalled:
‘that great hurdler, excellent soldier and good cobber Harry … It grieves many of us that the prodigious valour and magnificent self-sacrifice, so much a feature of that dreadful war, is so unappreciated today if not utterly forgotten … You being Harry’s grand-niece, we would like to do our bit
to further your prospects as an entrant in the Miss Australia ▲ Quest; something that would at the same time serve as a tribute to Harry’s memory. To that end, we will be inviting the 40 or 50 at our Annual Reunion … to contribute … As you’d expect, you’ll find most of the chaps are pensioners, their average age being 78 … Incidentally, my good friend the late Joe CROWLEY (deceased 1950), “C” Coy. Stretcher bearer and an impressive sprinter and footballer, was part aborigine and, I think, our Jim STAUNTON, D.C.M. of Echuca, likewise deceased …’ Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the Somme to Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993
What does this letter suggest about the strength of friendships formed during World War I? How might that influence race relations after the war?
SOURCE 16 Two black diggers remember I don’t think being an Aborigine in the Army made any difference. We got on pretty well, we were treated pretty much the same. Everyone was joining up. I saw the big march in Melbourne when the diggers were going overseas. I thought, that’d be good, to go overseas, go to Egypt. When you’re young, you know. The war meant comradeship to me. The Army suited my way of life too. It was hard to get a job before the war. You worked here, worked there and it was hard to save up
your money to buy your tucker or buy clothes. In the Army AWM 13645 everything’s free, and the pay was five shillings a day. A man Australians at Gorari, New Guinea. was made. Coming from my background, it was a lot more security. Bill Egan and Jack Kennedy, World War II veterans in Alick Jackomos In what ways do these and Derek Fowell, Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the two men’s experiences seem to stress Somme to Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993 pages 30–33 their ‘Australianness’ rather than their ‘Indigenousness’?
22 © Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 SOUR C E 17 A letter to Mr McEwan
Dan Cooper was 21 when he was killed in action in 1917. What was Here are extracts from a letter written by his father, the William Cooper Aboriginal civil rights activist William Cooper, to John McEwen, seeking? Federal Minister for the Interior, in 1939:
I am father of a soldier who gave his life for his King on the battlefield Aboriginal people joined and thousands of coloured men enlisted in the A.IF. They will doubtless the armed services without having do so again though on their return last time, that is those who survived, were pushed back to the bush to resume the status of Aboriginals. The or being promised equal rights. Aboriginal now has no status, no rights, no land and nothing to fight for Why might they have done so? but the privilege of defending the land which was taken from him by the white race without compensation or even kindness. We submit that to put us in the trenches, until we have something to fight for, is not right. To Discuss My point, Mr M’Ewen, is that the enlistment of natives should be preceded by the removal of all disabilities. Then, with a country to fight for, the Aborigines would not be one whit behind white men in value. Do you think that the Can you not get my point … It will cost nothing to give the native born rights William Cooper was fighting in the land the same rights, not merely of the persons of European blood, for have now been achieved by but of Maoris and people of Chinese, Japanese and other Asiatic peoples, Aboriginal people? who may happen to be born in Australia, but it will give a great asset to Australia and the addition of a valuable unit of additional population. Alick Jackomos and Derek Fowell, Forgotten Heroes. Aborigines at War From the Somme to What forces Vietnam, Victoria Press, Melbourne, 1993 pages 9-10 and factors have helped and hindered Does more this process? need to be Conclusion done? You are now in a position to create your narrative and your analysis of the place of Indigenous people in the ANZAC Tradition. Part of your answer will involve the role of the Returned & Services League of Australia in promoting and possibly opposing Indigenous servicemen’s citizenship rights. Here is a final ‘voice’ from the RSL:
Extracts from a speech by a former President of the RSL, Major-General Phillips, setting out the RSL attitude and policies in this area in 1999 It is a great source of pride to me that the RSL annually offers soldiers and worked with tribes throughout the north. Some a tertiary scholarship in Reg [Saunders’] name to a deserving white veterans told me that they owed their lives to the young citizen of Aboriginal or Islander descent studying in assistance and the skills of the Aboriginal soldiers and helpers. the field of substance abuse. Reg taught me something of I am not proud to say that in the early days of World the proud military tradition in many Indigenous families. War II the Army ‘brass’ issued edicts banning the enlistment His uncle, Reg Rawlings, after whom he was named, won of non-Europeans. Even when that barrier was overcome, the Military Medal (MM) at Morlancourt in July 1918. the lower pay rates for some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Sadly, Reg’s younger brother, Harry, was killed in action, as Islander troops were a scandal. Sadly, at the end of the war, a 21-year old, in the fierce fighting at Gona in New Guinea. returned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans were Especially noteworthy were the Indigenous soldiers poorly treated. It took strong pressure to even get the vote for AWM 13645 employed in Thompson’s Northern Territory Special returned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans. They Reconnaissance Unit, forerunner of (the late Professor) had every right to feel aggrieved that, after having served Stanner’s Northern Australian Observer Unit, ‘The Nackeroos’ their country on the same footing as other Australians, they or ‘Curtin’s Cowboys’, as they were known. This unit did a were condemned to go back to the second class status they marvellous job in patrolling north Australia through 1942- had endured pre-war. Since then, the road to equality has 45. About 400 strong, the unit included some 60 Aboriginal been a long and difficult one.
© Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006 23 At the war’s end, the RSL continued to lobby for alive and dead. This project will also be useful in ensuring citizenship — as it had done in the early days of the war that Aboriginal veterans are recorded on War Memorials — and for the easing of controls over the lives of Aboriginal around Australia. servicemen. In 1946, the League put to the Prime Minister These developments will greatly assist in the process that, ‘in view of the high service rendered by Australian of reconciliation between Indigenous people and the wider Aborigines whilst members of the Defence Force, their community in this country. I am encouraging our Sub subsequent treatment as civilians is not in keeping with Branches to assist as most white Australian ex-service the high regard the general public has for their service in men and women are ready to commit themselves to wartime’. reconciliation. They know from experience in the services The RSL continued to argue for the grant of full that all of us are born equal and that, when the chips citizenship, and for the abandonment of restrictions on are down, colour, creed, and political persuasion are of the consumption of alcohol for Aboriginal ex-servicemen no consequence. Kenny Laughton, Aboriginal, Vietnam into the 1950s. By the late 1980s, however, commentators veteran and successful Adelaide author, told me that the were observing that the RSL seemed to have forgotten its only time in his life when he felt equal was in the Army! obligation to Aboriginal ex-servicemen. Many RSL members are only just coming to If that is still true, and I hope that it is not, then I am understand the grave injustices of the past and the reasons keen to change that view. The RSL is the oldest, largest why land rights and reconciliation are important for the and most influential of ex-service organisations. Its objects good of all Australians. Indigenous Australians suffered include primarily the commemoration of our war dead and greatly under the cultural imperialism of our white the care of sick and needy veterans and their dependants. forefathers. I have no hesitation in saying ‘sorry’ to fellow The RSL has been pleased to assist in the recent formation Australians for the injustices meted out to Indigenous of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Veterans peoples in the past. and Services Association of Australia. It is an important I hope that we can work together to make things better. development and could provide an effective means of RSL members have recently passed resolutions at their ensuring that all veterans and their widows receive the National Congress reaffirming that all members be treated benefits to which they are entitled to under the Veterans’ equally regardless of colour. In particular, I want to see Entitlement Act (1986) or under the Military Rehabilitation those Indigenous veterans and their dependants who have a Compensation Scheme (2004). An important first step will be legitimate claim against the Government being sought out the establishment of a register of Aboriginal veterans both and assisted to achieve their due. They deserve no less. http://bar.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/car/1999/8/wtpage11.htm
Presenting your findings Now that you have examined the evidence and You might like to present your findings in one of a information presented in this unit you can present your variety of ways, such as: findings to others. • a petition to Parliament You may realise that you need to carry out more • a statement to the local RSL research into various aspects of the issue. However, you will have enough information and evidence to • a letter to the Editor of the local newspaper develop a strong conclusion. • a dramatic piece about one family’s experience • a plaque to place in a school hall or corridor • a set of questions to use in interviewing returned servicemen or women • a poster advertising an ANZAC Day presentation • an entry for a new Australian history textbook • a statement to be read out at the next ANZAC Day commemoration in your school • a web blog in response to the original dialogue between Noel Pearson and Bill Crews
Plaque or you may choose some other form. at Rocky Creek, Atherton Tablelands, Queensland
24 © Returned & Services League of Australia and Ryebuck Media Pty Ltd 2006