Villers-Bretonneux: a Strange Name for an Aboriginal Burial Ground by David Huggonson on Highway 29 Between Amiens and St
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
285 35. Evidence by Thomson in Mackay Commission, op.cit. 1908, p.251, referring to Japanese poachers. 36. Interview with Claude (73) and Harold White (80), Mackay, 14/8/1986. 37. Marie Albertus Bain Full Fathom Five. Perth: Artlook Books 1982, pp.311ff. 38. Interview with Ogawa Taira, op.cit. 39. Annual Reports of the Inspector of Pearl-Shell and Beche-de-mer Fisheries, Queensland Parliamentary Papers Vol. II, 1935-40. 40. Interview with Tatsuno Ryuhichi (67) Honai, 23/10/1987. 41. Melbourne Herald, 6/6/1953. 42. External Affairs, memo, CRS A1838/T184 Australian Archives, Canberra. 43. Asashi Shimbun, 25/2/1953, translated by the Australian Embassy, Tokyo. CRS A 1838/T184 # 3103/10/1/2, Australian Archives, Canberra. 44. Interview with Kyozo Hirakawa (52) Thursday Island 18/1/1987. 45. Interviews with Jack Kennell (63), Mackay, 8/10/1986 and George Kaddy (49), Mackay, 13/8/1986. 46. Interview with Hal Hockings, op.cit. 47. Interview with Hal Hockings, op.cit. Villers-Bretonneux: A Strange Name for an Aboriginal Burial Ground by David Huggonson On Highway 29 between Amiens and St. Quentin is located the French town of Villers-Bretonneux. In the cemeteries around the town there are 10,982 Australian graves. Thirteen of these graves are the final resting places of men who were initially banned from enUsting in a combatant role in the Australian Imperial Force during World War One. They were descendants of the original inhabitants of the Australian continent, the Aborigines. The first Aboriginal Digger to be kiUed and buried at Villers- Bretonneux was Charlie Gage who was born at Eugowra near Forbes, New South Wales, in 1891. Private Gage enlisted in February 1916 and sailed with the 8th Reinforcements to the 30th Battalion. He was killed in action in the northern winter on the 3rd December 1916. Charles' parents Christopher and Mary Gage were to experience the grief of having a second son killed the following September in France. 286 grief of having a second son killed the following September in France. Their eldest son Christopher Henry was 29 years old when he died during the battle known as the Third Ypres. He had enlisted one month after his younger brother, and been promoted to Lance Corporal with the 54th Battalion in April 1917. Chris left a widow Vera Kay Gage in the town of Orange.' Private John Coe was also a member of the 14th Brigade which comprised the 53rd, 54th, 55th and 56th BattaUons drawn from New South Wales. John was older than the average digger being 36 years of age when he was killed. John was born at Cowra and had four nephews who also served in the first AIF.^ Wallie Johnson,^ Albert Tripcony," Francis Varcoe and Alexander Jenkins all died in France in May 1917, ironically the same month Private Wallie Johnson, 47th Battalion, killed in action May 1917. 287 that the Australian Army officially allowed the enlistment of "Half- Castes". Military Order 200(2) of 1917 stated that "Medical Officers had to be satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin". One Queensland Medical Officer was to comment that some of the men presenting themselves at his recruitment centre were some of the "blackest half-castes that he had ever seen".' The failure of the Hughes' Government to win the October conscription reference of 1916 and the heavy battle casualties during the European winter had forced the Army to relax their racist restrictions on recruitment to enable them to maintain the all-volunteer AIF in France. The heaviest fighting in Spring 1918 was in the Villers- Bretonneux area because the town was situated on a vital road and railway line.'' Richard Martin of Stradbroke Island,^ Bill Egan of Warrnambool and Alister Lester, a labourer from the Mount Olive Mission near Singleton were killed repelling the German advance which began on 30 March. The German Armies on the Western Front had been reinforced by soldiers from the Eastern Front after the treaty of Brest- Litovsk had been signed by the Russian Bolsheviks. Alister Lester's brother August was killed five months later on 23 August during what was termed by Field MarshaU Haig as his "Second Stroke". This was the second British offensive on the German line south of the Somme River. Both brothers are listed together on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. The summer month of August also saw the third double tragedy for an Aboriginal family when William Firebrace of Balranald was killed within days of his cousin John who died during the first general assault which had begun on 8 August. Corporal August Pegg, farmer from Katanning, Western Australia, had been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry before he died leading his section of the 16th Battalion on the first day of the attack with the newly-developed tanks south of Cerisy. While thirteen dead Aboriginal soldiers may not seem many out of ten thousand Australians who died at Villers-Bretonneux, it must be remembered that at the time, Aborigines in Australia were denied the vote under the Commonwealth Franchise Act of 1902, the Invalid and Old-age Pension, and Commonwealth's Maternity Allowance which was introduced for white Australian families in 1912. The average wage for an Aboriginal male in 1914 was seven shillings and sixpence per week,* whereas the pay in the Australian Army was six shillings a day. Obviously this was a factor in many Aboriginal men deciding to enlist apart from the patriotic fervour of the time. 288 Furthermore, the Aboriginal population was calculated in 1911 to be only 80,113 persons for the whole of AustraUa. So an enlistment of over 400 men was a significant per capita effort for a country which at the time denied Aboriginal people basic human rights. Aboriginal Diggers Buried at Villers-Bretonneux, France Coe, Private John Henry Alfred, 53rd Battalion, Cowra, NSW Farmer, Corporal Augustus Pegg, 16th Battalion, Katanning, W.A. Egan, Private William Alex, 60th Battalion, Warrnambool, Vic. Firebrace, Private William Reginald, 24th Battalion, Balranald, NSW Gage, Private Charles Alfred, 56th Battalion, Eugowra, NSW Harris, Private James Gordon, 59th Battalion, Healesville, Vic. Jenkins, Private Alexander, 18th Battalion, Balmain, NSW Johnson, Private Wallie, 47th Battalion, St. George, Qld. Lester, Private Alister Roy, 4th Battalion, Singleton, NSW Lester, Private Augustus, 34th Battalion, Singleton, NSW Martin, Private Richard, 47th Battalion, Dunwich, Qld. Tripcony, Private Albert, 25th Battalion, Dunwich, Qld. Varcoe, Private Francis Albon, 27th Battalion, Point Macleay Mission, S.A. NOTES 1. Roll Call published by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1986 as a guide to its genealogical sources which were used extensively in the preparation of this article. 2. Private J.A. Coe Regt No 5331, 17 Battalion; Private Cecil Coe Regt No 6130, 4 Battalion; Private Walter Coe Regt No 66304, AAMC; Private E.J. Coe Regt No 3360, 54 Battalion. 3. Private Wallie Johnson, Regt No 2444, 47 Battalion, born Whyanbah station, foster father, Constable Philip Webster Cowley, Police Station, Inglewood, Qld. Letters to author from Desmond P. Cowley of Inglewood 28 July 1987 and 3 January 1989. 4. Private Albert Tripcony, Regt No 5655, 25th Battalion, Dunwich, North Stradbroke Island, Qld. Letter to author from Silva Margaret Iselin of Dunwich 14 October 1986, and information and photographs from Mr Archie Newfong of Wynnum. 5. D. Huggonson, Dark Diggers of the AIF, Australian Quarterly, Spring 1989. 6. C.E.W. Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Angus & Robertson Ltd, Sydney. 7. Private Richard Martin, Regt No 1359, 47th Battalion, Myora, North Stradbroke Island. Letter to author from Silva Margaret Iselin of Dunwich 14 October 1986. Private Martin served with the AIF's 15th BattaHon at Gallipoli from May 1915. He was wounded three times in France and Belgium before being killed on 28 March 1918. 8. Annual Report of the Chief Protector of Aboriginals for 1914, Queensland Parliamentary Papers 1915-16. .