Australian War Memorial

Amid the Olympic spirit, today we commemorate Second Lieutenant Cecil Patrick Healy who was an Australian Olympic gold medallist killed in action during the Battle of the Somme in 1918.

Healy won a gold medal in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay and a silver medal in the 100 m freestyle events at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. His acts of chivalry towards his opponents at the Olympic Games have been described as one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship in Olympic history.

Despite his reservations for the military, Healy enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 at the age of 33. He initially served behind the front line as a Company Quarter Master Sergeant, organising activities to help troops with homesickness and stresses of the battlefield.

In 1918, he undertook officer training to become an infantry platoon commander. Three months later, on 29 August 1918, Cecil Healy was shot and killed leading his platoon during the Australian attack on Péronne.

Cecil stands as an example of living the Olympic values. Today, we remember him for his leadership, bravery and sportsmanship.

Image: Studio portrait lantern slide of Warrant Officer Cecil Healy. Maker: Linton Slide. c. 1917. P04366.007

Today marks the 107th anniversary of the Third Battle of Ypres - the major British offensive in Flanders in 1917.

The battle comprised of a series of limited and costly offensives, often undertaken in the most difficult of waterlogged conditions - a consequence of frequent periods of rain and the destruction of the Flanders' lowlands drainage systems by intense artillery bombardment.

As the opportunity for breakthrough receded, General Sir Douglas Haig still saw virtue in maintaining the offensives, hoping in the process to drain German manpower through attrition.

Australian Divisions participated in the battles of Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcapelle and the First Battle of Passchendaele. In eight weeks of fighting Australian forces incurred 38,000 casualties.

The combined total of British and Dominion casualties has been estimated at 310,000 and no breakthrough was achieved. The costly offensives, ending with the capture of Passchendaele village, merely widened the Ypres salient by a few kilometres.

Image: Five Australians, members of a field artillery brigade, passing along a duckboard track over mud and water among gaunt bare tree trunks in the devastated Chateau Wood, a portion of one of the battlegrounds in the Ypres salient. 29 October 1917.

Photographer: James Francis (Frank) Hurley, E01220

A portrait of 57997 Leading Aircraftman Thomas “Pop” Byrne writing a letter while stationed with No 3 Airfield Construction Squadron, in January 1945.

Thomas was 49 and working as a labourer in Warrnambool, Victoria, when he enlisted for the Second World War in June 1942. His war record includes a letter, where he writes that “I have had one son killed in Tobruk, two other sons are somewhere in Australia and a son-in-law still somewhere overseas. It is my earnest wish to do my little bit to help them…”.

Photographer: John Harrison
Accession number: OG1889

On this day in 1916, Sergeant Claud Charles Castleton performed the actions at Pozières for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Born in England, Claud Castleton arrived in Melbourne in 1912 seeking travel and adventure. He was in Port Moresby when the First World War began, but in March 1915 returned to Sydney to enlist. He served on Gallipoli with the 18th Battalion and later transferred to the 5th Machine Gun Company.

On 29 July 1916, during a night attack on enemy trenches, many wounded men were left lying in no man's land. On two occasions Castleton went out in the face of enemy fire to bring in wounded men on his back. When he went out a third time, he was hit in the back and instantly killed.

He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. His body was later recovered and is buried in the main British war cemetery at Pozières.

Image: Portrait of 1352 Sergeant Claud Charles Castleton, 5th Company, Australian Machine Gun Corps. c 1915-1916. H06769

A versatile ship: HMAS Adelaide’s service during the Second World War ⚓

The light cruiser HMAS Adelaide had seen service by the start of the Second World War. Built at the end of the First World War, it had been re-fitted and updated several times, as well as participating in policing actions in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and trans-Tasman exercises with New Zealand. Adelaide would see action in the Second World War, participate in training exercises, and become a reliable es**rt along shipping routes around Australia and the near region.

Read more about : https://brnw.ch/21wLx47

Images: 1. HMAS Adelaide, March 1940. Photographer: Frank Boase Studio. AWM 300090.
2. HMAS Adelaide's war diary, September 1940. RCDIG1072649

The end of the Korean War came with the signing of an armistice on 27 July 1953, three years and one month after the war began. The ending was so sudden that some soldiers had to be convinced that it really was over.

It had been one of the bloodiest wars of the century. Nearly four million Koreans and Chinese were killed - more than half the dead were Korean civilians. Australian casualties numbered over 1,500, including 340 dead.

United Nations losses amounted to more than 36,000, most of whom were US servicemen. Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Holland, the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey together lost 1,800 men; another 7,000 men were wounded, of whom almost half were Turks.

Throughout the peninsula, a third of all homes and nearly half of Korea's industry were destroyed. Neither side had lost or clearly won the war. Communist attacks on South Korea had been contained, but at a terrible price in human lives.

The presence of Australians in Korea continued with a peacekeeping force until 1957. Meanwhile, the servicemen returning home were greeted by a public that was largely indifferent to their deeds and sacrifices.

Image: Members of 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), awaiting orders to disembark from the TSS New Australia. Pusan, Korea. 30 March 1954. AWM 157826

Participation medals have been produced and distributed at the Olympic Games since the first modern Olympics were held in Athens in 1896. This example was issued to Captain Claude Smeal, a signals officer with 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment who had been selected to run the marathon at the 1952 games in Helsinki. Although not originally selected for the Australian Olympic Team, Smeal, who was deployed to Korea, continued to train and with the help of two war correspondents ran a time trial which helped qualify him for the games. Granted special leave from active service, Smeal ultimately finished 45th out of a field of 66.

Image: Captain Claude Smeal receiving trophy for Britcom Signals Regiment Hiroshima to Kure marathon. Photographer: Claude Rudolph Holzheimer. AWM 148220

Accession number: REL45960

Wally Brown was a grain merchant. He, like his two brothers, loathed their work and all eventually left. One went to the United States, one to North Queensland, and Wally went to war.

In late July 1915 the lure of adventure and, no doubt, a sense of duty, led him to enlist. Life could not have been any further removed from his small Tasmanian birthplace. He was determined to get to the Western Front, and the action.

Read more: https://brnw.ch/21wLtIt

Artwork: John Longstaff, 'Sergeant Walter "Wally" Brown, VC', c. 1928, oil on canvas, 76.4 x 64 cm, ART09490

Did you know?

Children in Australia helped to raise funds for the war effort. Bertie Betts, dressed as Lord Kitchener, and his cousin, Eunice Bryant, dressed as a nurse, were winners of a Red Cross fancy dress competition in 1915. The children were photographed, and postcards were produced and sold to raise money for the Red Cross.

Accession number: P08189.001

Today marks the 108th anniversary of the battle of Pozières. Of the 23,000 Australian casualties from the battle, 6,800 men were killed or died of wounds.

One of those on the battlefield that day, Private John Leak, performed the actions for which he would be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Born in England in 1892, John Leak came to Australia as a boy and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915. He served on Gallipoli, and the following year accompanied his unit to France, fighting at Pozières.

On 23 July 1916, during an enemy attack, Leak ran out of a trench under heavy machine gun fire and threw three bombs into the enemy trench. While his party was being driven back by the enemy, he continued to throw bombs and was the last to withdraw at each stage. When reinforcements arrived, they were able to recapture the trench. For his 'most conspicuous bravery', Leak was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Leak returned to Australia at the end of the war and was discharged on 31 May 1919. After a few jobs, Leak became a garage proprietor in Western Australia, before retiring to South Australia, where he died on 20 October 1972.

Today's Last Post Ceremony will commemorate the battle of Pozières. Watch live at 4:30 pm AEST: https://brnw.ch/21wLrjp

Image: Studio portrait of Private John Leak VC, 9th Battalion. c. 1916. Accession number: P02939.009

Miss Nell White using an oxy-acetylene cutter working on a 2 inch naval gun in the Bendigo Commonwealth Ordnance Factory in 1942. The original caption notes that she is the first woman in Australia to use this style of tool and that she was the only woman in the factory to be paid the full male rate of pay.

Unknown official photographer
Accession number: AWM 044520

On this day in 1917, the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station was bombed several times at Trois Arbes, France.

Four members of the Australian Army Nursing Service rescued patients trapped in the burning canvas tents. Sisters Alice Ross-King, Dorothy Cawood, Clare Deacon and Staff Nurse Mary Derrer were awarded Military Medals for their bravery.

In total, seven Military Medals were awarded to women of the Australian Army Nursing Service during the First World War.

Learn more: https://brnw.ch/21wLpVS

Images:
1. Studio portrait of Sister Alice (Alys) Ross King, Military Medal, 1916. (Courtesy of Australian Army Museum of Western Australia)
[cwa-org-32-P1900.1070]

2. Portrait of Sister Dorothy Gwendoline Cawood, November 1914. [H18334]

3. Studio portrait of Nursing Sister Clare Deacon - recipient of Military Medal in France. (Courtesy of Libraries Tasmania) [PH30-1-5314]

4. Portrait of Sister Mary Jane Derrer, 17 June 1917. [P00156.071]

in 1942, Japanese forces landed at Buna-Gona.

Buna, a village on the coastal plain of northern Papua, was the main base for the Japanese advance along the Kokoda Trail. The first Japanese landings in the area occurred at Gona, east of Buna, on 21 July 1941 and Buna was later occupied by troops on foot.

Large scale landings subsequently occurred at Buna on 21 August. The Japanese presence forstalled the Allies' own plans to develop a base at Buna. From west to east, the Buna area encompassed Buna village, Buna Government Station, and, several kilometres to the east, two airstrips - "old" and "new".

Major fighting did not occur at Buna until after the Japanese had advanced and then retreated along the Kokoda Trail. American troops of the 32nd Division initially closed on Buna in November 1942 - one infantry regiment attacked towards the village from the south, while another advanced on the airstrips from the east.

A combination of inexperience and poor leadership, however, meant they made little progress against the well-sited and heavily fortified bunkers with which the Japanese defended it.

Read the full article: https://brnw.ch/21wLpbr

Images: Wanigela, New Guinea. 1942-10. American troops of the 2nd Battalion, 128th Regiment, 32nd United States Divison embarking on luggers bound for Pongani during the preliminary allied movement on the Japanese held Buna-Gona beachhead. (1) 127514 (2) 127513.

Some of the most poignant examples of commemorative jewellery held in the Memorial’s collection are original, specially commissioned pieces with specific meaning to the family and the service person being commemorated.

This locket was given to Mrs Harriet Lukey in memory of her son, Private Charles William Moyle Lukey who was killed in action at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. A jeweller in civilian life, Lukey’s workmates presented this locket to his mother as a token of sympathy. His initials are featured on the front of the locket in an interlocking sypher.

"A token of sympathy to Mrs Lukey. From the shopmates of her son who was killed in action in France 19th July 1916"

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Today marks the 108th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles.

The battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was a bloody initiation for Australian soldiers to warfare on the Western Front. Soldiers of the newly arrived 5th Australian Division, together with the British 61st Division, were ordered to attack strongly fortified German front line positions near the Aubers Ridge in French Flanders.

The attack was intended as a feint to hold German reserves from moving south to the Somme where a large Allied offensive had begun on 1 July. The feint was a disastrous failure. Australian and British soldiers assaulted over open ground in broad daylight and under direct observation and heavy fire from the German lines.

Over 5,500 Australians became casualties. Almost 2,000 of them were killed in action or died of wounds and some 400 were captured. This is believed to be the greatest loss by a single division in 24 hours during the entire First World War. Some consider Fromelles the most tragic event in Australia’s history.

Watch today's Last Post Ceremony at 4.30 pm AEST: https://www.youtube.com//streams

Image: France, 19 July 1916. Men of the 53rd Battalion in a trench in their front line a few minutes before the launching of the attack in the battle of Fromelles.

Photographer: Charles Henry Lorking
Accession number: H16396

Three postcards of historical significance, sent from France by an Indigenous Australian soldier and his half-brother during the First World War, have been discovered at a regional Victorian market.

The postcards, which cost only ten dollars each, were purchased by local couple Ron and Jeannie Lister at the Bendigo showgrounds marketplace.

“The postcards stood out because of the intricate embroidery, but I recognised them as First World War souvenirs sent by service personnel,” Jeannie said.

“I noticed they had been sent in 1917 from France to family in Ouyen, Victoria, so I thought I might be able to trace who they belong to and return them to the family.”

An amateur family historian, Jeannie discovered the postcards were written by Raymond Charles Runga and his half-brother Arthur Henry Fox. Through her research, Jeannie discovered Charles Runga was a highly decorated veteran of the First World War.

“I now realised the postcards were historically significant and believed the best place for them to be kept was in the collection of the Australian War Memorial,” Jeannie said.

Read the full story: https://brnw.ch/21wLm8a

Image: Australian War Memorial curator Garth O’Connell with the 1916 postcards linked to Indigenous WWI soldier Charlie Runga. (Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, The Age)

✨ Have you seen our revamped Cold War Gallery? ✨

📍 Cold War Gallery 1945-1991
📍 Lower Level, Australian War Memorial

From the dawn of the nuclear age with the dropping of atomic bombs over Japan to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the new gallery takes visitors on a journey through the Cold War that dominated world politics in the second half of the 20th century.

The newly enhanced exhibits, include:

◼️ Insights into Australia’s pivotal role during the Cold War

◼️ Artworks by official war artist, Ivor Hele

◼️ The Berlin blockade featuring a real fragment of the Berlin Wall

◼️ Rare artifacts, including Lt. Col. Charles Green’s slouch hat & binoculars

◼️ First-ever display of an original North Korean army uniform

◼️ Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) surveillance equipment

We were honored to have veteran Col Berryman and Colonel Jinbu Kim, Defence Attaché of the Korean Embassy, attend the launch in late June.

Book your Galleries and Commemorative Area ticket: https://www.awm.gov.au/visit

On this day in 1918, Lieutenant Albert Chalmers Borella performed the actions at Villers-Bretonneux in France for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

On 17 June 1918, Albert Borella led a platoon in an attack to straighten the front line beyond Villers-Bretonneux, from which a major British offensive was to be launched a few weeks later. While ahead of his troops, he single-handedly captured a machine-gun.

Then, after clearing a trench and dug-outs, he inspired his men to hold out during heavy enemy counter-attacks. Borella had earlier received the Military Medal and been Mentioned in Despatches.

Borella was recommended for the Distinguished Service Order for his actions at Villers-Bretonneux, with the award later upgraded to the Victoria Cross.

Although he had enlisted in Townsville (from Darwin), after the war he lived in Victoria as a farmer. Borella also served in the Second World War, and afterwards settled in Albury, New South Wales.

Image: c. 1918. Studio portrait of Lieutenant Albert Chalmers Borella VC MM, 26 Battalion. P02939.032

NX59747 Sergeant John Hawkins reacting to a young kookaburra perched on his shoulder in Wondecla, Queensland. Moments before the photograph was taken the bird had pecked him unexpectedly.

Unknown official photographer, AWM 085625.

Mario Bakerini-Booth was a swing-band musician touring South Asia with his wife, Dorothy, when war erupted in the Pacific in December 1941. 🎵

The couple attempted to flee to Singapore but their ship was rerouted and detained in the Philippines, and they were taken to Santo Tomás Internment Camp in Manila.

Santo Tomás held over 4,000 civilian prisoners of the Japanese from January 1941 to February 1945. Repurposed from the grounds of the city’s university, the internment camp held a diverse mix of nationalities, including Americans, Australians, Poles and Cubans. Many families were interned together, and several hundred children were born in the camp.

Mario and Dorothy, also a performer, organised regular concerts with other musicians at Santo Tomás.

Only weeks after his arrival, Mario composed and conducted an Easter Mass. Following its success, he composed and conducted another Easter Mass the next year, arranging parts for soloists and accompanists. Mario also co-composed the tongue-in-cheek ‘Internee Song’ with Dave Harvey, and transposed popular classical pieces to swing-rhythms for internees to dance to.

The concerts provided much-needed morale as internees suffered from over-crowding, poor sanitation and malnutrition. The concerts were eventually prohibited by camp authorities from late 1944 when Americans air-raids began on Manilla. Mario and Dorothy were liberated in February 1945 and, after emigrating to Australia, Mario resumed work as an orchestra conductor and band musician.

Mario’s music scores, including the 18-page master version of his 1943 Easter Mass, is held in the Memorial’s Private Records collection PR03257.

Images: Opening movement of Mario Bakerini-Booth’s Easter Mass (1943), PR03257; Australian civilian internees in front of the main building of the Internment Camp at Santo Tomas University, P00082.045; Mario and Dorothy (back row, left and middle) feature in a newspaper article from The Courier Mail, April 1945. Credit: Trove

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people please be advised that the following post contains the names and images of deceased people.

Kenneth Colbung, also known by his Indigenous name Nundjan Djiridjarkan, was a prominent Aboriginal activist and respected Noongar Elder of the Bibbulmun people.

A veteran of the Australian Army, Ken served with distinction in Korea, where he witnessed the horrors of war and the resilience of humanity. He spoke about his experiences in a radio interview with the ABC in 1998:

“The sound of war is nothing. It's the sound of humanity that's involved in war that's probably more deadly than any bullet.”

His dedication to peace, respect, and understanding left an indelible mark on all who knew him.

Colbung went on to advocate for cultural and human rights for Aboriginal people and his involvement in the Australian Black Power Movement of the 1960s marked him as a formidable campaigner for justice. He played a pivotal role in developing the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1980 and the Order of Australia Medal in 1982 for his tireless efforts.

Ken spent over 20 years searching for the remains of his ancestor, the Noongar leader and warrior Yagan, symbolizing his deep commitment to his heritage and people.

Read more: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/kenneth-colbung

Image: Kenneth Colbung, credit DVA

'We didn’t know what our future would be' | Australian War Memorial 'We didn’t know what our future would be' Claire Hunter 27 July 2023 9 mins read Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, please be advised the following article contains names and images of deceased people. Ken Colbung was one of more than 60 Indigenous Australians who served in Kor...

From the lens of history: 20-year-old Tasmanian Paul Macmichael, was a ABC cameraman when conscripted for service during the Vietnam War. 📷

Choosing the front lines over the Education Corps, he served with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment.

Swipe to see his candid, personal photographs of war.

View more photography from Paul Macmichael in the collection: https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search?query=Paul%20Macmichael&collection=true&facet_type=Photograph

Images:

Corporal (Cpl) Peter Edward (Pete) Clements, 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron, sits on top of an APC on the deck of HMAS Sydney (en route to Vung Tau). c June 1966 P05655.083A Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter hovers over 1 Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron P05655.154

Little Pattie performs with Col Joye and the Joy Boys in Nui Dat.

During the concert, the Battle of Long Tan commenced in a nearby rubber plantation. 18 Aug 1966 P05655.009

An unidentified member of 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), eating from a ration pack during Operation Bribie. Feb 1967. P05655.060

Family and friends farewell Australian soldiers as HMAS Sydney departs for Vietnam. May 1966 P05655.085

Medical Dust Off during Operation Bribie. P05655.051

216502 Trooper Douglas Thomas (Doug) Lennox (left), 47015 Major Gordon James 'Guns' Murphy (behind Lennox's left shoulder, looking to his right) and 3786788 Lance Corporal Anthony Bernhard (Tony) Graf (with cigarette) enjoy a beer in a mess tent, most likely that of 1 Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron/A Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment. P05655.152

Private James Peter (Jimmy) Richmond, 11 Platoon, in the back of an APC following his recovery from the Long Tan battle site the morning after the battle. P05655.015

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people please be advised that the following post contains the names and images of deceased people.

Captain Reginald Walter Saunders was a Gunditjmara man from Victoria who served in the Second World War and the Korean War. He came from a long line of soldiers, his father and uncle both having served in the First World War and his brother having been killed in action in the Second World War in New Guinea. Saunders carried this cigarette case during his service in the Middle East and Mediterranean. The interior of the case bears the details of his military service: locations, name, service number and battalion scratched in block print letters into the gold-coloured surface.

In December 1944, Saunders became the first Indigenous Australian to be commissioned as an officer into the Australian Army. He was promoted to captain in 1950 while in Korea, where he served in 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. He commanded a company during the battle of Kapyong in April 1951. Saunders left Korea after fighting in the battle for Hill 317 in October 1952 and resigned from the regular army in 1954. In 1985, he was appointed to the Council of the Australian War Memorial.

On the home front, Saunders was a highly respected advocate for Indigenous rights. He worked as a liaison officer in the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his work raising the profile of Indigenous communities.

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Photo: Lieutenant Reginald Saunders meeting Lieutenant Thomas Derrick VC DCM. November 1944. Photographer: Keith Rainsford. AWM 083166

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, please be advised that the following post contains names and images of deceased people.

2nd Lieutenant Alfred John Hearps holds the distinction of being the only known Indigenous Australian commissioned officer to die during the First World War.

He was also the second Aboriginal Tasmanian man to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, signing his attestation papers at Pontville on the 20th of August 1914, just over a fortnight after war was declared.

To his proud descendants, he is not Alfred but Uncle Jack. Since discovering their Aboriginal heritage in the early 1990s, the family has gradually been uncovering more information about Jack, his war service, and their family’s Palawa heritage.

More than a century after his death in France in 1916, members of Jack’s family came together to commemorate his life at the Australian War Memorial’s NAIDOC Week Last Post Ceremony. For many of them, it was the first time they had met.

Read the full story: https://brnw.ch/21wLect

Images:
1. Family photograph of Jack, taken at a photography studio in Bernie, Tasmania.
2. Some of Jack’s descendants in attendance at the NAIDOC Week Last Post Ceremony on 9 July 2024.
3. Jack (left) in uniform with two of his “chums”, as he described them on the back of the postcard.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have served in every conflict and commitment involving Australian defence contingents, preceding Australia’s Federation in 1901 to today.

The Memorial Shop presents a selection of publications, available for purchase now (while stocks last).

🛒 https://shop.awm.gov.au/collections/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-military-service

Prices start at $14.99 + postage.

in 1941 Private James Heather Gordon was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions performed while fighting the Vichy French near Jezzine, Lebanon.

Shortly after he was awarded the Victoria Cross, official war artist William Dargie was commissioned to paint Gordon’s portrait. This work won the Archibald prize in 1942 and was extremely popular due to patriotic sentiment combined with a high public regard for the depiction of the typical digger.

Learn more: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C169307

Art: William Dargie, Corporal Jim Gordon, 1941, ART26993

Images: Corporal James Gordon c October 1941, 021197; Gordon poses to have his portrait painted by official war artist William Dargie. 022350

Members of No. 112 Squadron posing with a Curtiss Kittyhawk in January 1942. The squadron painted fierce shark faces onto their aircraft, earning them the nickname of “Shark Squadron”.

011944. Photographer: Damien Parer

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people please be advised that the following post contains the names and images of deceased people.

“During the Great War a number of our boys from Warangesda went overseas … and some did not come back – a nephew of mine amongst them. Do you think, Sir, it was for this they died?”

Current Memorial research estimates that approximately 1,200 Indigenous Australian men attempted to enlist in the First World War. They did so in spite of the military restrictions on their service and the widespread dispossession, discrimination, and inequality many faced in their day-to-day lives.

The willingness of Indigenous men to serve a country that often denied them the rights and privileges freely granted to other Australians did not go unnoticed back home.

In the decades following the war, many Indigenous veterans and civilians wrote of their dissatisfaction in local newspapers, or discussed their misgivings with friendly ears.

Indigenous Australian activism during the interwar period addressed a number of interlinked concerns, including access to education, freedom to visit pubs and hotels, the protection of Aboriginal land and reserves, and the lack of respect shown to Indigenous Australians by the wider Australian public.

Read more: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/service-as-citizenship-0

Image: The Australian Aboriginal League float in the 1947 May Day procession. P01248.001

Identified, left to right: Miss Leila Lord; Mr Tasman Dotti (who served as N161969 Private Dotti, D Company, 16th VDC Battalion) holding a sign which reads "Burn our welfare board"; Miss Alice Groves, holding a sign which reads "United in War, Divided in Peace"; Miss Delys Cross; Mr Herbert Stanley Groves (who served as NX200798 Private Groves, 2nd Australian Artillery Training Regiment) wearing his Second World War uniform as protest, holding a sign which reads "Free to fight but not to drink" and Mr Athol Frederic Lester (who served as NX90799, Private Lester, 2/5th Australian Infantry Battalion) holding a sign which reads "Our famous 1947 Australian All Blacks".

Service as Citizenship | Australian War Memorial Service as Citizenship Rachel Caines 04 July 2024 6 mins read Current Memorial research estimates that approximately 1,200 Indigenous Australian men attempted to enlist in the First World War. They did so in spite of the military restrictions on their service and the widespread dispossession, discri...