OPINION: Aboriginal servicemen ignored for far too long

The questioner wanted the panel to comment on why politicians support ‘‘handing everything back to Aborigines’’ when ‘‘we’re all Australians’’.

Professor Langton responded in a dignified manner to the provocation. According to this popular mythology, Aboriginal people have not contributed to the peace and prosperity of the nation and therefore have no claim on the state. She called for a reliance on historical facts, rather than the mindless repetition of fallacies. In that context, she made an impassioned aside. This related to the hoary myth that indigenous people had made no contribution to service of the nation in the many overseas wars that have involved Australia since the 19th century.

Professor Langton also spoke that evening about the importance of recognising indigenous people in the Australian Constitution. As she explained, their omission from the Constitution has mirrored their historical exclusion from many aspects of Australian life. 

This is demonstrably the case with recognition of the sacrifice and service of indigenous personnel in the armed forces. That lack of recognition applies to both combat and non-combat roles. In point of fact, the tradition of indigenous service in the military long pre-dated the birth of the Anzac tradition. And yet, until very recently, that involvement had been comprehensively written out of history. Why?

In World War I, Aboriginal people were excluded from serving with the Australian Imperial Force under an amendment in 1909 to the 1903 Defence Act. Only men who were ‘‘of substantial European origin or descent’’ were permitted to serve until 1917. Serious manpower losses on the Western Front forced the authorities into action that year, amending the regulations to allow mixed-race Aboriginal men to serve. 

Before that, Aboriginal volunteers had two options: to denounce their Aboriginality and declare ey knew ‘‘how to live like a white man’’ or resort to ‘‘racial passing’’. This meant concealing your true identity to satisfy the regulations. In many cases, this involved presenting as someone of Indian or Maori origin.

 More than 800 cases of indigenous volunteers for the First AIF have now been documented and the Australian War Memorial, whose agency is central to the recovery of indigenous participation, now believes the figure is more than 1000.

In the aftermath of both world wars, Aboriginal people continued to be ignored, forgotten about and excluded from repatriation benefits extended to the majority of returned servicemen. This applied even to indigenous soldiers who had served with merit and were awarded military decorations. 

There are very few documented cases of returned servicemen receiving land under the soldier settlement schemes. To make matters worse, Aboriginal land was appropriated for the settlement of veterans but the selection criterion rested on skin colour.

There were many sites of exclusion and discriminatory practice that affected indigenous veterans, including some RSL clubs and their inter-war forerunner. 

These Diggers were denied a military burial and financial assistance for funeral costs.

There is now significant momentum in various quarters to recover, remember and honour the many and varied contributions of Aboriginal service personnel. 

The War Memorial is contributing on several fronts. The stories generated from ongoing research into indigenous Anzacs will be an important feature of the memorial’s revitalised galleries. It is also providing input to about 15 documentaries, programs and cultural productions that will take the message to a mass audience. Among these productions is the Queensland Theatre Company’s excellent Black Diggers, which premiered at the Sydney Festival in January.

The report by the Rudd government’s Centenary Commission on Anzac, released in 2012, recognises the importance to Aboriginal communities of acknowledging their service. 

Last November the nation’s first indigenous war memorial was unveiled in Adelaide. Before then, the only recognition of indigenous Australians’ role in war service had been a small plaque on the side of a rock on Mount Ainslie behind the Australian War Memorial. A new memorial honouring that role is also planned for Hyde Park in Sydney in time for the Anzac centenary  in April 2015. 

Although long overdue, the remembering and honouring of Aboriginal Anzacs now would be a vital step towards reconciliation.

 James Bennett is head of history at the University of Newcastle