Aboriginal ANZACs
24 April 2008 by
Robyn Van Dyk .
4 Comments
Battlefield Tours, News , Gallipoli
There are only five known Aboriginal servicemen buried at Gallipoli, however, it is estimated that 500-800 Aboriginal diggers served in the First World War. Ethnicity was not recorded in the enlistment process and research into indigenous service can involve trawling across many different sources, sometimes we may never know who these servicemen were.
Garth O’Connell, a fellow member of the battlefield tour, has been researching Aboriginal service. Garth works at the Australian War Memorial and in his spare time created a website that includes information on researching Aboriginal Servicemen. On the tour he took a few moments out to give an interview with Channel Seven about his research: You can view Garth’s interview here.
Garth has located and photographed 4 of the 5 graves of Aboriginal Diggers so far.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Good post Robyn. I hope you enjoyed ANZAC Day at Gallipoli. We’ve been flat-out back home and you’ve been missed.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Hi Garth
I was interested in your research on the Aboriginal service men. I too have been doing a little digging about for this information. I teach indigenous students in a community south of Cairns in QLD. I recently attended the History Summer School with the ANU in January this year and we visited the War Memorial twice during our studies. On Thursday 23rd we held an ANZAC service for the 39 indigenous men from the Torres Strait who served in the Torres Light Infantry Battalion in WW2. The only Indigenous Battalion ever formed in our military history. It gave my students a real sense of pride and they now realise that ANZAC day is not just a white Australian celebration. I have some footage that will be available soon, if you are interested?
Regards Dean
April 27th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Thank you to Robyn and Garth for the infomation posted here. I am a Year 6 teacher in Western Australia and this term we are working on a unit of work entitled Australians at War. I am interested in obtaining as much information as possible on Indigenous Australians involved in the armed forces. If you have any ideas on where I can find more information I would greatly appreciate your input.
Regards Erica
April 28th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
hi Garth,
Great work finding those war graves. Look forward to hearing about your trip when you get back. regards, AIATSIS Library Staff.