Serving their Country: A Short History of Aboriginal ... - Australian Army

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HISTORYServing Their Country:A Short History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderService in the Australian ArmyTorres Strait Islander men whose job was to patrol the Torres Strait and to providemechanical and logistical support for ships passing through. This unit receivedlavish praise from superiors and visiting officers, yet its members received less paythan non-Indigenous men serving alongside them. Moreover, like the experience ofmany First World War Aboriginal men, part of their wages was quarantined by theQueensland Chief Protector and became part of what is now referred to as‘the stolen wages’. It was only in 1982 that surviving members of the TSLIBreceived back-pay — valued by then at over $7 million. 12Another all-Indigenous force was the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit(NTSRU), commissioned in mid-1941 and formed in February 1942. From February1942 to April 1943, anthropologist-turned serviceman Dr Donald Thomsonorganised and commanded a group of 51 Yolngu men in Arnhem Land,training them to use traditional bush tactics and weaponry to fight a guerrilla waragainst potential Japanese invaders. The group operated within a traditionalframework using spears rather than guns. They embarked on patrols of Arnhem Land,constructed outposts and were prepared to launch assaults on Japanese troopswho attempted to land. They received no payment except for basic trade goodssuch as fish hooks, wire and tobacco. The force disbanded in April 1943 whenthe course of the war reduced the threat of invasion, and other white units werecreated to patrol the sparsely defended north. It was not until 1992 that survivingmembers of the NTSRU and families of deceased veterans were awarded backpayfor their service. 13While the TSLIB and NTSRU were the only formal Indigenous units in the Top End,there were other Aboriginal men and women employed by the Army. Some workedin labour camps set up by the Army, moving ordnance, constructing shelters,preparing food and cleaning. Others who were resident at missions workedwith local Army or RAAF servicemen clearing and constructing runways, movingsupplies or serving as coastwatchers, rescuing downed Australian or American pilots.The North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU), a scouting unit formed across the TopEnd from Queensland to Western Australia, employed local Aboriginal men astrackers. For all the duties that local Indigenous men and women performed,they received little recognition or pay, primarily because they were not formallyenlisted in the Australian armed forces. 14The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contributions to the Second World Warbrought even more cross-cultural exposure to individual white service personnel.Among the more high profile servicewomen was the poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal,formerly known as Kath Walker. Oodgeroo enlisted in the Australian Women’sAustralian Army JournalCulture edition 2013, Volume X, Number 3 Page 16
HISTORYServing Their Country:A Short History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderService in the Australian ArmyArmy Service (AWAS) shortly after the fall of Singapore in February 1942,where two of her brothers were taken prisoner. Oodgeroo considered militaryservice a liberating experience from a life of oppression. She comments,‘There was a job to be done, just to get it done, and all of a sudden the colourline disappeared, it just completely disappeared and it happened in so manydifferent ways too.’ 15 She made lifelong friendships; in one speech Oodgerooremarked, ‘[in] the army, I was accepted as one of them and none of the girls Itrained with cared whether I was black, blue or purple. For the first time in my lifeI felt equal to other human beings.’ 16 Being accepted as an equal was an eyeopeningexperience.Oodgeroo also claims that she gained an education through the Army. She wrote:‘I joined the AWAS principally because I did not accept Fascism as a way of life.It was also a good opportunity for an Aboriginal to further their education. In factthere were only two places where an Aboriginal could get an education, in jail orthe Army and I didn’t fancy jail! Everyone was very nice to me when I joined up.’ 17Oodgeroo worked first as a switchboard operator. She was adept at her job,promoted to the rank of corporal and made responsible for training newswitchboard operators. She was also sent to work in the AWAS pay office. 18Already the acquisition of these skills and the experience as a trainer was preparingOodgeroo for a life beyond simply working as a domestic servant. Apart fromon-the-job training, Oodgeroo also took advantage of the educational opportunitiesoffered to ex-servicewomen to acquire more practical work skills. She explains:You see, Aboriginals weren’t entitled to any extra concessions of learningand it was the Army who changed the whole thing around. They said if youjoin the Army, you are going to go into the ‘dimwits’ course and you canlearn … And as soon as I got out of the Army, of course, I went into the‘dimwits’ course and did a stenographers course, shorthand, typing andbook-keeping. But it was the only thing open for us, to improve our lot. Soa lot of people [mostly men] went because they wanted to improve their lotand hoped to God they’d be still alive when the war was over so they couldtake advantage of this extra thing. 19Oodgeroo’s story is a familiar one among many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderveterans of the Second World War for whom the Army opened doors to newopportunities. Even so, there were thousands of others for whom the return tocivilian Australia also marked a return to discrimination.Australian Army JournalCulture edition 2013, Volume X, Number 3 Page 17
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