For many,
the march was to honour those who served and didn’t receive the recognition
they deserved upon returning home.
“The
Aboriginal diggers have never been properly recognised,” said Naomi Mayers, CEO
of the Aboriginal Medical Service. “Actually they were ignored when they came
back home. My uncles where some of them, Jack Patten and Aaron Briggs. They
weren’t even allowed into RSL clubs.”
The event
was the brainchild of Pastor Ray Minniecon,
Director of Crossroads Aboriginal Ministries. During the march, Pastor
Minniecon said, “I’m just enjoying being out here, with the community. Showing
our recognition, our respect for those who served. It’s good to see our
community come out and do that.”
Rob Bryant,
Vietnam Vet in the RAAF took part in the march and said he believed a Coloured
Diggers march was important for the whole community. “It is so important. The
whole Indigenous community can participate in Anzac Day celebrations on their
terms.”
Often,
Indigenous men and women where treated as equals within the armed forces, only
to be treated as second-class citizens when they came home. As Bob Noble,
ex-serviceman said, “There was a great difficulty in settling back into
society. They weren’t even permitted to go into a pub to share a beer with
their comrades they fought in the trenches with.”
Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders have fought in every major European conflict, from
the Boar War in the late 19th century to recent missions in Somalia
and East Timor, with at least 500 serving in World War I and 5,000 in World War
II.
One major
issue still, is working out how many served and who they were. From the First
World War, right up to the Vietnam War, Aboriginals were not asked to state
their cultural background. In fact, in WWI in order to serve, you had to be not
more than “one-quarter” Aboriginal. Many got around this by stating they were
Polynesian, Maori or even Indian.
This is
something Ray Minniecon is trying to
rectify. “This is a challenge for us. One of the things we are doing at the
moment is collecting names from ancestors and also trying to work out what
nation group they came from. We don’t know how many of our people have not been
repatriated, we still have a long way to go on that front.”
It seems
that many Indigenous diggers didn’t receive the benefits due to them, such as
war pensions. One reason for this, says Bob Noble, was that they simply didn’t
know.
“A lot of
our people were not aware that those pensions existed. And it’s only in the
last few years that we are now reaching out to those veterans and letting them
know that there are entitlements due to them.”
Mark Spinks, Chairman of Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group, whiched helped to organise
the event, said that although their ancestors had been forgotten, Australia was
heading in the right direction.
“I’d like
to think, that with the Prime Minister’s ‘sorry’ announcement, we can build on
that and work together to move forward.”
The Coloured Digger 2 art exhibition is showing
until May 10 at Damien Minton Gallery (61-63 Great Buckingham St, Redfern), and
features works by Martin Sharp [see front page], Roy Kennedy, Reg Mombassa,
Daniel Wallace, Jon Lewis, China de
la Vega, Clinton Nain and Reg Lynch.
Photo Ben Bontia – On the Sunday before Anzac Day Redfern
RSL members lay wreaths at the Memorial in Redfern Park.
Photo Jack Carnegie
– WO1 Col
Watego
Source:
South Sydney Herald May 2008 www.southsydneyherald.com.au