Author Archives: Indigenous Histories

Casualties for the AIF were devastating for the mainly young men who left Australia sound in body. A widely reported statement of the number and types of casualties incurred by the AIF during WW1 gives sobering statistics. A.I.F. CASUALTIES., MELBOURNE, … Continue reading →

At 3 pm on 31 August 1917, Private William Joseph Punch, AIF was buried in East Cemetery Boscombe, Bournemouth, in England. He was accorded a full military funeral with the firing party supplied by the New Zealand Engineers, Christchurch. Wreaths … Continue reading →

Information requested from volunteers for the AIF did not include details of race although this may be mentioned incidentally in service records. In other instances secondary sources can assist in establishing the fact that an individual is Aboriginal and may … Continue reading →

On 16 September 1900 Mr. Walker, Member of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, gave an impassioned speech to a public meeting at Windsor, calling for the establishment of a Windsor volunteer rifle corps. Citing unrest in Europe and … Continue reading →

During the course of the First World War Aboriginal soldiers were members of all but two of the 61 infantry battalions of the AIF and of all light horse regiments. They also served in artillery brigades, machine gun companies, pioneer, … Continue reading →

Aboriginal WW1 soldier William Castles came from Rooty Hill in the Parramatta district of New South Wales and was a great great grandson of Yarramundi, chief of the Boorooberongal clan of the Darug. His mother was Ada Locke and his father Thomas … Continue reading →

The Black Rat He lived in a tin hut with a hard dirt floor. He had bags sewn together that was his door. He was a Rat of Tobruk until forty five, He was one of the few that came … Continue reading →