- Title
- The First World War
- Creator
- Maynard, John
- Relation
- Serving Our Country: Indigenous Australians, War, Defence and Citizenship p. 74-94
- Publisher
- NewSouth
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- The First World War gave rise to an enduring narrative about the soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). In the Anzac legend the Australian ‘digger’ was celebrated as the quintessential citizen-in-arms – affable, courageous, poorly disciplined, a larrikin and a great mate. But where did the Aboriginal soldier sit within this foundational national narrative? We now know that around 1000 Aboriginal men enlisted between 1914 and 1918, many times more than served in the Boer War only a decade or so earlier. With the aid of First World War military records, we can ascertain where these Aboriginal men came from, when they enlisted, and how they were employed at the time they volunteered to serve. Since military regulations excluded Aboriginal men from service until May 1917, it might be assumed that the greatest number of Aboriginal men enlisted after that date, but was this the case? And what happened to Aboriginal men after they joined the AIF, and on their return? This chapter seeks to unravel some of these complexities of Aboriginal experiences during the First World War.
- Subject
- Aboriginal servicemen; Aboriginal soldiers; enlisted men; post-war experiences
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1405469
- Identifier
- uon:35495
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781742235394
- Language
- eng
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