Despite discrimination and exclusion, thousands of
Discriminatory enlistment standards
When the war began in 1914, the Defence Act 1903 (Cwlth) prevented Indigenous Australians from entering military service. Most recruiters rigidly stuck to the rule in their military recruiting handbook: Aborigines and half-castes are not to be enlisted.
An estimated 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served with the Australian Imperial Force in World War I. It is difficult to establish exact numbers because the enlistment process did not record a person's ethnicity.
Over 1000 Indigenous Australians fought in the First World War. They came from a section of society with few rights, low wages, and poor living conditions. Most Indigenous Australians could not vote and none were counted in the census. But once in the AIF, they were treated as equals.
The men were no longer equal to non-indigenous soldiers who they fought side by side with. They continued to be discriminated against, for example, they couldn't apply for land under the soldier settlement schemes or even have a drink with their fellow soldiers at the local.
A number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served in the Boer War (1899-1902) Over 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served in World War I (1914-1918) and around 70 fought at Gallipoli. At least 3000 Aboriginal and 850 Torres Strait Islander people served in World War II (1939-1945)
Of the 1 million Australians who served in Australia and overseas during World War II, we estimate that up to 3000, perhaps more, were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Important contributions to Australia's war effort by Indigenous Australians included: military service overseas in all theatres of the war.
It is estimated that 1,000 to 1,300 Indigenous soldiers served in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, of whom around 250 to 300 made the ultimate sacrifice. That's out of an estimated Indigenous population at the time of 80,000. The research is still ongoing and still produces new stories.
Despite rules against their enrolment, over 3000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women are known to have enlisted in World War II—a further 400 are known to have served in World War I.
Following Britain's declaration of war on Imperial Germany on 4 August 1914 at the outbreak of the World War I, Australia and the other members of the British Empire were automatically involved, with Prime Minister Joseph Cook stating on 5 August that "...
The German soldiers feared and respected the skills of the Australians. In a letter captured and translated by the 7th Australian Infantry Brigade in May 1918, a German soldier wrote to his mother: We are here near ALBERT, I am in the foremost line, about 200 metres opposite the British.
Aboriginal people did not have distinct ideas of war and peace, and traditional warfare was common, taking place between groups on an ongoing basis, with great rivalries being maintained over extended periods of time.
History. When Britain declared war against Germany in August 1914, Australia, as a dominion of the British Empire, was automatically also at war.
In other words, the population of First Nations people in 1788 was so small it could fit comfortably into the Australian city of Newcastle today. Britain colonised small pockets of the Australian coast and did not form a treaty with the Aboriginal people because they were so far apart both in reality and perception.
In the 1860s, Victoria became the first state to pass laws authorising Aboriginal children to be removed from their parents. Similar policies were later adopted by other states and territories – and by the federal government when it was established in the 1900s.
When war broke out Australia was not an independent country like it is today. It was a part of the British Empire. As Britain was at war against Germany and its allies,Australia was also automatically at war.
' Aboriginal soldiers were among those who fought at Gallipoli, with over 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Islanders serving in the First World War. Marion Leane Smith is to date the only identified Indigenous woman to serve in the First World War. She is of Darug heritage and served as a nurse with the British Army.
Between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died, compared with only 399 to 440 colonisers. The tallies of the dead are not the only measure of what took place, according to Dr Bill Pascoe, a digital humanities specialist and key researcher on the project. “We are always using conservative estimates,” Pascoe said.
Exactly how many people died is unknown, but estimates range from between 20,000 and 60,000 Aboriginal people and 2,000 and 5,000 Europeans. There is ongoing research to map the massacres of Aboriginal people.
heavy fire still met the Australians appearing over the rim of the plateau, and was sufficient to force the first men to take what cover they could on the seaward edge - Captain Annear was hit through the head and lay there, the first Australian officer to be killed.
Neither side succeeded. Some 8,700 Australians lost their lives and some 18,000 were wounded during the campaign. The most successful operation of the campaign was the evacuation which ended on 19–20 December 1915, conducted under a well-planned deception operation.
At the end of 1915, the allied forces were evacuated. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing on Gallipoli and the events that followed had a profound impact on Australians at home.
In 2022, an estimated 33% of Indigenous Australians (297,400 people) live in New South Wales and 28% (252,700 people) in Queensland (Figure 2). The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Indigenous residents among its population – an estimated 32% (79,000 people) in 2022 (Figure 2).
The modern land rights movement dates back to 1963 when the Yolgnu people from Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land (Northern Territory) presented the Australian Parliament with a bark petition.
There were between 300,000 to 950,000 Aboriginal people living in Australia when the British arrived in 1788.3 At that time there were approximately 260 distinct language groups and 500 dialects. Land is fundamental to Indigenous people, both individually and collectively.