'Some facts' |
All three services (Army, Navy, Airforce) published their own Orders which excluded persons 'not substantially of European origin or descent' from voluntary enlistment in the early stages of World War Two. This this not totally stop our men and women trying to join in their thousands.
The three services did not record the ancestory of those who enlisted and it is now impossible to fix an exact figure or list of names of those who have served. Many Aboriginal soldiers, upon being questioned by their mates or by the enlisting officers if they were Aboriginal would often state that they were of Indian or Maori extraction.
The threat of Japanese invasion forced the Services to admit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Most were enlisted in 1941 or in 1942, when the demand for military manpower was at its highest. Most served in the Army followed by the Air Force with the least number in the Navy.
About 750 Torres Strait Islanders and a further 60 mainland Murri's (Aboriginals) served in units of Torres Strait Force. The units were raised to defend the Torres Strait - to enable the use of the vital strait as a shipping route from the East coast to Darwin.
These men were only paid 1/3 the rate of their non-Indigenous mates, and this underpayment was illegal. Their underpayment was redressed in 1983.
Fifty tribal Yolgnu men from East Arnhem Land served in the Northern Territory Special Reconnaisance Unit, under the command of Squadron Leader Donald Thomson. In pre-war days Thomson had been an Anthropologist and had worked with these people. His unit had the task of providing Darwin with early warning of any Japanese attack in the East Arnhem Land area (several thousand square kilometres in size). These warriors were to use their traditional weapons to wage a guerilla war against the Japanese if they landed. The Yolgnu warriors were 'paid' three sticks of tobacco per week. Some of the men had killed Japanese before the war (pearlers) and had been put in Gaol as a result.
Thirty-five Tiwi from Melville Island were armed and equipped by the Navy to patrol Melville and Bathurst Islands. They served from 1942 till the end of the war, they wore Navy uniform but they were never formally enlisted or paid. Two men from this group are thought to have made clandestine (secret) visits to Timor aboard Allied submarines.
(Source for some of the above is from a list compiled by Bob Hall).