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The stories of Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders who served in the World Wars will be revealed at a talk at the Auckland War Memorial Museum tonight.
Gary Oakley from the Gundungurra people of New South Wales, is the Australian War Memorial’s indigenous liaison officer, hes been researching the hundreds of indigenous volunteers who served despite laws preventing them joining up.
He says the final say was with the medical officer, and many volunteers applied in multiple places until they got in.
"Once they were in the Australian Defence Force didn't see colour. That was the interesting thing. I always tell people this, the Australian Defence Force was the first equal opportunity employer of indigenous Australians because all they saw was a soldier. Once you're in you could go to the front line, you served alongside your white brothers. There was no discrimination towards you which is unusual. It's probably the first agency that didn't discriminate against (Aboriginals). But once the war was over and you went home, it was a different story," he says.
Gary Oakley says many Aboriginal soldiers came home to find their land given away to other service people, and their achievements on the battle field denied.
After his speech tonight in Auckland, Squadron Leader Oakley will take part in a panel discussion with Dr Monty Soutar and Dr Damon Salesa on Indigenous and Pacific Experiences in World War 1.
He will speak at Te Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne tomorrow and Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington on Thursday.
Copyright © 2015, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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