Cirrus@Austlit

'This paper provides excerpts from (the source document on difficult-to-read carbon copy) Squadron Leader Donald Thomson's official submission in April 1943. There are 71 pages of report and many appendices. The report is repetitious, and the appendices frequently contain material already discussed. As the central concern of Aboriginal History is with Aboriginal people, I have edited the closely typed manuscript. Those sections which are reproduced include those which explain the background to this remarkable enterprise, or are necessary to the understanding of activities, and particularly all sections which refer to the participation of Aboriginal men and the one Torres Strait Islander enlisted man. I have indicated those sections where omissions were made, which sometimes are extensive. The final text has been reduced to fewer than 30,000 words from probably twice that length. It is significant that Thomson's participation in a scheme to organise Aboriginal warriors in the defence of the northern coast began in June 1941, five months before Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. It indicates military concern for the defence of the north and the expectation of a Japanese landing once hostilities commenced. Because the plan was implemented before the bombing of Darwin in February 1942, its background is reproduced here.' (Source: Abstract)

'Each year about one million visitors walk through the imposing entrance to the Australian War Memorial to pay homage at the shrine to the digger legend. It is a shrine of massive proportions on which the dominant society in Australia lavishes a large annual budget. It is also a shrine which reflects an almost exclusively white Australian view of the national war effort. Far fewer people visit the nearby memorial to those black Australians who helped defend their country. In sharp contrast to the Australian War Memorial, this modest memorial consists of a simple plaque affixed to a boulder in a piece of untouched bushland. And where is it? If one were to imagine the Australian War Memorial as a north Australian homestead, this memorial to black servicemen and women would be the woodheap - 200 metres out the back door towards Mount Ainslie. Not surprisingly, those visitors to the Australian War Memorial are unlikely to come away with the belief that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (not to mention other visible minorities within the Australian community, like Chinese Australians) have a legitimate part in the digger legend. The galleries of the War Memorial contain few reminders of the military service of Aborigines and Islanders though, to be fair, their number and prominence is slowly growing.' (Source: Abstract)

'The narrative that follows was written in about 1967 when I had interviewed Narritjin in Darwin about his wartime experiences and in particular the sinking of the Patricia Cam. The late Nanitjin Maymum, of Yirrkala and Djaragbi (Cape Shield), was probably about 30 years old at the time of the sinking and in his mid-fifties when he told me the story. The words used are not his but the story is all his: the facts are recorded as he gave them in answer to my questions. Additional information, drawn mainly from the official war history account of the incident, is given in parenthesis. I have similarly added some details from Thornell's account of the story Narritjin told when he returned to Yirrkala in February 1943; his account has far more detail about the bombing of the vessel than Narritjin gave me, but much less about Narritjin's efforts to get help for the survivors.' (Source: Abstract)

'A wooden shack facing Bunyip Lane in the Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve, adjacent to Lake Condah in Victoria, was the birthplace of Reginald Walter Saunders. Assisting at the birth was his Aunt Mary, Lionel Rose's great-grandmother. Little did she realise at the time that she was bringing into the world an Aboriginal warrior who would be the first of his race to become a commissioned officer. Those who served under him in Korea expressed openly the view that he was 'the best officer in the world'.' What made Saunders so unique? Gordon suggests he was a misfit, and when his Upbringing and military service is examined such a description is not without some justification. If his Aboriginality set him apart from others how lucky Australia and the Australian Army were to have such a 'misfit'.' (Source: Abstract)