Mount Isa's World War I history...

November 3 2018 - 12:00PM

The peace agreement that was signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiegne, France at 1100 hours on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, signalled the cessation of hostilities on the European western front.

This significant event in world history became known and respected as Armistice Day while in France it is known as The Armistice of Compiegne.

Armistice derives from the Latin arma meaning ‘arms’ and sister meaning ‘to stop’.

Following the armistice, Australian soldiers returned to home soils to reconnect with their families and to re-establish employment while others hit the ‘wallaby’ trail looking for work.

And when only four and half years later in 1923, word spread that men were needed on the new western mineral field, many of the World War I veterans jumped the rattler to Duchess and with ingenuity found their way across the spinifex covered rocky ranges to Mount Isa.

The Digger miners proved to be valued workers who not only accepted but thrived in the barren tent camps under the blazing hot summer sun.

Two of the first Diggers to arrive in Mount Isa were Capt. J E Stevenson and R A Clarke who by 1931 were joined by as many as eighty veterans working and contributing to the growth of the mine and Mount Isa.

For them Armistice Day was a day, in which for two minutes of silence at 1100 hours, they would reflect on their fallen comrades and the senselessness of war.

For the Indigenous soldiers the armistice may have ended World War I, but they came home to another insidious war, that of the continued dispossession as a race of people.

Once on Australian soil they reverted to their persona non-gratis, as their loyalty, bravery and tracking skills, were disregarded when their names were once again rewritten in the Aborigines Protection Board register.

Sadly, their contribution to the war efforts were dismissed out-right by the government of the day.

Peter Craigie was one such Aborigine from western Queensland who in 1915, at the tender age of 20, decided to ride his horse to Adelaide to enlist for the war on the other side of the world.

A world he knew nothing about, but one that was brought to life as whispers through the spinifex became louder and louder when news of the war on the western front reached the Channel Country.

Many aspects of army life were mirrored in traditional Aboriginal culture; belonging to a group where no one person is bigger than the group, the sharing of responsibility, hardship and danger – watching over and protecting each other, and the fierce loyalty to one’s people.

When Peter Craigie decided to enlist, why he chose to ride thousands of miles to Adelaide is not known, as he could just as easily have ridden east to Townsville or south east to Brisbane.

The route he chose to traverse started at Dajarra then he rode west to Urandangie where he followed the Georgina River north to Camooweal.

From there he headed west to Avon Downs across the Barkly Tableland before turning south through Alice Springs across the South Australian border to Morree and finally Adelaide.

He did not go immediately to enlist, rather he settled in Adelaide to rest and recuperate after his arduous horse ride thousands of miles across two state borders.

It was during this time, Peter Craigie met and married Daisy Cusack believing married life would settle his wandering spirit.

However, it was not long before the young married couple knew his strong spirit was yearning to travel and connect with other Aboriginal Diggers in the European conflict.

But first he had to face the army personnel and acknowledge his mix race parentage. Where other full-blood aborigines were knocked back from enlisting, Craigie was welcomed if not with open arms, at least with a grudging nod as the Aborigines Protection Register listed his father was a white man.

Jim Craigie, a ringer from Roxburgh Station near Boulia had married a Pitta Pitta woman known only as Bunny and Peter was their first born.

Once he was accepted into the military, Peter Craigie was soon sea bound on his way to Egypt and France as a private in the 32nd Battalion.

He arrived in Marseilles in June 1916.

Consigned to be one of the Battalion drivers, he saw two years of active service on the western front before he was invalided out to England after being gassed while deployed with the fifth division artillery detail near Etaple.

He was discharged in 1919, an ill man with no pension and no acknowledgement of his service record.

And while he was good enough and white enough for the Australian army to enlist him to fight for King and country, he was advised that he was not white enough to be crossed off the Aborigine Protection Register.

This lack of recognition did not surprise him although as with many indigenous soldiers before and since, he was hurt by the indifferent attitude of the military authority. 

With dignity, he and Daisy decided to ride north into the Northern Territory where he worked for many years as a drover moving cattle along the Murranji Track to Brunette Downs across to Camooweal and down the Channel Country.

Peter Craigie was proud of the fact he fought for his country.

He was only angry with the authorities that they could not see past the colour of his skin to acknowledge his participation in fighting alongside his Aussie mates on the European western front. There is no record of how or when he learned of the peace agreement being signed to end the war that was to end all wars.

Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton  www.kimmareeburton.com. Information sourced from Joe ‘Grubby’ Rogers, the Australian War Museum archives and the North West Star newspaper. Photographs courtesy of the North West Star newspaper.

RECOGNIATION: The plaque commemorating Aboriginal soliders who served in the World War I.

REMEBERANCE: Armistice Day at the Mount Isa Memoroal Swimming Pool cenotaph in 1955.