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Queensland's Indigenous Servicemen Digital Story and Oral History 2015, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
This video was a digital story commissioned for State Library's QANZAC 100 project, a project that looked back at Queensland's involvement in the First World War.
This digital story explores the contribution and experiences of Indigenous Queenslanders during the First World War via an oral history interview with Des Crump, the Indigenous Languages Coordinator at the State Library. Despite the oppressive policies and practices of the Protection Era, between 1,250 and 1,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women volunteered for the AIF, and approximately 300 were from Queensland. Indigenous Queenslanders tried to enlist for a variety of reasons, and Des discusses the effect of the Defence Act (1909), which excluded from service 'those who were not of 'substantially European origin or descent'. In 1917 the Act was amended to so that 'half castes' could enlist. While this increased Indigenous recruitment, it did not guarantee Indigenous soldiers any of the rights afforded their non-Indigenous comrades after the war, and they returned to a life of restriction and discrimination.