For over a century Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have had a proud and long history of serving within the Australian Armed Forces in many theatres, from Gallipoli to the battlefields of Vietnam and beyond.The exact numbers of men and women that have served in Australia are unknown, due to the official Defence policy around the first half of the twentieth century that excluded the enlistments of people who were “not substantially of European origin or descent”.The fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served at all during a time when they were denied the basic rights of citizenship is significant, and this situation was not corrected until the 1970s.Serving Country is a photographic portrait exhibition curated by Sydney-based human rights social documentarians, Belinda Mason OAM and Dieter Knierim.
AlburyCity News
21 Mar 2023
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