AustLit

'This article examines the historiography of 20th century Indigenous military service in the Anglo‐settler societies Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. It traces the emergence of ‘positive’ national narratives of Indigenous military service in the 1980s and 1990s, through to the diversification of Indigenous histories and the current shifts towards transnational and comparative analyses. The historiographic shifts have aligned with political changes within the respective nations, as well as changes in academic practice relating to Indigenous histories.' (Publication abstract)

'Until the publication of Robert Hall's landmark book The Black Diggers in 1989, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were essentially 'written out' of Australia's Second World War history. Still, more than 20 years since the publication of Hall's book, Australian Indigenous participation in the war effort as servicemen and women, labourers and scouts, in wartime industries and in various other capacities, continues to be on the periphery of Australia's war history. The Second World War remains part of what WEH Stanner referred to in 1969 as 'the Great Australian Silence' of Indigenous history. Notwithstanding the lack of significant academic histories of Indigenous military history, there have been a few creative depictions of Aboriginal participation in the Second World War. Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have used creative mediums, such as poetry, short fiction, film, musical theatre and music, to portray Aboriginal Second World War service. This paper examines these creative cultural representations and how they position Australian Indigenous war service within a wider narrative of the Second World War and Indigenous history. Though the portrayals of Aboriginal service vary, the majority of creative works present the Second World War as central to Australian Indigenous history. Moreover, the creative representations depict Indigenous servicemen's hopes for a better life after the war, only to be crushed when they returned to ongoing discrimination. Even so, the creative depictions use the Second World War as an early marker of reconciliation in Australia, portraying the conflict as a time when ideals of liberty and equality overruled prejudice to unite Australia. Such a message continues to resonate, as creative representations of the Second World War contribute to contemporary understandings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizenship and reconciliation.' (Publication abstract)

'Both text and photographs of The Black Diggers are a revelation. This is the first comprehensive account written of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women of World War II. Among the many photographs there are two of Leonard Waters from Nindigully, South Queensland, an Aboriginal combat pilot who served in Borneo. Aboriginal ground crewmen also served in Northern Australia. Soldiers who went overseas, having enlisted early in the war, included the late Reg Saunders (promoted to Sergeant in mid-1940, and to Lieutenant late in 1944), and Stewart Murray (a Corporal in 1945). Islanders included Charles Mene, Victor Blanco and Ted Loban. Oodgeroo Noonuccal was an AWAS signaler, but Neville Bonner and Willie Thaiday were turned away as recruits, owing to military racial prejudice.'  (Introduction)