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Speech: Aboriginal Soldiers In The First World War

909 Words4 Pages

*Prime Minister Leon Clay walks on the stage with thousands of Australians, media, and more looking on*

Dear Fellow Australians, it is with great pleasure that I am talking to you today on such a significant day. We gather here today to commemorate and honour an untold and unrecognised part in our country’s history.The remarkable contributions and sacrifices of our Aboriginal soldiers in the First World War. Today is a day to reflect, reflect on our past and acknowledge the present so we can pave a path for a more reconciled future.

Before we do so, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which we all reside and prosper today. I would like to extend this to all Torres Strait Islanders peoples here today as well. …show more content…

Despite this about 1000 brave aboriginal soldiers served their country and went off to fight and protect the land which we walk on today. Had it not been for these soldiers, The war could have very well taken a different turn. One of the stories we have found of this mentions a young Indigenous man named Thomas, in his story, we see that even when men like Thomas wanted to fight for their country to protect it, they were turned away due to the systematic racism that was prevalent at the time, but Thomas persisted, and eventually was able to enlist and go serve his country. This evidently highlights the determination and the sheer will of these young men, and their ability to go above and beyond for their …show more content…

For those who do not know, Aboriginal peoples have a deep connection to the land, to every drop of water to every piece of land, all of it has a spiritual connection to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. This was not the only struggle for aboriginal peoples, While the Discrimination was not as prevalent, it was still a very real struggle for the aboriginal soldiers, With some being attacked, or some being verbally abused and shamed, Life was still not fully free from racism. And unfortunately the struggles don’t end there, even once the soldiers got back from war, life just went back to normal, same issues with racism and discrimination. A another story we have is from a soldier called Archie, On Anzac day of 1932, he and a fellow soldier were kicked out of a pub, and were refused re-entry, even when explain all they were there for was honouring their comrades, their mates that didn’t make it back, the pub owner only allowed the men re-entry after an RSL secretary convinced him. This is just one of the many stories of aboriginal soldiers coming home from war and being treated poorly even after fighting for the safety of their country and its

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