nAIDOC 2020. wOODLANDS psAt Woodlands Primary school we are so proud to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, history and role models. Below you will find activities that relate to rememberance day and the upper years with a real focus on our Indigenous soldiers
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This book is a great starting point
Questions
Why doesn’t Alfred talk about his experiences when he arrives home?
Why do you think he ‘curled into a ball and slept in the shadows’ some days?
How does this part of the text help young readers to better understand the horrors of war and its impact on soldiers?
Why is it important that the story continues beyond the war itself?
Why do we only see Alfred’s face properly for the first time several pages into the text?
How does this reflect his lack of recognition and identity in the eyes of white Australia at this time?
How do you think such attitudes have changes over the past 100 years?
What do you think still needs to change?
Using the historical information at the end of the text, take notes about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans.
Use these notes to write a paragraph sharing this history.
As an extension, visit the Australian War Memorial’s website for further details.
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/indigenous
Create a timeline that shows the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders being granted citizenship.
How are the rules and laws of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders different from those of early Twentieth Century ‘White’ Australia?
Why do you think he ‘curled into a ball and slept in the shadows’ some days?
How does this part of the text help young readers to better understand the horrors of war and its impact on soldiers?
Why is it important that the story continues beyond the war itself?
Why do we only see Alfred’s face properly for the first time several pages into the text?
How does this reflect his lack of recognition and identity in the eyes of white Australia at this time?
How do you think such attitudes have changes over the past 100 years?
What do you think still needs to change?
Using the historical information at the end of the text, take notes about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans.
Use these notes to write a paragraph sharing this history.
As an extension, visit the Australian War Memorial’s website for further details.
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/indigenous
Create a timeline that shows the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders being granted citizenship.
How are the rules and laws of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders different from those of early Twentieth Century ‘White’ Australia?
Indigenous service information
Taken from
When the war began in 1914, the Defence Act 1903 prevented Indigenous Australians from entering military service.
‘Aborigines and half-castes are not to be enlisted. This restriction is to be interpreted as applying to all coloured men.’
Faced with rapidly declining numbers, the Australian Government began to relax the conditions for enlistment. First, it changed the physical requirements (age, height, chest measurement) to broaden eligibility. Then it introduced legislation to accept enrolments from Indigenous Australians of mixed race.
The new standard for enlistment in the 1917 Military Order 200(2) was:
‘Half-castes may be enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force provided that the examining Medical Officers are satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin. NOTE — All previous instructions on this subject are cancelled.’
Hundreds of Indigenous Australians - and perhaps several thousand - enlisted in the AIF. For the only time in their lives, many men found themselves free from the discrimination that affected their everyday civilian lives.
‘no discrimination on the battlefield and certainly none in the military hospitals’
‘The aboriginal soldiers become our brothers’
Researchers have noted that once in the AIF, they were treated as equals, paid the same as other soldiers, and generally accepted without prejudice.
Returning home after the First World War, Aboriginal ex-servicemen received little public or private support. They were denied access to soldier settlement schemes. In some states Native Welfare Agencies quarantined their wages and pensions. Sometimes they were denied access to military funerals, and the treatment they and their families received at ANZAC Day services and in the local RSLs varied depending on the attitudes of the local community.
Only one Indigenous Australian is known to have received land in New South Wales under a "soldier settlement" scheme, despite the fact that much of the best farming land in Aboriginal reserves was confiscated for soldier settlement blocks.
The repression of Indigenous Australians increased between the wars, as protection acts gave government officials greater control over Indigenous Australians. As late as 1928 Indigenous Australians were being massacred in reprisal raids. A considerable Aboriginal political movement in the 1930s achieved little improvement in civil rights.
‘Aborigines and half-castes are not to be enlisted. This restriction is to be interpreted as applying to all coloured men.’
Faced with rapidly declining numbers, the Australian Government began to relax the conditions for enlistment. First, it changed the physical requirements (age, height, chest measurement) to broaden eligibility. Then it introduced legislation to accept enrolments from Indigenous Australians of mixed race.
The new standard for enlistment in the 1917 Military Order 200(2) was:
‘Half-castes may be enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force provided that the examining Medical Officers are satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin. NOTE — All previous instructions on this subject are cancelled.’
Hundreds of Indigenous Australians - and perhaps several thousand - enlisted in the AIF. For the only time in their lives, many men found themselves free from the discrimination that affected their everyday civilian lives.
‘no discrimination on the battlefield and certainly none in the military hospitals’
‘The aboriginal soldiers become our brothers’
Researchers have noted that once in the AIF, they were treated as equals, paid the same as other soldiers, and generally accepted without prejudice.
Returning home after the First World War, Aboriginal ex-servicemen received little public or private support. They were denied access to soldier settlement schemes. In some states Native Welfare Agencies quarantined their wages and pensions. Sometimes they were denied access to military funerals, and the treatment they and their families received at ANZAC Day services and in the local RSLs varied depending on the attitudes of the local community.
Only one Indigenous Australian is known to have received land in New South Wales under a "soldier settlement" scheme, despite the fact that much of the best farming land in Aboriginal reserves was confiscated for soldier settlement blocks.
The repression of Indigenous Australians increased between the wars, as protection acts gave government officials greater control over Indigenous Australians. As late as 1928 Indigenous Australians were being massacred in reprisal raids. A considerable Aboriginal political movement in the 1930s achieved little improvement in civil rights.
Activities and questions
Year 5 and 6 Inquiry
Why have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enlisted at different times?
Why have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enlisted at different times?