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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER WAR MEMORIAL

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:43): On Sunday afternoon, I was very privileged to attend an important event, which was the dedication of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island War Memorial at Torrens Parade Ground. The time that is available does not allow me to in any way do justice to the significance of this occasion, but I want to digress to say that it reminded me very much of the first time that I attended an important event which was presided over by two women: the then governor Dame Roma Mitchell and the then chancellor of Flinders University Sister Deirdre Jordan. I was in my 40s and it was the first time I had had this experience.

It seemed to me that many Aboriginal people present on Sunday would have had a similar experience—that it was the first time so many Aboriginal people had been the leaders in a ceremony of such importance as to be presided over by her Excellency the Governor-General.

The MC was David Rathman AM. The Catafalque party consisted of Indigenous members of our armed services. The chaplain was Chaplain Grant, an Indigenous ex-serviceperson. The Chair of the committee that organised the war memorial was Marj Tripp. The Deputy Chair was Frank Lampard OAM and the ode was read by Frank Clarke—another Indigenous ex-servicemen. The best way to give some idea of the significance of this event is to read from the speech delivered by Frank Lampard on behalf of Marj Tripp who was the Chair of the War Memorial Committee:

Today is a special day for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Moreover it is a special day for all veterans, nay, for every Australian. Today we come together for the first time to remember in a significant and tangible way, the service rendered to our nation by all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women. This beautiful and culturally sensitive memorial that Her Excellency [dedicated] will stand for years to come as proof of the 'Love of Country' so readily demonstrated by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia. It has taken an awfully long time to get a memorial of our own.

I guess I could ask why. After all, 'remembrance', particularly of those who have served our nation in time of war, is in the DNA of most Australians. As Professor Ken Inglis says in his authoritative tome on War Memorials in Australia entitled Sacred Places, we are particularly good at remembering. He tells us that our memorials remember those who served in all sorts of categories—we have remembered 'employees of organisations, and worshippers in settings of work or leisure'.

I will skip now to his comment that:

...within the environs of this Parade Ground there are 39 memorials to all manner of men and women who served in peace and war. Indeed not far from here there is a memorial to 'war horses' and at Goolwa, only an hour or so drive away, a lovely memorial to 'war dogs'. Why then, as Inglis says, are '...Memorials to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in Australia's wars few, modest and late'.

The answer to this query is not as divisive as it may first appear. It is due in part to the fact that at the commencement of World War I Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander were denied citizenship and unable to leave Australia without the government's approval. They rarely declared their racial identity when signing up. The Defence Act of 1909 prevented most of those who were not of 'substantially European descent' from even enlisting! But enlist they did, in every conflict in which Australia has fought.

They often took on an another cultural identity to hide their Aboriginality just so they could serve. We know now that from the Boer War to Afghanistan, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women have served with distinction. They have been decorated for gallantry, taken Prisoners of War, and been wounded or killed in action. Some lie forever in foreign lands far from their 'country'.

With no record kept of Aboriginal soldiers it was hard for even the most compassionate nation to track down their service. Eventually the link became too remote and I quote here from the National Commission on the Commemoration of the ANZAC Centenary which says that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community had come to view ANZAC as 'a party which they had not been invited to!'

That lack of recognition ended on Sunday.

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