What do you think?
Rate this book
Our Mob Served, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories of War and Defending Australia
Our Mob Served presents a moving and little-known history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander war time and defence service, told through the vivid oral histories and treasured family images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
This unique book shares lively and compelling stories of war, defence service and the impact on individuals, families and communities, sometimes for the first time.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not forgotten their involvement in the national histories of war and service.
This unique book shares lively and compelling stories of war, defence service and the impact on individuals, families and communities, sometimes for the first time.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not forgotten their involvement in the national histories of war and service.
399 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
2 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 9, 2019
As I foreshadowed a fortnight ago when I brought this book home from the library, Our Mob Served tells the mostly untold story of Indigenous service in Australia's defence forces. It's a subject I've been interested in ever since the Shrine of Remembrance developed a unit of work about Indigenous Service for primary schools. In developing and adapting the unit for my students and other teachers, (see my professional blog) I learned a lot, but back then was frustrated by a lack of resources to enhance my background knowledge. Our Mob Served fills this need perfectly because it curates individual Indigenous stories into one coherent text, and I expect that there will be a review by the professional historians at the Honest History website before long.
What this book does so well is to reveal why Indigenous Service deserves special recognition. It takes nothing away from the rest of our defence forces to acknowledge that Indigenous people enlisting to protect their country did so in spite of the way the country from which they had been dispossessed had systematically discriminated against them from the beginning of European settlement. They were driven off their lands by frontier violence; their food sources were compromised by the new agriculture; men, women and children were massacred; and whole populations have been decimated by disease. They were denied citizenship, the vote, and legal recourse to the courts, and they were expected to work for little or no reward while excluded from society and without the hope of economic or social mobility. Throughout most of the 20th century Stolen Generations children were taken from their families in a program of eugenics, and families and communities across the country often never saw their children again. Why would Indigenous people want to fight for a regime like that? The answer is both simple and complex. The simple answer is that they love their country, and want to defend it. The complex answer is covered in Chapter 3 of this book.
Chapter I explains the rationale and the process used for gathering the untold stories of Indigenous Service in our armed forces. It begins with a quotation from Mick Dodson:
There are 180 oral history accounts recorded during 'Yarn Ups' and interviews; oral history and photo recording sessions with veterans and ex-service people or their relatives, held around Australia in 40 locations between 2014 and 2017. The book is organised into themes which emerged from the interviews, but there are also silences in the text, silences which emerge from ancestors not wanting to revisit past trauma, but also because of cultural protocols that encourage watching and listening and discourage asking too many questions. Disruptions to family transmission of some stories are also a consequence of the Stolen Generations, but it also increases the demand to be heard now. So it was a complex research project, but one IMO of immense value.
Chapter 2 covers Australia's conflicts and wars. It's depressing how many there have been. The chapter acknowledges the Frontier Wars but the focus of the book is Indigenous participation in 'overseas' wars declared by opposing nation states. Although the records are unclear, some took part even in the Boer War (1899-1902) with nine Indigenous troopers and a private identified so far among the 16,000 Australians who fought. Many more took part in WW1, in the infantry and in the Light Horse, as well as in the artillery, engineers, and the flying corps. Harry Thorpe and Albert Knight were among Indigenous servicemen decorated with Distinguished Conduct Awards and other honours, and Alfred Hearps was promoted to second lieutenant. There were also two Indigenous nurses, though the name of only one, Marion Leane Smith, has been identified so far. In WW2, an estimated 3000 Indigenous Australians served in the army, the navy and the air force, and made a major contribution to labour and reconnaissance work on the northern coast and in the Torres Strait Islands. Notable names include Reg Saunders who was a commissioned officer, and Sergeant Len Waters who was a fighter pilot, while Charles Mene, Tim Hughes and others were decorated for bravery. Indigenous personnel also served in the Malayan Emergency (1948-60); Borneo (1963-66); the Korean War (1950-53); the Vietnam War (1962-75); in Peacekeeping missions in Somalia (1992-94) and East Timor (1999-2003); and in the Gulf Wars of 1990-91 and 2003-9 and in Afghanistan (2001-present).
Chapter 3 explains the special appeal of serving in the military. Joining the military meant that Indigenous people could be free from movement restrictions that segregated them into missions and reserves. It offered opportunities for education and training, it provided paid employment, and it enabled economic and social mobility. But eligibility to enlist was a contradictory process: there were conflicting definitions of 'Aboriginal' and there were erratic restrictions. In WW1 Indigenous men were prohibited from enlisting but many did so anyway; in WW2 they were initially allowed to enlist only if they were not 'too' Aboriginal, and then restrictions were relaxed because of the manpower shortage for the defence of the northern coastline. When the draft was introduced for Vietnam, some were called up, while others were excluded. Indigenous women were not allowed to enlist at all until the women's services were formed in during WW2. There are vivid stories from Vietnam veterans in this chapter as well as a profile of Stephen Jones, a Yorta Yorta man who is the first known graduate of the Royal Military College in Duntroon, in 1977. He had a distinguished career including a post as Military Attaché to the United Nations. It's notable also that a tradition of serving in the military tends to run in families.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/07/09/o...
What this book does so well is to reveal why Indigenous Service deserves special recognition. It takes nothing away from the rest of our defence forces to acknowledge that Indigenous people enlisting to protect their country did so in spite of the way the country from which they had been dispossessed had systematically discriminated against them from the beginning of European settlement. They were driven off their lands by frontier violence; their food sources were compromised by the new agriculture; men, women and children were massacred; and whole populations have been decimated by disease. They were denied citizenship, the vote, and legal recourse to the courts, and they were expected to work for little or no reward while excluded from society and without the hope of economic or social mobility. Throughout most of the 20th century Stolen Generations children were taken from their families in a program of eugenics, and families and communities across the country often never saw their children again. Why would Indigenous people want to fight for a regime like that? The answer is both simple and complex. The simple answer is that they love their country, and want to defend it. The complex answer is covered in Chapter 3 of this book.
Chapter I explains the rationale and the process used for gathering the untold stories of Indigenous Service in our armed forces. It begins with a quotation from Mick Dodson:
Aboriginal history is so rich because it comes from an oral tradition...The stories are rich and they make up an important component of the history of our country since the British colonisation. And we need to record those stories for future generations. It's a vital story to be told. (p.2)
There are 180 oral history accounts recorded during 'Yarn Ups' and interviews; oral history and photo recording sessions with veterans and ex-service people or their relatives, held around Australia in 40 locations between 2014 and 2017. The book is organised into themes which emerged from the interviews, but there are also silences in the text, silences which emerge from ancestors not wanting to revisit past trauma, but also because of cultural protocols that encourage watching and listening and discourage asking too many questions. Disruptions to family transmission of some stories are also a consequence of the Stolen Generations, but it also increases the demand to be heard now. So it was a complex research project, but one IMO of immense value.
Chapter 2 covers Australia's conflicts and wars. It's depressing how many there have been. The chapter acknowledges the Frontier Wars but the focus of the book is Indigenous participation in 'overseas' wars declared by opposing nation states. Although the records are unclear, some took part even in the Boer War (1899-1902) with nine Indigenous troopers and a private identified so far among the 16,000 Australians who fought. Many more took part in WW1, in the infantry and in the Light Horse, as well as in the artillery, engineers, and the flying corps. Harry Thorpe and Albert Knight were among Indigenous servicemen decorated with Distinguished Conduct Awards and other honours, and Alfred Hearps was promoted to second lieutenant. There were also two Indigenous nurses, though the name of only one, Marion Leane Smith, has been identified so far. In WW2, an estimated 3000 Indigenous Australians served in the army, the navy and the air force, and made a major contribution to labour and reconnaissance work on the northern coast and in the Torres Strait Islands. Notable names include Reg Saunders who was a commissioned officer, and Sergeant Len Waters who was a fighter pilot, while Charles Mene, Tim Hughes and others were decorated for bravery. Indigenous personnel also served in the Malayan Emergency (1948-60); Borneo (1963-66); the Korean War (1950-53); the Vietnam War (1962-75); in Peacekeeping missions in Somalia (1992-94) and East Timor (1999-2003); and in the Gulf Wars of 1990-91 and 2003-9 and in Afghanistan (2001-present).
Chapter 3 explains the special appeal of serving in the military. Joining the military meant that Indigenous people could be free from movement restrictions that segregated them into missions and reserves. It offered opportunities for education and training, it provided paid employment, and it enabled economic and social mobility. But eligibility to enlist was a contradictory process: there were conflicting definitions of 'Aboriginal' and there were erratic restrictions. In WW1 Indigenous men were prohibited from enlisting but many did so anyway; in WW2 they were initially allowed to enlist only if they were not 'too' Aboriginal, and then restrictions were relaxed because of the manpower shortage for the defence of the northern coastline. When the draft was introduced for Vietnam, some were called up, while others were excluded. Indigenous women were not allowed to enlist at all until the women's services were formed in during WW2. There are vivid stories from Vietnam veterans in this chapter as well as a profile of Stephen Jones, a Yorta Yorta man who is the first known graduate of the Royal Military College in Duntroon, in 1977. He had a distinguished career including a post as Military Attaché to the United Nations. It's notable also that a tradition of serving in the military tends to run in families.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/07/09/o...
July 1, 2019
Anzac Day: difficult to forget, when that’s the date you were blown up
**This review was first published in National Indigenous Times on April 22, 2019 **
https://nit.com.au/anzac-day-difficul...
Frank Mallard talks of being a ‘tunnel rat’—one of the ‘mad Australians who chased Viet Cong down these tunnels’. Gaye Doolan jokes that she joined the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service because she liked the uniform. And Roy ‘Zeke’ Mundine asks, ‘… how can I forget Anzac Day?’ He says in 1969 on Anzac Day he got blown up. He stepped on a mine, or the side of a mine, and it blew his leg off.
These powerful stories and many more are included in Our mob served: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories of war and defending Australia. The book documents the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the Australian defence services from the Anglo-Boer War onwards.
The perspectives of these men and women are truly kaleidoscopic.
We learn of the friendships—the true meaning of the word ‘mateship’—which in recent times has become politicised and hollow. Many of the men and women acknowledge in their stories that mateship means even more than placing the team above the individual, more than duty: it’s about the unspoken emotional territory of shared life experiences, survival and loss.
Take Bill ‘Kookaburra’ Coolburra from Palm Island, in QLD, who became especially close with a bloke called ‘Snowy’ George Wilson—nicknamed for his fair skin and hair. They were famously known as the ‘twins’ and referred to each other as ‘twin brother’. Former Prime Minister Harold Holt took it literally. On a visit to Vietnam he asked to meet Snowy’s twin brother and was shocked to find out that he was an Aboriginal person! Together, the twin brothers fled the Military Police after a bar brawl in Vietnam. Together, they faced life and death situations in the field. And eventually, they were joined together in a physical sense. When Bill needed a new kidney, Snowy gave him his.
We learn of the reasons people joined up. In many cases, it was to escape the Protection Acts, access education and training, and to receive better pay. For Mick Pittman, from Casino NSW, it was ‘to get out of town.’ Mick joined the RAAF in 1968 and said, ‘…after 17 years with Mum, the military was a walk in the park … Piece of cake!’ For Pattie Lees, a career in the navy gave financial security and direction. ‘I felt I was being useful. I had some purpose in my life.’
Our mob served gives enormous depth to contemporary reductionist views on the service of Australian men and women, firstly, by recognising the service of Aboriginal people and secondly, by gathering such a multifaceted range of stories and experiences.
It’s the result of many ‘Yarn-ups’ and informal interviews with ex-service people or their relatives at over 40 locations around Australia. The interviews took place between 2014-2017 as part of the ‘Serving Our Country: A History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Defence of Australia’ project, led by Mick Dodson.
The stories are funny, tragic, thoughtful and profound, and they serve to fill an enormous gap in modern Australian history.
This book should be considered an urgent addition to school curriculums and libraries. It would be of interest to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people curious about Australian history or conflict; or tired with the over-simplification or popular nationalism associated with Anzac Day.
Our mob served: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories of war and defending Australia has been published by Aboriginal Studies Press.
By Madelaine Dickie
**This review was first published in National Indigenous Times on April 22, 2019 **
https://nit.com.au/anzac-day-difficul...
Frank Mallard talks of being a ‘tunnel rat’—one of the ‘mad Australians who chased Viet Cong down these tunnels’. Gaye Doolan jokes that she joined the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service because she liked the uniform. And Roy ‘Zeke’ Mundine asks, ‘… how can I forget Anzac Day?’ He says in 1969 on Anzac Day he got blown up. He stepped on a mine, or the side of a mine, and it blew his leg off.
These powerful stories and many more are included in Our mob served: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories of war and defending Australia. The book documents the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the Australian defence services from the Anglo-Boer War onwards.
The perspectives of these men and women are truly kaleidoscopic.
We learn of the friendships—the true meaning of the word ‘mateship’—which in recent times has become politicised and hollow. Many of the men and women acknowledge in their stories that mateship means even more than placing the team above the individual, more than duty: it’s about the unspoken emotional territory of shared life experiences, survival and loss.
Take Bill ‘Kookaburra’ Coolburra from Palm Island, in QLD, who became especially close with a bloke called ‘Snowy’ George Wilson—nicknamed for his fair skin and hair. They were famously known as the ‘twins’ and referred to each other as ‘twin brother’. Former Prime Minister Harold Holt took it literally. On a visit to Vietnam he asked to meet Snowy’s twin brother and was shocked to find out that he was an Aboriginal person! Together, the twin brothers fled the Military Police after a bar brawl in Vietnam. Together, they faced life and death situations in the field. And eventually, they were joined together in a physical sense. When Bill needed a new kidney, Snowy gave him his.
We learn of the reasons people joined up. In many cases, it was to escape the Protection Acts, access education and training, and to receive better pay. For Mick Pittman, from Casino NSW, it was ‘to get out of town.’ Mick joined the RAAF in 1968 and said, ‘…after 17 years with Mum, the military was a walk in the park … Piece of cake!’ For Pattie Lees, a career in the navy gave financial security and direction. ‘I felt I was being useful. I had some purpose in my life.’
Our mob served gives enormous depth to contemporary reductionist views on the service of Australian men and women, firstly, by recognising the service of Aboriginal people and secondly, by gathering such a multifaceted range of stories and experiences.
It’s the result of many ‘Yarn-ups’ and informal interviews with ex-service people or their relatives at over 40 locations around Australia. The interviews took place between 2014-2017 as part of the ‘Serving Our Country: A History of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Defence of Australia’ project, led by Mick Dodson.
The stories are funny, tragic, thoughtful and profound, and they serve to fill an enormous gap in modern Australian history.
This book should be considered an urgent addition to school curriculums and libraries. It would be of interest to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people curious about Australian history or conflict; or tired with the over-simplification or popular nationalism associated with Anzac Day.
Our mob served: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories of war and defending Australia has been published by Aboriginal Studies Press.
By Madelaine Dickie
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews