L. R. Hiatt
Auteur de Australian Aboriginal concepts
A propos de l'auteur
Œuvres de L. R. Hiatt
Arguments about Aborigines: Australia and the Evolution of Social Anthropology (1996) 12 exemplaires
Australian aboriginal concepts 5 exemplaires
Aboriginal landowners : contemporary issues in the determination of traditional aboriginal land ownership (1984) 3 exemplaires
Readings in Australian and Pacific anthropology 2 exemplaires
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Membres
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 9
- Membres
- 55
- Popularité
- #295,340
- Évaluation
- 4.0
- Critiques
- 1
- ISBN
- 10
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/our-mob-served-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-...… (plus d'informations)