Thursday, 25 April 2024
Redfern Park War Memorial
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Thank you, Nakari.[1]

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present, and emerging, as well as to Elders across NSW and to First Nations service personnel, who have served, and continue to do so, in the Australian Defence Force with such distinction.

Pastor Ray, members of the Redfern and other communities here today, Ministers[2], Lord Mayor[3], Consul-General[4], Councillors[5], Representatives of the Returned and Services League of Australia,[6]

More than 60,000 Australians died in the First World War; it is said that every second family suffered the loss of a father or son; a husband or brother; an uncle, a cousin, or friend.[7]

Of those, the remains of only two were ever returned home for burial: Major General Bridges, whose body was returned in 1915, and the remains of the unknown soldier in 1993.[8]

Even before the war had ended, lacking a grave by which to mourn their loved ones,[9] communities began erecting monuments like this one here, whose foundation stone was laid in 1919 and formally dedicated in 1920.[10]

Built for – and at the impetus of – community, they were places where individual families could grieve and where communities could join in the rituals of commemoration: listen to the recitation of the Ode that speaks of the sadness of war; hear the Last Post that calls the soldiers home; observe the minute silence that marks the loss of life; and then the bugle’s Rouse that raises hope for the living.

For many, however, those ceremonies, and especially that solemn invocation “Lest we Forget”, rings a little hollow.

In 1916, proud Gamilroi man Michael ‘Mick’ Flick enlisted in the 29^th Australian Infantry Battalion, aged 23.[11] He served on the Western Front. He fought with distinction but was injured and poisoned with mustard gas. On his return in 1919, he expected, as he rightfully should, the same respect his non-Indigenous comrades received.

But he wasn’t afforded that respect - it was if his bravery and sacrifice had never occurred.

There is a story told of One Anzac Day when Mick put on his uniform and medals, but instead of joining the other veterans, he proudly marched through the parade in the opposite direction. Then he went down to the river to fish with his mates.[12] When I read that, I thought "good on you Mick" - But how sad. How wrong that he had to do that.

There are over a thousand other stories like that of the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander soldiers who fought in the First World War – at least 70 at Gallipoli[13] – and they continued to give service in all the wars Australia has been involved in since.

That is why, since Anzac Day 2007, the Coloured Diggers have been remembered and honoured in this march.

And the heart of Redfern is the heart of it.

The idea began with a conversation in the pub between Pastor Ray and his friend Chris Carbon, about the Indigenous absence and neglect in Australia’s military history. They decided to do something about it, so that Anzac Day was not “just another day that whitefellas celebrated.”[14] As Pastor Ray says, “most good ideas begin in the pub, but few walk out. Coloured Digger was one that did”.[15]

Also inspired by Mick’s service is Joe Flick’s project ‘Bringing Their Spirits Home’[16]. That is Joe’s story to tell but let me conclude with two brief comments.

To be here in the week when four of the spears taken off country by Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks have been returned to their rightful custodians is also a hugely significant moment for truth-telling and commemoration.[17]

The second thing I wanted to say is this. To be here today with Joe to honour his work is a privilege for Dennis and me which words don’t adequately capture.

But that phrase ‘Bringing their Spirit Home’ are words which do capture what today is about.

We must never forget… 

Lest we Forget.

[1] Ms Nakari Thorpe, Indigenous Communities Reporter, ABC, and MC.

[2] The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Environment and Water and Member for Sydney, Parliament of Australia; the Hon Linda Burney MP, Minister for Indigenous Australians and Member for Barton, Parliament of Australia

[3] The Right Hon the Lord Mayor of Sydney Councillor Clover Moore, City of Sydney

[4] Mr Bill Dobbie, Consul-General of New Zealand, Consulate-General of New Zealand

[5] Cr Yvonne Weldon AM, Councillor, City of Sydney; Cr (Waskam) Emelda Davis, Councillor, City of Sydney; Cr Linda Scott, Councillor, City of Sydney

[6] Mr Phillip Chin, Board of Directors, RSL NSW

[7] Ken Inglis, Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, Melbourne University Press, 1999, p. 93

[8] Major-General Sir William Throsby Bridges was killed at Gallipoli in May 1915 and buried overlooking the Royal Military College, Duntroon, which he founded: ‘The Death and Burial of Sir William Bridges’, Australian War Memorial website, available here. The unknown Australian soldier was recovered from Adelaide Cemetery near Villers-Bretonneaux in France and brought home to be interred in the Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Memory to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the First World War in 1993: ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’, Australian War Memorial website, available here

[9] For instance: the Balmain War Memorial, dedicated in 1916, and the Manly ANZAC War Memorial, dedicated 6 months later: Neil Radford, ‘War Memorials for World War I’, Dictionary of Sydney online, available here; ‘Balmain War Memorial’, New South Wales War Memorial Register online, available here; ‘Manly War Memorial’, New South Wales War Memorial Register online, available here

[10] The foundation stone for the Redfern Park War Memorial was laid in 1919, and dedicated in January 1920: ‘Redfern Park War Memorial, New South Wales War Memorial Register online, available here

[11] ‘Private Michael Flick’, Australian War Memorial website, available here; Wendy Frew, ‘Black Diggers the Forgotten Anzacs’, Sydney Morning Herald online, 19 August 2014, available here

[12] Heather Goodall, paraphrased in Wendy Frew, ‘Black Diggers the Forgotten Anzacs’, ibid.

[13] “This takes the total to 70 Aboriginal men who are believed to have served on Gallipoli, 13 of whom were killed in action. It is estimated that 1,000 to 1,300 Indigenous soldiers served in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, of whom around 250 to 300 made the ultimate sacrifice. That’s out of an estimated Indigenous population at the time of 80,000”: ‘Aboriginal presence on Gallipoli grows’, Australian War Memorial Website, available here.

[14] Pastor Ray Minniecon, in ‘Pastor Ray Minniecon explains the history of the Coloured Diggers March’, video posted to the University of Sydney YouTube channel, available here

[15] ibid

[16] Joseph Flick, Bringing Their Spirits Home, Winston Churchill Trust Fellowship Report, 2023, available here

[17] Luca Ittimani, ‘Spears Taken by Captain Cook at Botany Bay Returned to Traditional Owners after more than 250 Years’, Guardian online, 24 April 2024, available here