Aboriginal war effort

On the Frontline  Aboriginal labour settlements   Employed on a large scale   Casualties 

Recorded Interviews

During World War 2, many Australian Aborigines and part-Aborigines served as members of the Australian Military Forces, although few of these were from the Northern Territory. Nevertheless the Aborigines from this part of Australia played a valuable role in the country's war effort.

They became a very useful segment of the workforce which helped maintain Army, Navy and Air Force supply and service facilities; they undertook some remarkable rescues of Allied servicemen and some courageous captures of enemy pilots; both men and women served capably in a variety of service establishments; and they proved even in those difficult days of stress, the Aborigines ability to adjust to new and difficult conditions and to learn new skills quickly.

The threatening southward sweep of Japanese forces in the early months of 1942 made it essential to evacuate the aboriginal populations from the Darwin area in anticipation of probable Japanese military activity.

Before 19 February 1942, the Native Affairs Branch (Civil) handled this evacuation. Many aborigines were sent to Delissaville and others to tribal areas. This early evacuation was so successful that when the first Japanese bombers struck Darwin on 19 February 1942, very few aborigines remained in the Darwin town area and none were killed or injured in this or subsequent raids on Darwin.

After 19 February, control and direction of the Aboriginal population passed more and more into the hands of the Army.

On the Frontline

Northern Territory Aborigines also undertook, on many occasions, search and rescue jobs that were dramas of courage, endurance and skill.

About 200 worked for the RAAF on outlying airstrips and radar stations. They proved their worth however, particularly in voluntary recovery and patrol work, sometimes working on their own and on other occasions under supervision.

For instance, the honour of capturing the first Japanese pilot shot down on Australian soil fell to an Aboriginal named Matthias, on Melville Island. Another Aboriginal, Louie, showed considerable courage and resource in capturing, single-handed, five Japanese airmen shot down on Bathurst Island. Particularly important work was done by a number of Aborigines who acted as coastwatchers on Melville, Wessel and Bathurst Islands during the war. Recently, their work has been recognized by the award of the relevant campaign medals, payment for their services and the granting of the right to wear Returned from Active Service badges.

Other feats by Aborigines included rescuing, treating and carrying to help an American pilot who had baled out of his blazing aircraft with one leg badly burned; walking 119 miles to rescue an American pilot, Lieutenant J. Martin, who had been shot down in flames (this pilot was later shot down over Bynoe Harbour and again rescued by Aborigines; the rescue of five Dutch airmen and the carrying for many miles of one who had a broken leg; taking part in rescue work when the vessel "Pat Cam" was sunk by a Japanese float-plane off Wessel Islands; locating numerous Allied and enemy aircraft which had crashed; caring for eleven survivors of the S.S. "Florence", and searching for and locating several Japanese mines.

Aboriginal Labour Settlements

At the request of Army Intelligence, about 300 Aborigines from the Shoal Bay and Koolpinyah areas were evacuated to Mataranka , 264 miles south of Darwin. On 5 April 1942, Lt. Col. Stokes, commanding the Army Workshops at Mataranka, was asked by officers of the Native Affairs Branch to employ these Aborigines as labourers. He agreed and thus began the first of the Aboriginal labour settlements, whose work was to prove very valuable in the next few years.

Native Affairs Branch officers supervised the Aboriginal labourers and initially, this branch provided food, clothing and tobacco for the workers and their families. The range of work undertaken by these men widened quickly. One important task was the handling of all ammunition passing though the area. A gang of 60 men was employed on this job and in an emergency handled the quite remarkable amount of three tons per man per hour. Lt. Col. Stokes stated he was more than satisfied with the efficiency of his Aboriginal labour staff and said they were much better than the labourers he had employed in the Middle East. He quickly found other work for the Aborigines at Mataranka. They undertook such diverse labouring and semi-skilled activities as building, working on saw-benches, performing hygiene duties and working on the workshop assembly lines. From a small beginning, the Mataranka settlement expanded until it had an Aboriginal population of about 500, with 170 workers. An Army N.C.O. was stationed at the settlement to assist the Native Affairs Branch with labour supervision.

On 26 July 1942, Lt. Col Nunn made the first moves toward establishing another Aboriginal settlement, when he approached the Native Affairs Branch to set up a new camp at Springvale Station, about four miles west of the Katherine township.

The move was made partly to enable effective Army control of the nomadic Aboriginal population in the area and partly to ensure that the Aborigines could be given healthy living conditions and proper medical care, which was otherwise difficult under wartime conditions. Once again, however, the Aborigines who gathered in this centre were employed by the Army and did useful work, under the supervision of two N.C.O's, in a number of labouring jobs – woodcutting and hygiene in particular.

Similar settlements were later established at Koolpinyah and Adelaide River in 1942, and the Cullen settlement, near Pine Creek was begun in March 1943. Although the settlement in the Katherine area closed temporarily between November 1943 and September 1944, the rest stayed open continuously, under the control of Army N.C.O's, until 1945.

Their prime purpose was to enable proper control of Aboriginal health and welfare under wartime conditions, to prevent contact between Aborigines and the enemy and to allow Australian troops freedom of movement in forward areas. But the Aborigines soon came to be valued as a workforce by the Army and enabled many troops to be released for other duties. Aborigines from Koolpinyah settlement, for instance, helped with the hygiene arrangements in Darwin township, both during the critical period of 1942, and later. Men from other settlements did well on important health duties, in particular malarial control spraying.

Employed on a large scale

Further south, in the Alice Springs area, Aborigines from the existing civil settlement were employed at staging camps on the north-south line of communication, at Barrow Creek, Banka Banka and Elliott. They enabled the Army to use elsewhere troops who would otherwise have had to staff camps.

The list of tasks undertaken by Northern Territory Aborigines is a long one. For instance all Army Butcheries employed them on a large scale. At Adelaide River, upwards of 30 worked as slaughtermen while others salted, folded and stacked hides. Aborigines were employed on hygiene work at all Area headquarters and many other Army camps throughout the Northern Territory. Under the supervision of Australian N.C.0's, they carried out the job successfully. Twenty Aborigines efficiently performed the whole of the hygiene work for Darwin from the first bombing until burner type latrines were later installed in most camps. In malarious and potentially malarious areas, Aborigines performed duties such as spraying waterholes, creeks, etc., in the vicinity of camps, disposal of rubbish dumps consisting of tins, bottles and other containers which, by holding stagnant water, provided excellent mosquito breeding grounds.

On Army farms, Aborigines performed efficiently many varied tasks, despite the fact that the Aborigines of the Northern Territory were not agriculturists.

They also proved efficient in a variety of mechanical and technical jobs. During 1942/43, at Mataranka workshops, Aborigines were employed dismantling motor and truck engines. The C.O. of this Unit (Lt. Col. Gurnett) was much impressed with their capabilities and aptitude for this type of work. Aborigines were also engaged on work of a semi-skilled nature, such as sorting tools and stores. They were also engaged in the actual reconditioning of tools and stores. Throughout the war, also, a large number of Aborigines were engaged in getting firewood and milling it for bakeries, hospitals and other units. The outstanding instance of this kind of work was the Dunmaara Firewood Camp, where between 40 and 60 Aborigines were employed for a long period, until it was closed in January 1945. This camp supplied all firewood for the Army in the Alice Springs area. Aborigines were also employed as wardsmen and orderlies in the Aboriginal wings of various hospitals.

From the outset, female Aboriginal workers were employed on the settlement staffs. Consequently upon the establishment of the AWAS Barracks in the Northern Territory, it was found practicable to employ a number of women, not only in these barracks, but also in hospitals, etc. where they were able to work under the supervision of female staff.

Aboriginal women were employed at such places as 69 AWAS Baracks; AWAS Hostel; 107 AGH; 109 AGH 74 Aust.Camp Hospital; RAAF Hospital; RAN Hospital, AWAS Barracks (Alice Springs); AAMWS Barracks (Alice Springs). They were employed in these establishments as orderlies, personal maids to Matrons, doing washing, ironing and household and domestic duties.

The 56 Australian Port Craft Company (previously 15 Australian Small Ship Company) during March 1944 recruited as volunteers some 80 Aborigines from Melville and Bathurst Islands. They were employed as pilots, deckhands, shipwrights' and welders' assistants, technical storemen's assistants and a variety of other jobs.

Unfortunately, these men were not permitted to have their families with them, as was the case in other Army settlements. The reason for this was that they were quartered in the same camp as Australian troops at Larrakeyah Barracks. They worked quite well under the circumstances until April 1945, when the C.O. of the Company granted all of them one week's leave at Bathurst Island, in appreciation of the good work they had performed. The majority of them remained on the Island and repeated efforts to get them back failed, probably because of separation from their families and the fact that they had been over twelve months in the one environment.

Apart from the duties described earlier, Aborigines from time to time, made up working parties for all kinds of miscellaneous work, such as camp demolition in various areas; clearing firebreaks at ammunition depots; grave digging and general maintenance at the War Cemetery, Adelaide River; and work in bulk canteens and cordial factories, bakeries and other specialized Army establishments.

After August 1944 there was a considerable decline in the number of new employed. There were several reasons for this, including war weariness due to being confined in one area and on one continuous routine and the Aborigines' nomadic instinct, which urged them to move at certain times of the year or in response to the urging of others of their tribe.

Casualties

Fortunately, casualties among the Aborigines under Army control were very low. Four were killed or died as the result of accidents; but the only loss they suffered from enemy action was during a Japanese air-raid on Katherine, before they were employed by the Army. In that raid one was killed and two were injured.

Information courtesy of " The War Effort of the Northern Territory Aborigines" By F.R. MORRIS, formerly Director of Native Personnel, H.Q. N.T. Force.