Queensland’s Indigenous participation in WWI - a State Library of Queensland research project.

DAVIES, Augustus Hodgkinson #3282

Private Augustus Davies, 41st Infantry Battalion. 

DOYLE, Harry #2426

Private Harry Doyle, 11th Light Horse Regiment. 

It is understood around 300 Indigenous Queenslanders enlisted in the First World War, many more than was originally thought. Uncovering Queensland’s Indigenous participation began at SLQ in 2014 in the lead up to the Serving Country Forum, as part of QANZAC 100: Memories for a New Generation.
Since then SLQ’s Indigenous Languages Coordinator, Des Crump has developed a resource guide on researching Indigenous soldiers of the First World War. Importantly, the guide includes an alphabetic listing, by Queensland location, the names of known Indigenous men who volunteered for enlistment and service. The resource guide is designed to get families started on their own research.

You can read several blog articles about Queensland’s Indigenous soldiers on the WWI blog.

QANZAC100 Content Technician Marg Powell is also contributing her extensive research into the QANZAC100 Historypin hub.  A work in progress, Marg is gradually pinning the portraits and stories of Queensland’s Aboriginal servicemen in the collection:-
   
Indigenous enlistment: Stories and portraits of Queensland's Aboriginal servicemen of the First World War  

The profile in the collection also states – ‘As we learn more about indigenous participation in the First World War, our list of confirmed Indigenous servicemen continues to change. The soldiers represented here are those verified for inclusion up to March 2017. More will be added as they are discovered’.

Do you know any Indigenous Fraser Coast locals who enlisted in the wars?

If you have any further questions please contact the Fraser Coast Libraries on (07) 41905781.

Published with consent from State Library of Queensland.

Tags #indigenous #frasercoast #WW1 #WW2 #Qanzac100 #SLQ