The Coloured Digger
By Andrew Finden
2 May 2007
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women have served in every armed conflict since WWI in which Australian troops fought. Yet despite their sacrifice, the country for which they fought committed terrible racist injustices against them.
Indigenous diggers, treated as equals on the battlefield, returned home, only to find they were not allowed into their local RSL* clubs, and in some cases, to find their children had been taken away to an institution. Aboriginal soldiers who fought in Vietnam were still not considered citizens or given voting rights until 1969.
Anzac Day is a proud day for Australia where the nation remembers those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and celebrates the freedom and mateship that was forged in the fire of battle. The Anzac, the Aussie "digger" will always be remembered, the "ode to the fallen" said in their memory every year. Yet the sacrifice of the one who WWII soldier Bert Beros calls "The Coloured Digger" has been forgotten. Until now.
On Anzac Day 2007, a group of Indigenous diggers, elders and supporters marched from The Block in Sydney's inner-city suburb of Redfern, the symbolic heartland of Aboriginal Australia, to St Saviour's Church in Redfern where a commemoration service was held.
This was an historic day, a proud day, and a day where the sacrifice of the many indigenous diggers was honoured, recognised and respected. Lest we forget.
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