Aborigines Efforts In World War One

Yes, World War One was a tragedy. Yes, millions of lives were lost. Yes, the Aborigines’ efforts in the war have gone unappreciated for about a century... but, given the sheer difference in numbers between the white and Aboriginal soldiers, I think it’s just as important to remember to keep everything in perspective.

We need to focus on the war as a whole: none of “white” and “black” stuff – none of the “fighting for equality”. It’s way too easy to focus on one side of the story and completely forget about the other aspects. We need to just forget about race, and treat everyone as humans. Skin colour has no relevance towards anything in terms of skill, intelligence or ability – so why should we act like there is?

Instead of overstating

They want to tell the untold. To educate us. And that’s fine: I have no problems with that – the Aboriginal soldiers deserve their recognition, and they haven’t received that. But now that we are aware, we must be careful not to forget about the white soldiers as well.

Race should make no difference whatsoever in terms of receiving recognition for one’s actions. Yes, the Aborigines were mistreated in World War One, but that was a century ago. Since then, our understanding and respect for them has gone way up – they weren’t even treated or recognised as humans back then.

But while we celebrate their achievements, having even celebrations for both races is unfair. Some may see it as the fact there are two races in this argument, and they can split it 50/50, but the proportions of white to Aboriginal soldiers was far from 50/50 – much closer to 400/1.

Therefore, I propose that the Aborigines recognised in the ANZAC service, but they shouldn’t tip the scales over in terms of unfair recognition. One four-hundredth might be a little pathetic – that’s probably the equivalent of a passing mention in a two-minute speech. But a part in the service is definitely

You need to show the racists that it is wrong: but the racists frankly won’t be interested in going and seeing a play. You need to force it upon them. Make it into a movie, or a TV series – that way, it pops up in front of them in their own home. Yes, it’s still their choice if they want to watch it, but at least it’s more forced.

A book, on the other hand, isn’t a bad format – one reason for the transcription of the play. Also, it can be pushed into schools, to educate the youth of Australia. That is an effective method. But, adults (who aren’t interested), likely won’t read all the way through a written play – in fact, a good part of the racists aren’t educated (or open-minded) enough to understand the issue of racism, so they almost certainly won’t bother to read through a play.

So, in this postcolonial perspective, we see that Wright and Enoch have tried to force us to understand this issue of racism – and it works for the open-minded. But, for the narrow-sighted ones (the people in which the issue lies), it’s far from the most effective form of