Remembrance Day: Honouring All Who Served — Including Those Who Fought for a Country That Denied Them.

Each year, on the 11th of November, Australians pause for one minute’s silence at 11 a.m. to remember those who have died in war and conflict. Remembrance Day marks the end of the First World War in 1918 — the moment the guns fell silent on the Western Front. It is a day to honour courage, sacrifice, and the price of peace.

Yet woven into this solemn reflection is a story that has too often gone untold — the story of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who served their country with distinction, even when that same country denied them equality, recognition, and basic human rights.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were not counted as citizens. Under the Defence Act of 1909, anyone who was not “substantially of European origin or descent” was officially barred from enlisting. Despite this, hundreds of Indigenous Australians found ways to join. Some claimed mixed ancestry; others had supportive recruiting officers who quietly ignored the rules.

By war’s end, historians estimate that between 800 and 1,000 Indigenous Australians had served overseas — from the muddy trenches of the Somme to the deserts of Sinai and Palestine. Many fought bravely, earning medals for gallantry. But when they returned home, their heroism was met not with gratitude, but with silence. They were denied soldier settlement land, excluded from returned servicemen’s clubs, and refused pensions and benefits granted to their white comrades.

Still, their service did not end there. In the Second World War, and later in Korea, Vietnam, and beyond, Indigenous men and women once again volunteered in large numbers — often out of a sense of duty, adventure, or hope that their service might help dismantle the barriers of racism at home.

For many Indigenous families, military service represented both sacrifice and contradiction: fighting for freedom abroad while denied it on their own land. Yet through that service, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples claimed a powerful stake in the nation’s story — one that demanded to be acknowledged.

Today, as the red poppies bloom and we bow our heads in remembrance, we honour every Australian who served, regardless of race or recognition. But we also acknowledge the deeper truth: that those who fought for a fair go overseas often came home to find they still had to fight for it here.

Remembrance Day is not only a time to remember the fallen — it is a moment to confront our history honestly and inclusively. The courage of Indigenous servicemen and women reminds us that patriotism and equality are not gifts bestowed by governments, but values upheld by people who believe in something greater than themselves.