The Wire

Today Australians silently paid tribute to those who fought and died in war, in services all around the country. Two South Australians who paid their respects at a city memorial recall their wartime experiences. SA RSL Director Jock Statton says it is vital that we educate young Australians so that past mistakes are not repeated. Meanwhile, services were also held in the bush to commemorate Indigenous war veterans, who are not on official records. Australian legislation at the time prevented people of non-European descent from being conscripted, so Aboriginal people signed up voluntarily as Maori or Indian fighters and were treated as equals on the frontline. Glen Stasiuk is Director of the Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre at Murdoch University and is renowned for his film ‘The Forgotten’, about Indigenous war veterans and their families. Stasiuk says Remembrance is an important day for all Australians, particularly for his family which lost four men in the wars.