Remembrance Day: Telling our stories within the Defence Force family

Memorials honouring those who have served Australia in the armed forces can be found in large cities and small towns throughout the nation.

A new memorial in Brisbane will be placed in Anzac Square, the spiritual home of the Defence Force in Queensland. It will face the Eternal Flame and will honour the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women of Queensland.

Lorraine Hatton OAM is Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial Queensland Inc.

‘The idea for this memorial came about in 2013 and it was started by Aboriginal men, Dr Dale Kerwin and Mr Rick Gross,’ Lorraine said.

‘Dr Dale Kerwin is a professor at Griffith University and Mr Rick Gross was a Minjerribah man from Stradbroke Island, a member of the Stolen Generations and Vietnam veteran.’

The memorial includes six figures. The two at the back each represent the cultural warriors of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.

In the next row are four figures. One represents World War I navy personnel, another represents World War II air-force personnel, and the last two represent current (post-Vietnam War) army personnel; a female and male.

‘They are all standing on the journey stone. Where the cultural warriors stand represents home for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders,’ Lorraine said.

‘The ‘navy’ figure is standing on water symbology, the air force figure is standing on air symbology and the female and male stand on land symbology that represents their journeys to their respective wars.’

‘The male at the front is bare-chested revealing the warrior scarring which has ancient cultural meaning but also represents the scars received in war.’

The memorial is fully funded thanks to the support of Griffith University and many other donors, including Government departments, private organisations and individuals.

The memorial’s unveiling will be 27 May 2022 on the first day of Reconciliation Week.

‘Sometimes when people see this, they go “Why are we doing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander memorial”,’ Lorraine said.

‘When we look at Australia’s military history, we have a lot of stories. This is just one story within our military history that hasn’t been told.’

‘It’s a story within our Defence family.’

The memorial itself has a story to it and will no doubt generate more stories over time.

‘Mr Rick Gross, who was at the beginning of this project, has unfortunately passed away so he will never get to be there when it is placed in Anzac Square,’ Lorraine said.

‘When you look at a lot of Indigenous people who supported this, there are some who have died along the way and haven’t lived to see their dream become a reality.’

The Brisbane memorial will join existing memorials in Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra and soon to be established ones in Ipswich and Woorabinda. These memorials are all dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who served in the armed forces, and in some cases, made the ultimate sacrifice for Australia.

These memorials represent this nation’s determination to take heed of the Remembrance Day warning, ‘Lest we forget’.