Fighting for Country

In 1947, Corporal Timothy Hughes knocked timidly on the Adelaide office door of one of Australia’s popular tabloid newspapers.

A decorated Indigenous soldier from Point Pearce, South Australia, Hughes had served for almost six years during the Second World War and had important issues he wanted to discuss.

“This keen-eyed young man did not discuss his own personal problems which were legion. He was more interested in the problems of his race,” Smith’s Weekly reported in August 1947.

“For an hour he talked about the happy associations he formed in the Army when he was accepted as an equal by his white cobbers and treated officially as such.

“In those days he had fondly imagined that at least the war had broken down those unfair social and colour barriers that fenced him and his race off during the days of peace.

“Back in civvies he found he was wrong. Old barriers still existed and he was treated as an outcast … in his own country … This man can’t even lodge a vote!”

The son of Walter Hughes and Gladys Adams, Timothy Hughes was born at the Point Pearce Aboriginal Station in April 1919.  

His father was of Narangga descent and his mother of Kaurna; his grandfather Alfred Hughes had testified before the 1913 Royal Commission on the Aborigines.

When the Second World War broke out, Hughes enlisted, signing up in December 1939.

Posted to the 2/10th Battalion, he served in Britain in 1940, took part in the defence of Tobruk in Libya between April and August 1941, and fought in the battle of Milne Bay in Papua  from August to September 1942.

In December, he took part in the bitter fighting at Buna in New Guinea.

When his platoon was pinned down by heavy machine-gun fire during the Allied advance along the old airstrip on Boxing Day, he volunteered to climb on top of a dispersal bay and, despite coming under concentrated fire from three directions, threw grenades at two Japanese posts.

Armed with a sub-machine gun, he protected his comrades while they took cover and then made three sorties to silence the enemy’s weapons, enabling the platoon to consolidate its position.

For his actions that day, he was awarded the Military Medal.

“Private Hughes showed remarkable bravery, exceptional coolness and initiative,” the citation read. “His total disregard for his own safety set a fine example throughout the platoon and also throughout the company.”

Hughes was wounded at Sanananda in January 1943 and discharged in September 1945 after almost six years of war.

Returning to Australia, he resumed share-farming at Point Pearce, and in 1953 leased a soldier–settler block at Conmurra which he worked successfully for 22 years.

His brother Alfred served in the regular army from 1951 to 1954 and fought in Korea with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.

In Australia, they were both subject to South Australia's Aborigines Act (1934–39) which limited their freedom of movement and access to the benefits of citizenship.

In May 1956, he received exemption from the Act, but he deeply resented this “dog licence” and remained critical of the way in which Aboriginals were treated.

He became the first chairman of the Aboriginal Lands Trust, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1970. He died in April 1976 and is buried at Centennial Park.

His mother Gladys was appointed MBE in 1971 and was South Australian Aborigine of the Year in 1984.

Australian War Memorial Indigenous Liaison Officer Michael Bell said Hughes was one of thousands of Indigenous Australians who volunteered during the Second World War.

“Despite lack of recognition of rights, denial of citizenship, and concerted efforts at exclusion, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have served in conflicts involving Australian defence contingents since before Federation,” Bell said.

“When the First World War broke out in 1914, many who tried to enlist were rejected on the grounds of race; but many slipped through the net.

“They served on equal terms and were paid the same rate as non-Indigenous soldiers, but when they returned home, they found that discrimination had worsened.

“When the Second World War broke out, Indigenous Australians were still not legally allowed to enlist, but many did so, and in 1940 the Defence Committee decided the enlistment of Indigenous Australians was 'neither necessary not desirable', partly because they believed white Australians would object to serving with them.

“When Japan entered the war, however, the increased need for manpower forced the loosening of restrictions and thousands of Australian Aboriginals enlisted and served.”

A proud Ngunnawal/Gomeroi man, Bell is researching the extent of the contribution and service of people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent and is working to identify Indigenous Australian soldiers who have served and are currently serving.

“Today, the Australian Defence Force looks to recruits through the Defence Indigenous Development Program, and the actions and involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in all Australian conflicts since Federation is far better known,” Bell said.

“But while many Australians assume that the sorts of discrimination faced by Timothy Hughes is a thing of the distant past, it doesn’t take much searching to stumble across similar sentiments on social media.

“One of the antidotes to this problem is to learn and tell the many stories of Indigenous service, of those who rose above to fight for the nation that spurned them.

“We’re trying to encourage people to come forward and tell their stories … to help us tell the broader story of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experience …

“Because no-one saw them, perception of their service was skewed, and for a long time it appeared as if they had never existed.

“It is a little known story that deserves to be widely known.”

Michael Bell is working to identify and research the extent of the contribution and service of people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who have served, who are currently serving, or who have any military experience and/or have contributed to the war effort. He is interested in further details of the military history of all of these people and their families. He can be contacted via Michael.Bell@awm.gov.au