Collection related to 2216 John Ernest (Johnny) Richards, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, 115th Battery and 6th Field Artillery Brigade

Outdoor group portrait of the infant John Ernest (Johnny) Richards and other members of the Mournpall [AKA Mournpool] community on the occasion of Richards' christening. The image was taken at Kulkyne Station, in Dadi Dadi country on the Victorian side of the Murray River, south of Mildura (the site of the current Hattah-Kulkyne National Park). The group is comprised of Aboriginal people who lived and worked on or around Kulkyne Station. Identified in the image are, from left to right (back row, standing): Jack Pearce, Archie, unknown, Sam Victoria [Kulkyne Sam]; (front row) unknown child, unknown infant, Maggie, John Ernest (Johnny) Richards (on lap), Bindul Kulkyne, Peggie [or Peggy], unknown.

This is one of a series of photographs related to 2216 John Ernest (Johnny) Richards, 3 Light Horse Regiment, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, 115th Battery and 6th Field Artillery Brigade. Johnny Richards was a Muthi Muthi man born at Balranald, NSW, in 1899. He was employed as a boundary rider at Kulkyne Station and was a member of the Mournpall community who lived or worked on the station. He enlisted in Mildura on 4 November 1915, however, after being sworn in and passing his medical examination was rejected on the grounds of his "origin": the Defence Act of 1903 restricted Aboriginal Australians from military service. He made a second attempt to enlist and was successful, enlisting at Adelaide on 22 November 1915, when he was taken into the 3 Light Horse, 15th Reinforcements as a private. He served variously with the 25th Field Artillery Brigade, the 15th Field Artillery Brigade, and the 6th Field Brigade, as a gunner and as a driver, in England and France. While serving overseas, he married Janet Stirrat McFadyen, a bookbinder, at Glasgow Cathedral on 19 June 1919. He returned to Australia aboard the HMAT Demosthenes (A64), arriving in Adelaide on 12 September 1919, and was discharged on 4 November. Prior to 1923 he returned to Scotland, where he lived and worked as a sawmill labourer for the rest of his life, mostly in Glasgow. His wife Janet passed away in May 1923. He married Jeanie Bertram/McKenzie in 1927, and, after her death in 1938, Jeanie Bow/Nellis/Falconer in 1943. John Ernest Richards died on 28 February 1964 and is buried at Dunoon Cemetery, Scotland.