Collection related to Aboriginal Australian servicemen who volunteered from Lake Tyers, Victoria (known as Bung Yarnda by the local Gunai/ Kurnai community) during the Second World War.

V85765 Colonel Frank Oswald Rogers inspects the “Special Platoon” of Aboriginal Australians, who volunteered for service during the Second World War. These men were mainly from the Lake Tyers mission, known as Bung Yarnda, by the local Gunai/ Kurnai community, in Eastern Victoria. The men volunteered together, either on the 15 June 1940 or the 14 and 25 July 1940. The platoon was based at No. 9 Camp in Wangaratta, Victoria, from September 1940 until February 1941, serving with the 2/14 Training Battalion (October) and 2/21 Training Battalion (November-February 1941) before being transferred to 6th Training Battalion – Darley Military Camp (near Bacchus Marsh) in February 1941. During training, the men were used for publicity campaigns in newspapers and magazines, which wrote of their strength and athleticism, with one local newspaper touting them as “Dinkum Australians”. Despite positive public opinion and media, the military held the stance that only Aboriginal men of mostly European background could enlist and created strict policies preventing Indigenous enlistment. In 1940, the Defence Committee stated that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples enlistment in either the Army or the Navy was “neither necessary nor desirable.” As a result, all of these men were discharged on 22 March 1941, their records stating “Services no longer required: not due to misconduct or discreditable service”. Identified in the second line-up, second from the left is VX48201 Private Samuel Richard Rankin.