2216 Private John Ernest (Johnny) Richards was a Muthi Muthi man born at Balranald, NSW, in 1899. He lived on Kulkyne Station (on the site of the current Hattah-Kulkyne National Park), in Dadi Dadi country, on the Victorian side of the Murray River, south of Mildura. He was employed as a boundary rider and was a member of the Mournpall [AKA Mournpool] community of Aboriginal people who also 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.