aboriginalsoldiers

Indigenous Australian, Driver Walter COOCHY (aka Couchey), 7th, 23rd & 9th Field Artillery Brigades. Walter COOCHY was born in Gayndah, Qld. in 1893 and was working as a Horse Breaker when he enlisted 10 November 1915. Initially allotted to the Light Horse Regiment, on arrival in Egypt, he was transferred to the Artillery. These units sailed for England in May 1916 and trained at the Australian Army Training Depot, Parkhouse before embarking for France. Walter Couchy was first assigned to the 9th Field Artillery Brigade, then the 23rd, and finally in January 1917, the 7th. He was mustered to be a driver and served in the Western Front until being returned home at the end of the war, May 1919. His brother Edmund Coochy was not accepted to serve when he enlisted in July 1917 on the grounds of ‘no white parentage’. + Their surname is variously spelled – Coochy, Coochey, Couchy Source: ttps://centenary184.rssing.com/chan-39477427/all_p12.html

Bertie Beckett Indigenous Australian, Bertie BECKETT, Light Horse Depot Regiment. Private Bertie BECKETT volunteered in May 1915 to serve with the first AIF. Bertie was married with three children, and living at the Aboriginal mission at Barambah, now known as Cherbourg. Bertie was among 17 Aboriginal men who were recruited during a drive by the Queensland Recruiting Committee on 14 May 1917. 10 days later in Brisbane, during a patriot speech given by recruiting officer Lieutenant Colonel [Chaplain] David Garland, a line of Light Horsemen rode past each leading a riderless horse. The 17 recently recruited men from Barambah took up these mounts in a [staged] demonstration of their patriotism and paraded along Queen Street to ‘considerable cheering.’ However, their inclusion in the first AIF was short-lived. All 17 recruits were discharged just 30 days later on Wednesday, 13 June 1917, for “having been irregularly enlisted”. The men were returned home to the mission, under escort, with out any receipt of payment or any discharge documents. The AIF was brutal in its response when queried for their action – ‘a coloured man must have been associated with white people for some time prior to enlistment’ – and those who were considered too dark ‘would not make soldiers’. Source: centenary184.rssing.com/chan-39477427/all_p16.html

CUBBO JOHN Private 3121A, 5th Light Horse Regiment Born Kilkivan, Queensland Enlisted Re- 1st June 1918 Occupation at enlistment Station Hand Remark Embarked Sydney “Port Darwin” 14th September 1918Listed in DVD Cherbourg Returned to Australia “Madras” 5th August 1919 Discharged Source: www.southburnett.qld.gov.au/directory-record/565/cubbo-john 20th August 1919