albert

excellent shot

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

Remembrance Day: Tragic story of WWI veteran Albert Burke who died alone in the bush Albert Burke may have served his country and fought on the Western Front but when he returned home, he was forced onto a mission and later died in the bush — alone. He was one of 850 Indigenous men who fought in WWI thinking their loyalty would be rewarded with better treatment. Instead, they returned to the same oppression. There was no freedom for Burke upon return from the war, except for a brief few years when he was granted an exemption from Queensland's Aboriginal Protection Act, but this was revoked. He was then sent to Woorabinda, a mission in central Queensland known as a punishment place in the 1930s. Records show Burke worked as a gardener for the school's headmaster from then until his death in 1954. Refused a lift so he walked 50km Burke was returning by train to the nearby town of Duaringa, a 60-kilometre drive from the mission. He phoned the mission's superintendent to ask if the local truck driver who transported goods between the town and Woorabinda would be able to give him a lift back. The answer was 'no'. "Then that old fella, he decided to walk, right there to Charley's Creek, and he must have felt crook or something and went and had a spell and sat on a log," Mr Munns said. "He must have got sick, and people were saying they saw him — an old Aboriginal fella sitting on a log just through the fence." That is where Burke's body was found, by an old woman mustering cattle, 10 kilometres from Duaringa. No one could identify his remains but he must have been wearing his military medals because these were sent to Canberra for identification and came back as Al Burke. "The man fought for his country, and they left him to die in the bush, that's what my dad said," Mr Munns said. "He was swearing like hell when he found out: 'My old brother fought for this bloody country and they let him die in the bloody paddock like a bloody animal'. "Poor old fella." Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-09/armistice-day-tragic-story...

Military Service Record: recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewIma...