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The friends of a World War One aboriginal soldier raised funds to erect a headstone for their fallen comrade`s unmarked grave in Cairns, in far north Queensland. Harry Doyle was taken from his home on Fraser Island to Yarrabah and lied about his age to enlist with the Light Horse. Despite his youth, he joined the army on May 23, 1917 and was shipped on the HMAS Ulysses to the Middle East with the rest of his unit. He went on to fight in the famous charge at Beersheba in Palestine. At sunset on October 31, 1917, the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade were ordered to gallop under fire and take the town of Beersheba. In the battle, 31 Australians were killed and another 36 were injured, but the Diggers took more than 700 Turkish prisoners. Harry Doyle survived the war and resettled in Cairns in the early 1950s. When he died in 1967 aged 66 he was buried in an unmarked grave at the Martyn Street cemetery . Source: monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/people/indigenous/display...

12 November, 2008 12:22AM AEST Lost World War I soldier given a tombstone By Liam Fox The final resting place of an Aboriginal World War I veteran has finally been marked in Far North Queensland more than 40 years after his death. Harry Doyle was a 16 year old from Yarrabah when he lied about his age to enlist in the imperial army and went on to fight with the 11th Light Horse Regiment in the Middle East in 1917. Trooper Doyle died in 1967 in Cairns but his grave site was unmarked until friend Rose Colless tried to find it. Ms Colless lead an effort to raise funds for a headstone. Today, friends and relatives gathered to see it blessed during a ceremony that included the traditional minute's silence on Remembrance Day. Retired Navy Commander, Mick Storrs, feels it's important Trooper Doyle's contribution has been recognised. "Harry's laid here for 40 years unrecognised so it brings it to an appropriate conclusion that we can honour his memory on a very appropriate day," he says. Trooper Doyle's simple headstone describes him as a beloved friend and relative. Source: www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/11/12/2417040.htm

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

Driver Percy Dixon First World War Embarkation Roll: Conflict - First World War, 1914-1918 Rank - Driver Second World War, 1939-1945 Source: www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10678326