The Australian War Memorial has honoured the first Aboriginal soldier known to have died on overseas military service.
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Private Walter Parker enlisted to fight in the Boer War. The AWM said he "is the earliest known and identified Aboriginal soldier to make the ultimate sacrifice while in service".
Private Parker is now on the Roll of Honour as "Parker W".
"The inclusion of Private Parker's name and his sacrifice has now reset our understanding and knowledge of Indigenous service in the Boer War," the director of the Memorial, Matt Anderson, said.
"This discovery was made through ongoing research to commemorate the stories of First Nations service."
Private Parker served as part of the Western Australian colonial contribution to the war in South Africa.
"The Memorial has now identified 10 Aboriginal men who served, nine of whom returned," the Memorial's Indigenous liaison officer, Michael Bell, said.
Private Parker is the tenth - and the one who didn't return.
He was born on July 6, 1874 in Gingin in Western Australia. He made at least two attempts to enlist but was unsuccessful.
So he tried again and was accepted. The contingent shipped from Fremantle on March 7, 1901. The men returned to Australia a year later but Private Parker was not among them. He had died of typhoid at Standerton in South Africa.
His story will be told and commemorated on the evening of July 7 at the Memorial. Members of his family will lay a wreath.
His identity took some uncovering. An amateur genealogist in Western Australia was researching her children's histories and found the birth certificate for Walter Parker but no records beyond that.
The sleuth, Sue Mills, had a record of his mother but no sign of what had become of the son. She assumed he must have died in the First World War but could find not trace of that in the records.
And then she thought of the Boer War - and the name came up. "I think it's terribly important that he is recognised," she said. "That sacrifice; that willingness; that he was to serve his country."
She thinks Private Parker was turned down initially because of his background.
"It is thought that his Indigenous ancestry may have precluded him from being accepted," she added.
But he tried again and succeeded. "He enlisted in Coolgardie so perhaps he was rejected earlier in Greenough where he lived and so tried his luck in another town.
"As a volunteer Walter would have been faced with a strict criterion; applicants were required to be single men of good character between the ages of 20 and 34, to be not less than 5 foot 6 inches in height, with a chest measurement of 34 inches. They also needed to be expert riders and good shots."
The War Memorial lists ten Aboriginal soldiers who are known to have served in the Boer War: John Alexander Barnes, John Alick (also known as John /Jack Bond), Walter Joseph Parker, John Robert Searle (also known as Robert John Searle and Robert Charles Searle), Frank Leighton Sinclair, William James Stubbings, Arthur Wellington, William Charles Westbury, Alfred Ernest Whye, Stephen Yuille.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
