Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Over the next 18 months or so, we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day. In a community like mine, where some 60 per cent of people were born overseas, it is worth reflecting on the fact that there are probably relatively few people in my community whose families were not touched by the horrific war known as World War I. There are probably some whose ancestors fought with Australians and New Zealanders at Gallipoli.

At the time of World War I, around 25 per cent of Australians were born overseas. An estimated 30 per cent of ANZAC soldiers were drawn from that population. Unsurprisingly, most of those were British born, as enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force was at first confined to those of European descent. The rules were relaxed as the war went on and people enlisted from countries as varied as the Philippines and Malaysia to Germany and France, as well as our own Indigenous Australians.

While it is unknown how many Australian soldiers were of Chinese background, two were very well known at the time. One was Billy Sing, whose father migrated to Australia from Shanghai. He ended up being the most outstanding sniper on Gallipoli before going on to the Western Front. Another Chinese-Australian was Caleb Shang, known as Charlie, a message runner and a very brave signaller and sniper on the Western Front. He served in a number of battles and became the most highly decorated Chinese soldier that we have any record of and, in fact, one of the most highly decorated Australian soldiers, being awarded the distinguished conduct medal not once but twice.

Greeks also played a large role in World War I on behalf of Australia, although again their contribution is not as well known, as most Greek-Australian stories arise from the post-World War II migration. But 57 ANZACs across the whole war were born in Greece, and eight of those fought at Gallipoli. The most well known is Georgios Papas, from Queensland, who received a distinguished conduct medal for gallantry, awarded because he was wounded while retrieving other wounded under heavy gunfire.

For people in my community of Vietnamese descent, their relatives may well have fought alongside Australians at Salonika in Greece. My Senegalese and African families may have ancestors who fought with the French forces at Gallipoli, who fought alongside ANZACS. Then, of course, there were the Maltese—six immigrants from Malta and one second generation Australian-Maltese from Melbourne. Four were killed in action in France, two in Belgium and one at Gallipoli, and their remains are buried there. Another 30 Maltese-Australians were engaged in combat in Gallipoli and they survived and returned to Australia as ANZAC survivors.

Of course, the spirit of Anzac Day has a deep Sikh connection. Being subjects of the Crown under British rule in India, Sikhs and other Indians had no choice but to participate in World War I because they were recruits in the British Army. A million Indian troops fought in the First World War. Of them, 700,000 were pitted against the Ottoman Empire. In Gallipoli, they formed part of the New Zealand and Australian Division. Of 5,010 Indians who served in Anzac, 1,926 died and 3,863 were wounded, some more than once. The number of dead, although horrific, paled in comparison to the number that died in France and Belgium. The 371 Sikhs who died fighting at Gallipoli on 3 and 4 June 1915 were from the battalion of the 14th Sikh Regiment. The troop's commander, General Sir Ian Hamilton, wrote:

In spite of the tremendous losses there was not a sign of wavering all day. Not an inch of ground was given up and not a single straggler came back.

The ends of the enemy's trenches were found to be blocked with the bodies of Sikhs and … the glacis slope was thickly dotted with the bodies of these fine soldiers all lying on their faces as they fell in their steady advance on the enemy.

The Indian Army was represented on Gallipoli by the 7th Indian Mountain Artillery Brigade, the Indian Mule Corps, a medical establishment and the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade. The artillery brigade arrived at Ari Burnu with and ANZAC troops and was there from the first day until the final evacuation. It consisted of the 21st Kohat and the 26th Jacobs Mountain Battery, manned by Sikh and Punjabi Muslim gunners, a complete brigade, which served with a day's relief and prided itself on being the first in and last out among the artillery units on Gallipoli. Fourteen Indian soldiers earned the Victoria Cross. The number of Indigenous soldiers who fought at Gallipoli is largely unknown because they were recruited not under the Indigenous badge. In fact, they could not enlist as members of the Indigenous community, but they were there in numbers and should also be remembered.

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