A celebration of diversity on Anzac Day
24 April 2009
On the eve of Anzac Day, the Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, Laurie Ferguson, reflected on the diversity of those who have defended Australia in wartime.
'Australians of many cultures have served the country in every war in which we have participated in from 1885 to the present day,' Mr Ferguson said.
'In World War II alone, it is estimated about 3000 Indigenous Australians served in the regular armed forces, including the five Lockyer brothers from South Australia. Only three of the brothers returned.
'The earliest Chinese-Australian serviceman is believed to be Sergeant John Joseph Shying, who served with the New South Wales contingent to the Anglo-Egyptian War in the Sudan in 1885.
'Australians were involved in the Boer War and during World War I, Australia sent the Australian Imperial Force [AIF] to the battlefields of Gallipoli, the Middle East and Europe.
'Recruits with Danish, French and Jewish backgrounds joined the AIF. What is, perhaps, not as well-known is that about 1000 Russian-born servicemen also fought in the AIF.
'Besides ethnic Russians, these Russian-born Anzacs included members of a score of different ethnic groups who lived in Russia – Finns and other Scandinavians, Estonians, Latvians, Germans, Lithuanians, Polish, Jews, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Ossetians, Georgians and Tatars.
'And among British Australians, Scots enlisted proportionally in greater numbers as well as being significant in officer ranks.
'These cultures and many others, including veterans from Fiji, Hong Kong, Malta, Rhodesia, South Africa, Gurkha units and Sikh regiments, who fought alongside our Australian troops, will be represented tomorrow in Anzac Day marches around the country.
'On this Anzac Day, let us also remember the many migrants who have made Australia their home and who share our Anzac traditions.'
Lest we forget.
Media contact: Carla Wilshire 0432 755 935
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/parlsec/media/media-releases/2009/lf09023.htm
Last update: 30 April 2009 at 11:53 AEST