By JESSE GRAHAM
IT WAS a chance meeting with excellent timing that saw Healesville’s reconciliation campaigner, Aunty Dot Peters, receive a CD acknowledging the work of Aboriginal soldiers.
On Thursday, 12 May, Eildon MP Cindy McLeish stopped by Sanctuary House Resort to drop off a special delivery to the respected Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Dot.
She told Aunty Dot and those at the motel, who had gathered to discuss the Victorian Aboriginal Remembrance Service on 31 May, that she recently met John Schumann, who wrote ‘I Was Only Nineteen’.
She spoke to Mr Schumann about the song, and he said he had since been commissioned to write a song, ‘On Every Anzac Day’, honouring the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women.
“I said well, as it happens … the person responsible for having them recognised lives in Healesville: Aunty Dot,” Ms McLeish said.
Mr Schumann then gave Ms McLeish a copy of the CD (by John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew), which he signed for Aunty Dot, to give to her.
It was an emotional moment when the group listened to the song, which is written from the point of view of a white soldier, fighting alongside Aboriginal soldiers – who were then not recognised for their service upon returning home.
“He tried to join the RSL but the bastards wouldn’t let him in. They didn’t see a soldier, just a first Australian,” the song went.
“So when the sun sets in the evening, when the dawn lights up the sky, we remember those first Australians, who joined and fought and died.”
Aunty Dot told the Mail she thought the song was “terrific”, and would get in contact to thank Mr Schumann personally.
She said that preparations were underway for the Victorian Aboriginal Remembrance Service, which will be held at the Shrine of Remembrance on Birdwood Avenue in Melbourne.
Aunty Dot was instrumental in bringing about the remembrance service, and campaigned for the recognition of Aboriginal soldiers in memory of her father, Vincent, who served in the World War II and died a prisoner of war.
Because he was Aboriginal, his family did not receive any soldier’s benefits, and his work went unrecognised.
“In 2006, I was listening to a young man talking about when they came back from the war – if they went into hotels, they wouldn’t serve them a beer; their children weren’t allowed to go to certain schools; if they were in a shop where there were non-Aboriginal people, they had to wait until they were served before they got served,” Aunty Dot said.
“I thought, ‘This is terrible’.”
She then approached the Healesville RSL, where Sam Halim was president, about getting involved in Reconciliation Week, the last week in May – they accepted, and played a version of The Ode featuring a didgeridoo.
Soon after, a service was held at the Shrine of Remembrance, and now remembrance services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women are an annual and national event.
“I say to people, ‘It’s amazing what you can achieve if you speak to the right people’,” Aunty Dot said.
“I always say, ‘You approach people – you don’t attack them’.”
The Victorian Aboriginal Remembrance Service will be held on Tuesday, 31 May, at 11am at the Shrine of Remembrance.
National Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May to 3 June. For more information, visit www.reconciliation.org.au.
