Veteran Story: Charley (Charlie) Morgan was born in Ipswich, to John Morgan and Bella Collins. He and his siblings had lived on the Deebing Creek Mission and were removed in 1908 and placed at the Yarrabah Mission Station. Morgan had initially enlisted in May 1917 during a recruitment drive by the Queensland Recruitment Committee; but after being discharged for “having been irregularly enlisted” he successfully re-enlisted in July and was assigned to the 49th Infantry Battalion. He embarked from Sydney with several other identified Indigenous soldiers including: Albert Burke & George Hill. When Morgan arrived in France in January 1918 he was transferred to the 25th Battalion and joined them in the Western Front. The battalion was operating in the front lines in June 1918, when Morgan was severely wounded and evacuated to England with a shell wound to his right leg. Morgan was found to be AWOL in October 1918 and sentenced to 100 days detention to be served at the Lewes Detention Barracks, Sussex. Morgan was released from the detention facility in February 1919 and returned home to Australia. He married Lavinia Isabella Slockee in 1920 and for many years resided in Billinudgel, NSW, where their son Charles Con Morgan was born.
