Our Indigenous Heroes - They Also Served
South Africa 1899-1902 (Boer War)
Date Started 11th of October 1899, conclusion 31st of May 1902.
From the time of its acquisition by Britain during the Napoleonic wars, southern Africa had been shared between British colonies and independent republics of Dutch–Afrikaner settlers, known as Boers.
Throughout the 19th century the two powers had maintained a wary co-existence, although increasingly the question became whether Britain or the Boers should control southern Africa. The two had already fought an inconclusive war in 1880.
The discovery of gold and diamonds in the Boer republics in the 1880s intensified rivalry. British imperial ambition and Boer independence caused more friction, which in 1899 provoked the Boers to attack to forestall what they saw as an impending British conquest.
Around 15,000 Australian men and women, most of whom were born between 1870 and 1880, served in eight contingents raised in individual Australian colonies through the duration of the Second Boer War in South Africa between October 1899 and May 1902.
World War One 1914-1918
Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were during an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain.
For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.
Australians also served at sea and in the air. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN), under the command of the British Royal Navy, made a significant contribution early in the war, when HMAS Sydney destroyed the German raider SMS Emden near the Cocos–Keeling Islands in November 1914. The Great War was the first armed conflict in which aircraft were used; some 3,000 Australian airmen served with the Australian Flying Corps in the Middle East and France, mainly in observation capacities or providing air support for the infantry.
Australian women volunteered for service in auxiliary roles: as cooks, nurses, drivers, interpreters, munitions workers, and farm workers. While the government welcomed the service of nurses into the armed forces, it generally rejected offers from women in other professions to serve overseas. Australian nurses served in Egypt, France, Greece, and India, often in trying conditions or close to the front, where they were exposed to shelling and aerial bombardment as well as outbreaks of disease.
When the war ended, thousands of ex–servicemen and servicewomen, many disabled with physical or emotional wounds, had to be re-integrated into a society keen to consign the war to the past and resume normal life.
World War Two 1939-1945
On 3 September 1939 Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station in Australia.
Singapore Straits Settlements, 19 September 1945: members of 2/18th Australian Infantry Battalion, prisoners of war of the Japanese, in Changi prison.
Almost a million Australians, both men and women, served in the
Second World War. They fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time, as Japanese aircraft bombed towns in north-west Australia and Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney harbour.
Over 30,000 Australian servicemen were taken prisoner in the Second World War and 39,000 gave their lives. Two-thirds of those taken prisoner were captured by the Japanese during their advance through south-east Asia in the first weeks of 1942. While those who became prisoners of the Germans had a strong chance of returning home at the end of the war, 36 per cent of prisoners of the Japanese died in captivity.
Occupation Force Japan – BCOF
(British Commonwealth Occupation Force - 1945-1952)
Participation in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) marked the first time that Australians were involved in the military occupation of a sovereign nation which it had defeated in war. The primary objective of BCOF was to enforce the terms of the unconditional surrender that had ended the war the previous September.
BCOF participation in the A llied occupation of Japan was announced on 31 January 1946. The entire BCOF force totalled 45,000, from Britain, India, New Zealand, and Australia. About 16,000 Australians served in BCOF, including an infantry contingent of 4,700, base units consisting of 5,300, an air force wing of 2,200, and 130 from the Australian General Hospital.
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) also had a presence in the region as part of the British Pacific Fleet. For two-thirds of the period of occupation the Commonwealth was represented solely by Australians, and throughout its existence BCOF was always commanded by an Australian officer.
By early 1947 BCOF had begun to decline and, by the end of 1948, was composed entirely of Australians. The force was dismantled in 1952.
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding 1947-2013
Australia has been actively involved in peace operations for over 75 years. We have provided military and police personnel to 62 United Nations and other multilateral peace and security operations since 1947. We continue this tradition today, with Australian peacekeepers currently serving in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Australian peacekeepers also serve in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO).
The Malayan Emergency 1948 - 1960
The Malayan Emergency was declared on 16 June 1948 when Malayan Communist Party guerrillas murdered three estate managers in Perak state, beginning an insurgency against the British colonial government. Australian involvement began when Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) transports, bombers and personnel arrived in Singapore in 1950.
The Emergency was declared officially over on 31 July 1960, although Australian troops conducted anti-insurgency operations until August 1962 and remained in what was by then Malaysia until 1963. Thirty-nine Australians lost their lives during the Emergency, and a further 27 were wounded.
The Indonesian Confrontation 1962 -1965
The Indonesian Confrontation began in 1962 and was a small-scale undeclared war between Indonesia and Malaysia. The Confrontation was a result of Indonesian attempts to disable and destroy the newly independent state of Malaysia.
In March 1965, the first Australian infantry arrived in Borneo and were involved in several operations. However, because cross-border operations were conducted in secret, the Confrontation received very little coverage in the Australian press at the time, and for years after. Indonesia and Malaysia signed a peace treaty in Bangkok in August 1966, ending the conflict.
Twenty-three Australians had lost their lives.
Korean War 1950-1953
Only five years after the end of the Second World War, Australia became involved in the Korean War. Personnel from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and the Australian Regular Army (ARA) were committed soon after the war began and would serve for the next three years in the defence of South Korea.
The origins of the Korean War can be traced back to the end of the Second World War, when the Allies were entrusted with control of the Korean peninsula following 35 years of Japanese occupation, with the Soviets taking control of the country to the north of the 38th Parallel and the Americans taking the south. By 1950 tensions between the two zones had risen to the point that two increasingly hostile armies had built up along the 38th Parallel.
In all, 21 nations committed troops, ships, aircraft, and medical units to the defence of South Korea. Australia became the second nation, behind the United States, to commit personnel from all three-armed services to the war. The United States and the Soviet Union accepted mutual responsibility for the country
Over 17,000 Australians served during the Korean War, of which 340 were killed and over 1,216 wounded. A further 30 had become prisoners of war.
The Vietnam War 1962 – 1975
Accession Number: EKN/67/0130/VN
Iroquois helicopters land to take members of 7RAR back to Nui Dat after completion of Operation Ulmarra, August 1967.
The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. Australia's participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973. The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam were a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon, which was withdrawn in June 1973.
The Australian commitment consisted predominantly of army personnel, but significant numbers of air force and navy personnel and some civilians also took part. From the time of the arrival of the first members of the Team in 1962 over 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam; 523 died as a result of the war and almost 2,400 were wounded.
The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. Many draft resisters, conscientious objectors, and protesters were fined or gaoled, while some soldiers met a hostile reception on their return home.
The Gulf War 1990 – 1991
HMAS Brisbane, Adelaide, Success, Darwin and Sydney rendezvous for a handover in the Gulf of Oman, December 1990. Photographer ABPHOT Kym Degner, image courtesy SeaPower Centre
Australia was one of the 35 nations that contributed to the Gulf War. Of the 1800 ADF members who deployed to the region in 1990 and 1991, most were members of the Royal Australian Navy.
They had helped to enforce UN economic sanctions against Iraq through naval blockade (HMAS Adelaide and Darwin), provided air defence for the US carrier battle group in the Persian Gulf (HMAS Brisbane and Sydney) and carried out sustainment and logistical support for coalition vessels (HMAS Success and Westralia).
Some 20 members of the Australian Defence Force participated in Operation Desert Storm, attached to US and British formations, and four ADF surgical teams served aboard the US hospital ship Comfort.
After the ceasefire, RAN clearance divers from CDT3 deployed to Kuwait, where they cleared a number of ports of mines, explosive devices and ordnance left over from the Iraqi occupation. In May 1991, 75 ADF personnel deployed to Northern Iraq to help provide humanitarian relief to millions of Kurds displaced by ongoing turmoil in the aftermath of the conflict. Between 1991 and 1999, some 175 ADF personnel deployed to Iraq with UNSCOM – the UN mission that sought to oversee Iraq’s compliance with the destruction of its chemical, biological and missile weapons facilities.
The 2nd Gulf War 2003 – 2009
On 20 March 2003, a combined force of American, British and Australian troops under US leadership invaded Iraq in what was termed "the Second Gulf War". Their object was to locate and destroy suspected weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq: Warrant Officer Lionel Orreal from the 1st Military Police Battalion passes an Iraqi woman wearing the traditional burka while on patrol outside the former Australian Embassy residence, Baghdad.
By 2006, approximately 1,400 Australian soldiers remained engaged in reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Iraq together with American and other coalition forces. In mid-2008 Australia began to reduce its forces with the withdra wal of approximately 500 troops, leaving almost 1,000 Australian soldiers in Iraq. Australian combat troops ceased their operational role in Iraq on 31 July 2009. By May 2011 all non-US coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraq and the US military withdraw all forces on 18 December 2011, thus ending the Iraq War.
Two Australian service personnel died in the conflict in Iraq between 16 July 2003 and 31 July 2009.
Sources: Australian War Memorial – Australians at War.
Afghanistan and Iraq
Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, United States President George W. Bush declared a ‘War on Terror’. Australia invoked the ANZUS Treaty to support the US and was among the first nations to pledge support for a US-led multi-national force. The Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist movement, controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, committing systematic massacres against civilians and issuing edicts forbidding women to work outside the home, to attend school, or to leave the home unless accompanied by a male relative. Australia’s military commitment began on 11 October 2001 with Operation Slipper. All three squadrons of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment were deployed to Afghanistan, participating in operations in the mountainous regions south of Kabul, and conducting reconnaissance and surveillance. The initial ADF commitment in Afghanistan concluded in December 2002 when the Special Air Service Task Group was withdrawn.
Taliban leadership relocated to southern Afghanistan and across the border to Pakistan. By 2003 it had reorganised, waging an insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Afghan national security forces, as well as coalition troops. By 2007, the Taliban had retaken large parts of Afghanistan. An Australian army training team provided security detachments in Baghdad for Australian diplomats at national headquarters and began to train Iraqi soldiers from July 2003.
Between 2006 and 2008 Australia committed a Reconstruction Task Force to help construct schools, medical facilities, bridges and patrol bases in Uruzgan, while training Afghan youths in carpentry and other trades. From late 2008 Australia’s military focus shifted to mentoring Afghan forces through the Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force, and from 2010, through the Mentoring Task Force.
Australian Defence Force personnel remained until 2021. With the withdrawal of coalition troops, the Taliban launched a broad offensive, re-establishing control over Afghanistan, and taking the capital city of Kabul on 15 August. On that day, the president of the Islamic Republic, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country, the Taliban declared victory and the war formally ended.
Sources: Australian War Memorial – Australians at War.
