Our Indigenous Heroes - They Also Served
Black Digger's extraordinary tale of survival on 'Death Railway'
Published 25 April 2022 9:16am By Stefan Armbruster. Source: NITV News
Bidjara and Birri Gubba Juru sisters recount the life of their trailblazing father, Jack Huggins, who was captured during World War II and forced to work on the notorious Burma-Thailand railway.
Source: Photo credit: Glenn Hunt
Dr Jackie Huggins and Ngaire Jarro's father spent three years as a prisoner of war during WWII.
After the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Jack Huggins was imprisoned along with 130,000 other allied troops.
He would endure a brutal occupation and one of the worst atrocities committed by Japanese forces in the pacific, the Death Railway.
Hundreds of thousands of allied prisoners of war slaved with little more than hand tools to carve out a 420-kilometre railway line through the dense jungle from Bangkok to Burma.
The living condition of the prisoners of war on the Burma-Thailand Railway. Supplied: Huggins family.
Tens of thousands died from daily beatings and executions, and with little food and clean water, disease and hellish conditions killed many more, including almost 3000 Australians.
But Jack Huggins survived, and his daughters have honoured their father's incredible story in a biography of his life.
"We think he had a remarkable life in his very short time," Jackie said at the book's launch earlier this month.
"And the story of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers is not a really well-known one.
"We believe this book is the second biography of any Aboriginal man or woman that served at the Death Railway."
Jackie and her son walking along the tracks of Burma-Thailand Railway. Supplied: Huggins family.
'Walking in his footsteps'
In 2019 the sisters joined their younger brother and visited the tracks their father was forced to build.
"It was a very surreal experience," said Jackie.
"But it was so real, because we were then walking in the footsteps where our father had been."
"As we went through Hellfire pass (the deepest and longest cutting along the Burma-Thailand railway), we saw the places where they actually chipped away at the hard rock to get through.
"It was an amazing experience."
Two years on from their trip to the Death Railway, Jackie and Ngaire sat down over cups of tea to begin discussing the book.
'Jack of Hearts: QX11594' portrays a loving father, courageous soldier, talented sportsman and well-respected community member.
It’s also a story of an Aboriginal man who rose above the horrors of war and the racial barriers of a country he fought for, but which didn’t officially recognise him or allow him to vote.
This would be enough to call the man 'exceptional', but he achieved much more: he was the first Aboriginal man to work for Australia post and the first Aboriginal surf lifesaver in Ayr in the 1930s.
He was also the only Indigenous man to play rugby league before and after he returned from war.
'Jack of Hearts QX11594' was officially put on the book shelves on April 1. Photo credit: Glenn Hunt
It was this quiet determination the siblings said earnt their father the respect of many in North Queensland
"He did not experience the worst kind of treatment that most of the other soldiers that went to war did," Dr Huggins said.
"In fact, he came back, like his father, almost like a hero. [He was] welcomed in and given open entry to RSL clubs and hotels, although he never received a soldier settlement grant at all, or any of those other perks.
"Now, we know that that is not the fortune of other Black people who came back from war.
"The fact he did escape the terrible treatment, there's some kind of appreciation that he did."
Jack holding the flag on a beach in North Queensland. Supplied: Huggins family.
Filling in the gaps
While Mr Huggins was a trailblazer in many aspects of his life, dying at the age of 38 meant he didn’t get to enjoy being a father – his daughters were infants when he passed - a loss they still feel to this day.
Their mother, Rita, helped fill in the gaps.
"Our first memory was going to our best source, which was our darling mother, Rita, she’d speak about him so fondly and instilling those early memories into us," Ngaire said.
"That's how we started our book by writing down those precious memories first and then much research came after it. Then going to the war memorial and finding out about his military years."
Jackie and Ngaire say their mother and father shared a deep love for one another. Supplied: Huggins family.
"But really he's always been in our life, and since the publication of this book, he will forever remain in our lives and the lives of our children and our grandchildren."
In telling their father's story , Dr Huggins and Ms Jarro hope to encourage others to document the stories of First Nations family members who served in the military.
