As a proud Gamilaroi, Yullaroi and Bigambul man from north-western New South Wales, Joseph has spent more than a decade reconnecting Aboriginal families with their ancestors who fought and died for a nation that had denied them.
His mission began with a family memory. “It commenced with my knowledge as a young boy watching my pop march in Anzac Day ceremonies,” he recalls. His grandfather, Mick Flick, served in World War I, returning home with mementos of battle—a tin helmet with a dent and his service rifle, which the children were forbidden to touch. But what stayed with Joseph was what happened after the march.
Joseph’s Churchill Fellowship gave him the opportunity to go further. “It gave me the ability to tell a mob story,” he says. “These men left their country to go and fight in France and Belgium. They wouldn’t have even known where those places were.”
A number of Senior contacts have been made in Australia that will have an impact on my project. A meeting was held with the French Ambassador to Australia, Mr Thebault and discussion centred around a possible commemoration at the French Embassy on ANZAC Day 2023. The Governor General was very interested in knowing about my Fellowship and will offer assistance if required.
The Australian Ambassador in Paris is looking forward to my visit as is the Director of the Sir John Monash Centre in Villers Bretonneux. There is great interest in the project and I have been invited to lay wreaths at the Remembrance Day service on 11 November in Villers Bretonneux and St Lawrence Church at Stratford Sub-Castle in Salisbury UK in memory of an Aboriginal soldier from Bourke who is buried in their Cemetery.
Now, he brings home photos of headstones, stories of bravery, and a deep sense of connection to descendants who may never have known their great-grandfathers.
It is planned to visit 66 Aboriginal soldiers who have known graves and 21 who’s names are on Memorials. Photographs will be taken of their headstones and the names of those on Memorials. Two local schools from Dubbo, Dubbo South and Delroy have painted small crosses to be placed on graves.
Project
To research and document the burial sites of Indigenous soldiers who died overseas during WW1
Joseph Flick
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