History might have forgotten Private Frank Leighton Sinclair had he not sat down to write a letter from Bloemfontein in South Africa to his brother back home in NSW's Kangaroo Valley on March 17, 1900, during the Boer War.
"I have seen quite enough fighting and have had some very narrow squeaks," Trooper Jack Alick Bond wrote.Neither could have known it at the time, but their letters would be published in newspapers and found decades later, revealing Indigenous involvement in what history has dubbed the "white man's war".
Mr Bakker has uncovered sections of five letters — one from Jack Alick Bond, four from Frank Leighton Sinclair — that were printed in local newspapers at the time and are now the earliest known letters from Indigenous servicemen sent from the front during active military service.Proof of Indigenous involvement
Ever since he'd seen a stall for the army at a high school careers day, the idea of serving in the military had appealed to Mr Dawson. Mr Dawson says it is important to remember the history of Indigenous people serving in the military, and the letters from Private Sinclair, because they show what Australia's forefathers endured."They've given me a sense of pride and dignity."Calls to identify and honour Aboriginal soldiers in Boer War