Aborigines to hold traditional ceremony at war cemetery

By CALDRON LAEPA
A TRADITIONAL Aboriginal ceremony would be held during the ANZAC day celebrations at the Bomana war memorial cemetery tomorrow.
This will be the first time in Australian history to remember the Aboriginal diggers who took part in World War II.
The ceremony marks an important moment in Australian history and that war here in PNG.
Grace Gordon, the only remaining sister of Aboriginal digger Private Frank Archibald, said it had been a long time since the Australian government recognised the efforts of the Aborigines in the war.
Gordon said as a little girl, she would hear stories from her elder brother about PNG and how many things done here were the same experienced by the Aborigines.
She was sad not much was said about them.
She said she was happy to discover that her brother’s involvement in the war had helped those Papua New Guineans who took part in the war think better of themselves after experiencing colonial segregation.
During the colonial area, Papua New Guineans were not allowed to drink or eat in restaurants that the colonial masters used.
She said the bravery and courage shown by her brother and other Aboriginal young men was something worth remembering and telling when speaking of the war efforts.
She said they would sing songs during the ANZAC celebrations at Bomana to call back the spirit of his brother.
She said it was great but also sad to come to the very country her brother lost his life in, to take him back not as a human but as a spirit to unite with his forefathers where he belonged.
Gordon is grateful that locals known as the “fuzzy wuzzy angels” were people just like her brother and had joined to fight for Australia.