Aboriginal war hero made honorary French citizen

An Indigenous World War One Anzac, denied citizenship by the then Australian government, has been made an honorary citizen of France.

Private William Allan Irwin – a Gomeroi man from NSW – was killed in action after storming enemy-held positions at the battle of Mont St-Quentin on August 31 1918.

Private Irwin had already stormed and captured three machine-gun posts, but died from injuries sustained when he tried to capture a fourth. He was posthumously awarded the distinguished conduct medal.

Irwin was one of about 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who fought in that war.

Those men were barred from joining until 1917 when the Defence Act of 1909 which barred recruits who were “not substantially of European origin or descent” was lifted.

Private William Allan Irwin was born in 1878, on Burra Bee Dee Aboriginal Mission, near Coonabarabran in New South Wales.

He grew up with his mother Eliza Allen and was known to his family as Bill. He worked as a shearer after leaving school. He and brothers Harry and Jack found work on farms across northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

After discovering that his fiancé had married another man while he was away shearing, William decided to join the Australian Imperial Force. He enlisted in January 1916, aged 37, with recruiters turning a blind eye to his Indigenous heritage.

He saw action across various battlefields on the Western Front, including Messines, Villers-Bretonneux, and Amiens.

William Allan Irwin was buried in the Daours Communal Cemetery in France. He was the only Aboriginal soldier identified by Charles Bean in the Official History of Australia in the First World War.

The Somme Valley community in northern France held a “day of tribute” last week in his honour.

“This is the very first time that our region has awarded this distinction, by honouring soldier Irwin we are also paying tribute to the Aboriginal community whose history has too often been overlooked,” community representative Stéphane Chevin said.

Irwin’s great-nephew Peter Milliken, who travelled to France for the ceremony, said the recognition “means a hell of a lot”.

“He’s never been a citizen of anywhere and, for the French to do this, it’s a big honour,” he said.