7th Annual Indigenous Remembrance Service

Each year a special Remembrance Service is held to honour Victorian Indigenous Service Men and Women at the Shrine of Remembrance.

The Hon. Jeanette Powell Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and representatives from the Australian Navy, Army and Air Force will be in attendance along with the Victorian Indigenous Remembrance Committee, and members of the Victorian Indigenous community.

This year two Victorian Indigenous Vietnam Veterans will speak at the service - Graham Atkinson and Glenn James. There will also be a performance by the Healesville Aboriginal Children’s Choir.

Date: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne
Forecourt, Eternal Flame (enter from Birdwood Avenue)

All members of the public are invited to attend.

Download the event poster (PDF 378 KB) or (Word 288 KB)  

About this event

For many years the Victorian Aboriginal community sought acknowledgement of the contribution of Indigenous service men and women to the defence of Australia.

In 2006 Aunty Dot Peters approached her local RSL to play the didgeridoo as part of their commemorative activities, in honour of her father who died on the Thai Burma Railway. Later that year Aboriginal Affairs Victoria supported the first Victorian Indigenous Remembrance Service at the Shrine of Remembrance. During this service the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were raised at the Melbourne Shrine for the first time. In 2007 the Victorian Indigenous Remembrance Committee was established and has assisted with planning for an Indigenous Remembrance Service each year.

Inspired by the Victorian initiative, all other Australian states have now established annual events to honour Indigenous service men and women.

A related event

Shrine of Remembrance travelling exhibition:
Indigenous Australians at war from the Boer War to the present

Open from 28 June until September 2012 at Koorie Heritage Trust, 295 King Street, Melbourne.

For further information visit the exhibition website.