Australian colonies recruit Aboriginal regiments

Is tehre any way that the different Australian colonies, after defeating various Aboriginal tribes during the process of colonial settlement, could've then, a la the British Empire with other defeated foes such as the Scottish hHghlanders & Gurkhas, have then co-opted these 'savages' into their own colonial native regiments, for the purposes of both internal defence & external service further afield ? There were various Native Police forces recruited during the 19th C (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Police_Corps), who were mainly used to conduct massacres against members of rival tribes- but WI these Aboriginal frontier forces were retained as part of the colonial defence forces, then also, with Federation, incorp[orated somehow into the nascent Commonwealth defence force ?
 
In essence - no, not really. The reason that the Scots, Gurkhas, Sikhs and so on were considered capable of military service was their fighting prowess when facing the forces of the British empire. To the best of my knowledge, there were only very few confrontations between British soldiers and Aboriginies. The Aboriginies, again to the best of my knowledge, did not have warlike societies and they were not recognised as such. IIRC one of the reasons for the patronising attitude of earlier Australian governments towards the indigenous population was that they were seen as being at a very early stage of development, and in the quasi-Darwinist silliness of the time, destined for extinction as a natural result of their inferiority. Reading about Aboriginal men who served in the armed forces during the World Wars, most had to pretend to be of another race in order to be accepted - Aboriginies were considered too primitive and unmartial for service.
 
In essence - no, not really. The reason that the Scots, Gurkhas, Sikhs and so on were considered capable of military service was their fighting prowess when facing the forces of the British empire. To the best of my knowledge, there were only very few confrontations between British soldiers and Aboriginies. The Aboriginies, again to the best of my knowledge, did not have warlike societies and they were not recognised as such. IIRC one of the reasons for the patronising attitude of earlier Australian governments towards the indigenous population was that they were seen as being at a very early stage of development, and in the quasi-Darwinist silliness of the time, destined for extinction as a natural result of their inferiority. Reading about Aboriginal men who served in the armed forces during the World Wars, most had to pretend to be of another race in order to be accepted - Aboriginies were considered too primitive and unmartial for service.


yeah, that's a real pity, cos, as contemporary historians like Henry Reynolds have shown in their books, Aboriginal tribes DID fight & die for their land against the white settlers- the very notion that blackfellas weren't a martial race is absolute bulldust compared to the historical reality- lots of white pastoralists, missionaries, etc who were on the frontline of the frontier very much appreciated that the blacks were involved in full-scale guerilla warfare in many areas of Australia, such as Tassie or central Qld. It was that sorta myth that Australia was peacefully colonised which was maintained all the way to 1992 when MABO overturned the whole fallacy of terra nullius in the High Court.
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
Why wasn't there a Maori Regiment until a battalion was raised for WWII? If there ever was a warlike tribe in the British Empire it's them!
 
There was indeed. For some reason the Maori got a good reputation from their endless land wars with the colonists and Imperial forces whereas the Aborigines did not, despite also fighting.

A lot of the Land/NZ wars related to fortrifications and fixed battles, in addition to the usual guerilla style insurgency, so there were seiges, marching columns, lines of blockhouses etc. Maybe one needs to have a seige before respect is earned?
 
I think it is mostly down to numbers.
The Maoris were numerous enough to conduct real wars against the colonial powers and also numerous enough to be worth recruiting. The same for the ghurkas, seikhs etc in India and the Scots (and Irish) in Britain.

The aboriginees had a pure hunter gatherer society (OK for accuracy an impure hunter gatherer society:)) and so never had large sedentary populations to recruit from.
 
IIRC one of the reasons for the patronising attitude of earlier Australian governments towards the indigenous population was that they were seen as being at a very early stage of development, and in the quasi-Darwinist silliness of the time, destined for extinction as a natural result of their inferiority. Reading about Aboriginal men who served in the armed forces during the World Wars, most had to pretend to be of another race in order to be accepted - Aboriginies were considered too primitive and unmartial for service.

One of the scariest lines in War of the Worlds is the protagonist musing about the Martians using humans as food/cattle. He says something about how the Martians have some reason to do so, as they didn't look anything like humans, whereas TASMANIANS LOOKED human, and we still treated them like animals. Not, were human, looked human. For me that was the scariest line in the whole book, almost the scariest I've ever read.
 
quote: Why wasn't there a Maori Regiment until a battalion was raised for WWII? If there ever was a warlike tribe in the British Empire it's them!

mate, there was a Maori Pioneer Bn raised for WWI, also, who served at Gallipoli & on the Western Front.

well, also fellas, remember that there WERE some all-Aboriginal or TSI units which were (belatedly) raised for service in WWII, to help defend Australia with the exigencies of poss invasion- such as the Torres Strait Light Infantry (TSLI) in far nth Qld, or RAAF Sqn Ldr Donald Thompson's Arnhemland recon unit comprising 50-odd local Aborigines who were to perform a scouting role in the event of a Jap invasion. Pity that, except for the Native Police forces, no such earlier precedents existed for the recruitment of Aborigines into the Australian military.
 

HJ Tulp

Donor
quote: Why wasn't there a Maori Regiment until a battalion was raised for WWII? If there ever was a warlike tribe in the British Empire it's them!

mate, there was a Maori Pioneer Bn raised for WWI, also, who served at Gallipoli & on the Western Front.

Didn't know that. Still doesn't make it on part with the Gurkhas or Sikh though.
 

Deleted member 5719

I think it is mostly down to numbers.
The Maoris were numerous enough to conduct real wars against the colonial powers and also numerous enough to be worth recruiting. The same for the ghurkas, seikhs etc in India and the Scots (and Irish) in Britain.

The aboriginees had a pure hunter gatherer society (OK for accuracy an impure hunter gatherer society:)) and so never had large sedentary populations to recruit from.


Nail on the head. Population density was so low that for Aboriginee societies to survive they couldn't lose the quantity of men needed to make up a regiment. The native police consisted of 40 Aboriginees deployed in their own teritory.

You would need something like succesful missions concentrating the population in the 1820s to get an aboriginal regiment.
 
Top