Able Seaman Boatswain's Mate Alan Patterson
Artist
Belinda Mason
Artist
Dieter Knierim
Date2016
Object number00055209
NamePhotograph
MediumBlack and White Durotran 3D photographs face-mounted on perspex lenticular lens, in perspex LED light box frame
DimensionsOverall: 973 × 670 × 40 mm
Image: 915 × 575 mm
Image: 915 × 575 mm
Copyright© 'Serving Country' portrait series by Belinda Mason and Dieter Knierim
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA 3D, black and white photograph Able Seaman Boatswain's Mate Alan Patterson by Belinda Mason and Dieter Knierim for the 'Serving Country' exhibition.
Able Seaman Boatswain's Mate Alan Patterson hails from the community of Yarrabah near Cairns in Queensland and joined the Navy after seeing advertisements on television.He was the first in his family to join up, but has several sisters and brothers who want to follow in his footsteps.
Able Seaman Boatswain's Mate Alan Patterson is also a member of the 'Bungaree Performance Troupe' made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the Navy. It is helping Indigenous sailors maintain traditional practices when they are far away from home. Initiatives like Bungaree also show Indigenous communities that the Navy respects their cultures.HistoryFor more than a century Australian men and women have served in the Defence Force to protect Australia in wars, conflicts and peace keeping operations. Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service in the countries defence is still somewhat untold.
Despite the fact the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not counted and recognised as Australians until 1967, they still enlisted to fight for their country in wars since the Boer War.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers, sailors and airmen have made significant contributions to Australia's military history from the Boer War, World War I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam War and post 1972 conflicts and peacekeeping operations to the present day, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders proudly served their country.
Like their male counterparts, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have also made a significant contribution to the defence of the nation through their service with the armed forces, civilian organisations such as the Women's Land Army or worked in war time industries.
It is difficult to say just how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served because ethnic background was not specially identified in service records of enlistment. It is known that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women served and continue to serve their country with great honour and pride in a range of operations in war, humanitarian disaster relief, peacekeeping, border protection and emergency defence assistance.
SignificanceThe photographs by Belinda Mason were supported by Department of Veteran Affairs and City of Sydney for the Serving Country Exhibition which continues to be an ongoing project of documentation of an archive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women.
The photographs serve to acknowledge and recognise the valuable contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women who have served or who are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
