25 April 2024
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this story contains images and names of deceased persons.
Twenty-one Ngarrindjeri Anzacs from Able Seaman Mitchell Rigney’s tribe fought in WW1, but only one has a known grave.
That is his second cousin Private Rufus Gordon Rigney, who lied about his age at 16 and became a soldier.
“A lot of his cousins and even his brother had signed up not too long before him, I think he wanted to be with them,” Able Seaman Rigney said.
“It’s inspiring what he did, to go to a war like the world has never seen before.”
Private Rigney was enrolled in the 32nd Battalion and embarked to England in 1916 six weeks after enlistment.
Due to his Aboriginal heritage, permission needed to be sought from the chief protector of Aborigines.
Parent’s permission was only required if he was of European decent.
Christmas Day that year, he was hospitalised with mumps, which was common among newly arrived troops.
He then departed England for France, where he was part of battalion reinforcements of 33 officers and 616 other ranks.
Private Rigney was wounded while his battalion was occupying a front-line trench when it was subject to a German shelling.
He received a shell wound in the back and another in the upper right arm.
After recovering in England he crossed back over to France and was transferred to the 48th Battalion.
In October 1917, Private Rigney was captured by Germans after being badly wounded during the first battle of Passchendale.
Able Seaman Rigney discovered Private Rigney was helping a wounded soldier when he was shot.
“He came out of a shell hole with another soldier. They went first, he followed, he got shot and then went to another hole,” he said.
“They patched him up, but they had to leave him because the Germans counterattacked.”
There were more than 1000 Australian casualties that day.
Private Rigney was taken several kilometres away to a German field hospital where he lingered for four days before dying.
“He came out of a shell hole with another soldier. They went first, he followed, he got shot and then went to another hole. They patched him up, but they had to leave him because the Germans counterattacked.”
The Germans buried him at the Iseghem cemetery and passed information of his death to the British authorities later that year.
His remains laid there for seven years before being re-interred in a British cemetery at Harlebeke in 1924, where they remain to this day.
Four Ngarrindjeri people never returned, Private Rigney and his brother Cyril Spurgeon Rigney were two of them.
His older brother died at the age of 20 only a few months before Private Rigney died.
One hundred and seven years after Private Rigney died, Able Seaman Rigney said his family history influenced him to join.
“I was drawn in after hearing stories about my great grandfather and other relatives,” he said.
“We usually have family discussions on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day."
This Anzac Day, Able Seaman Rigney will take part in the ceremony in Papua New Guinea with the Federation Guard, honouring the same battlegrounds where his great-grandfather and great-great uncle fought during WW2.
“I’m proud of them and love them; I understand why they didn’t talk about it much.”
