Arthur ISLES #5155

Indigenous Australian, Arthur ISLES , 49th Infantry Battalion

Arthur Isles [aka Iles] was born at Springsure in 1887 and was working as a stockman when he volunteered to enlist in the first AIF in October 1915, age 28.

Initially assigned to the reinforcements for the 9th Infantry Battalion, by the time he embarked for overseas he had been allotted to the 49th Battalion bound for Europe. He sailed with several other known Indigenous servicemen including: Phillip PRINCE #5165 and Cornelius ROE #5187.

They arrived in Port Said, in May 1916 and four weeks later embarked for France. Transported by train from the Port of Marseilles they were offloaded near Strazelle and billeted near the front lines.

The battalion suffered heavy in the fighting at Mouquet Farm in 1916, and it was here that Arthur Isles was seriously wounded, hit in the left hand by a piece of shrapnel. He was initially treated at the 1st Australian General Hospital, Rouen before being evacuated by ship to the 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, England.

In November 1917 he was considered fit to serve and rejoined his unit when they were at Peronne, in the Somme Valley. The appalling conditions in winter took its toll on many men, and Arthur Isles was admitted to hospital with trench fever in March 1918. He recovered well enough to return to the field but late in the year just as he returned from leave he contracted influenza. Evacuated again to England he spent the remainder of the war recuperating before being repatriated home in May 1919.

Arthur Isles was granted an exemption from the Aboriginals Protection Act in 1921 and married Freda Beatrice 'Biddy' Solomon [aka Hardiman] in 1931; Arthur died in 1965.

Read more ...

• Service record: ISLES, Arthur
• Embarkation roll: 16th Reinf. 49th Infantry Battalion
• Exemption register 1908-1936
• Scarlett, Philippa. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander volunteers for the AIF: the Indigenous response to World War One. Fourth edition, Indigenous Histories, Macquarie, ACT, 2018
• 'Many served: AIF Aborigines', Reveille, 30 November 1931, p.22
• Paul Mackett, 'Queensland Aboriginal Notes', Vols. 101-145 p.5599
• One of the soldiers featured in SLQ’s HistoryPin Collection
• Queensland’s Indigenous Servicemen [oral history]

The information in this blog post has been researched by State Library staff and volunteers, it is based on available information at this time. If you have more information that you would like to share or further research uncovers new findings, this post will be updated.