Patrick BRADY #50271

Indigenous Australian, Patrick BRADY, 11th Light Horse Regiment

Patrick (Paddy) BRADY was born at Maryvale Station near Charters Towers, Qld. in 1899. He had been employed as a stockman at Bluff Downs Station, and recently granted exemption from the 'Protection of Aboriginals Act', when he enlisted 14 February 1918.

Aged just 19 and 5ft 11in tall, Patrick was one of several Aboriginal servicemen who formed part of the 1st Queensland Reinforcements Egypt, the others were:

Willie Allen 50246 | Glen Combarngo 50248 | John Lewis 50276 | Harry Roberts 50278 | Herbert Roberts 50265 | Alexander Stanley 50280

After training at the Rifle Range Camp, Enoggera, Trooper Brady departed with his unit from Sydney on board HMAT Wiltshire and arrived at Port Suez 17 July 1918. They trained at Moascar Camp and was allotted to the 11th Light Horse Regiment.

Brady was admitted to hospital with fever in December 1918 but returned to serve with his regiment until the end of the war. Troops from the Light Horse Regiments were used to maintain civil order during the Egyptian uprising in March 1919.

Brady returned to Australia on board HMAT Morvada in July 1919 and later became known as a 'rough rider' or 'buck jumper' competing in carnivals with the best of the time.

Read more ...

• Service record: BRADY, Patrick
• Indigenous histories [blog]
• 'A volunteer', The Evening Telegraph 14 February 1918 p2
• 'The Rodeo', Townsville Daily Bulletin 2 May 1933, p5
• 'On the track', Townsville Daily Bulletin 2 February 1934, p.9
• 'Bushmen’s Carnival', Bowen Independent 9 July 1937 p.1.
• One of the soldiers featured in SLQ’s HistoryPin Collection
• Queensland’s Indigenous Servicemen [mp4]

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.