Sandye Willie, #Q23125

Indigenous Australian, Sandye WILLIE, Depot Company

Sandye [aka Sandie, Sandy] Willie was born in Croydon in 1897 and was working as a stockman, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) in Townsville in April 1918. His father Jack Willie was Malay cook on a pastoral station, while his mother was an Ewamian woman from Georgetown.

When Willie was medically examined he was found to be outside the physical requirements for enlistment. In 1918 the standards were 18-45 years, height of 5ft and chest measurement of 34 inches. Willie was 23 years, 5ft 4ins high and had a chest measurement of 32 inches, he was medically discharged due to 'poor physique'.

After his discharge, Willie returned to the Gulf and worked on properties in the district. In 1920, Willie was removed from Dagworth Station near Georgetown and sent to Palm Island, here Sandy married Minnie Hudson also an Ewamian woman from Georgetown. Sandy and Minnie did not have any children and later lived in the Kuranda district and were granted exemption from the 'Aboriginies Protection Act' in 1957.

Read more ...

• Service Record: WILLIE, Sandye
• Image: 7489 Tindale Genealogical Collection 1928-1960, negative no.1072 (1938)
• One of the soldiers featured in SLQ's HistoryPin Collection
• Queensland's Indigenous Servicemen [mp4, 12 mins]

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.