Flea market find: WWI postcards revive Indigenous soldier’s heroism

The discovery of century-old postcards at a secondhand market stall has reignited interest in the heroic story of an Indigenous soldier’s World War I service.

Raymond Charles Runga, who was awarded the Military Medal for WWI gallantry.Credit: Virtual War Memorial Australia collection

Private Raymond Charles Runga, known as Charlie, spent two years on the Western Front in France and was awarded the prestigious Military Medal for gallantry for two heroic actions in one day.

His story and service have since been forgotten. So a chance find at a Bendigo Showgrounds market in May by Jeannie Lister has become a cherished addition to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Lister, a history and needlework buff, was drawn to three hand-embroidered postcards at the market and bought them for $10 each.

The cards were embroidered in silk and mounted on cardboard by French women who sold them to Allied soldiers.

Two of the cards Lister bought are signed by Runga and one by his half-brother, fellow soldier Arthur Fox.

Australian War Memorial curator Garth O’Connell with the 1916 postcards linked to Indigenous WWI soldier Charlie Runga.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“To my dear sister Alice from your loving brother,” writes Runga in one card sent in November 1916 to his young half-sister, Alice Fox.

The embroidered front of the card has the words “A kiss from France”, flowers and a Union Jack.

When Runga, from Ouyen in north-western Victoria, enlisted in 1916, Indigenous people were officially barred from the army – but about 1000 served in WWI.

He was wounded in both arms and one of his hands, and was also gassed during his service.

The postcards were exquisitely hand-embroidered by French women.Credit: Australian War Memorial

His gallantry medal was awarded after the war for his actions on August 23, 1918. At Herleville Wood in northern France, Runga led a contingent of soldiers that captured two enemy machine guns and 16 German soldiers. Later that day, he ran 60 metres – alone and without cover – to bomb an enemy trench.

“This latter feat was a heroic example of utter disregard for personal safety and the desire, at all costs, to worst [defeat] the enemy, any of whom, with one shot calmly aimed, could have killed him,” his citation says.

The writing side of the postcards from Charlie Runga and Arthur Fox.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

After Runga received his medal in January 1920 at Melbourne’s Government House, it was stolen as he passed it around the crowd.

Lister, whose great-uncle died serving in WWI, was “blown away” by Runga’s story, and says many Indigenous veterans suffered the same racism and restrictions on their movement as they did before the war.

Lister hopes her donation “makes their sacrifice, in serving a country they didn’t have equal rights in, more well-known”.

Australian War Memorial curator and custodian of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander objects Garth O’Connell said he was excited to receive the “beautifully ornate” cards.

“We don’t have anything like it in the collection regarding Aboriginal servicemen in WWI, let alone from a highly decorated soldier in Mr Runga,” O’Connell said.

The card sent by Private Runga to his half-sister Alice in Ouyen.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

He thanked Lister for the donation of the cards and said he hoped relatives of Runga and Fox would come forward.

Runga married Emily Glass, a Wiradjuri woman who was a widow with children. He died in Leeton in NSW in 1956, aged 66.

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