Reg Saunders

The little-known story of Reg Saunders, the first Indigenous Australian to become an officer in the Army, retold in action-packed graphic format. Reg Saunders MBE (1920–90) not only survived the World War II battlefields in the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, Crete and New Guinea, but excelled as a military leader. He was recommended for officer training and, in 1944, returned to New Guinea as a platoon commander — the first Aboriginal Australian to serve as a commissioned officer. What happened during the war to transform a determined young man from country Victoria into a war hero — one who would go on to serve with distinction in the Korean War, and become a pioneering figure for Indigenous rights?

View the Reg Saunders teaching resource on the Reading Australia website.

Teachers Guide also available.

Reg Saunders immortalised in comic, An Indigenous War Hero, featured in The Age.

Winner of the Educational Publishing Awards, Secondary Student Resource - Junior.