The stolen veteran: Institutionalisation, military service, and the stolen generations

Abstract

Lance-Corporal David Cook is an Aboriginal man of mixed descent born in Ebor in the New England region of New South Wales on 16 May 1945. This is the borderland of the Djungutti and Gumbaynggirr peoples, but Dave Cook does not self-identify with any particular Aboriginal mob. Around the time of Dave's tenth birthday, he and his four siblings were removed from their parents. Dave was placed in Kinchela Boys Home for three years before being fostered out with three of his sisters. At the age of 17 Dave enlisted in the Army; he served two tours of duty in Vietnam before being discharged in 1968. Though a successful soldier liked by his peers, Dave's life spiralled downhill in the 1970s. Cycles of violence, imprisonment, and racism threatened to turn him into another Aboriginal statistic until he got his life back on track through reconnecting with his siblings.