Annie was the mother of William Ernst Ralph, one of the Indigenous ANZACs of Nambucca. Her story is worth telling, not because she lost a son in the great war, as William survived, but because of the stance she took in the name of equality for indigenous Australians. We can only imagine how hard it would have been to do this in the early 1900s. 

The story goes that in the June of 1915 many of the parents of white children who attended the Nambucca Heads Public School wanted aboriginal children, of which there were 10 at this time, to leave the school.

The principal of the school, representing the wishes of these parents, requested permission through the Department of Public Instruction to have these children removed and the department granted approval.

At this time Annie Ralph was raising two of her own children and three of her grandchildren as two of her daughters, Jessie and Hannah, had passed away. The opinion of public officials at this time was that the aboriginal children should be educated at the reserve situated on Stuart Island.

The 10 indigenous children were no longer able to attend Nambucca Heads School, and a justifiably infuriated Annie Ralph refused to send her children and grandchildren to the school on Stuart Island. 

Annie’s oldest son, William, had travelled to Sydney that year to enlist into the army and Annie had travelled with him.

On learning of her children’s exclusion from the Nambucca Heads Public School Annie demanded an explanation from the Department of Public Instruction, who advised that further investigation into the matter would be required.

The courageous Annie Ralph then withdrew her consent for her son William to be in the army, stating that if her children could not be educated in public schools then she would not allow her son to fight for king and country.

The army did not dispute Annie’s reasoning and after only 31 days in the army, William Ralph was discharged at his mother’s request. It took until January 1917 for indigenous children to be once again permitted to attend Nambucca Heads Public School. 

But against his mothers wishes, a determined William Ralph went to Lismore, 10 months after being discharged from the army the first time, and enlisted once again. The 15th Battalion AIF had been depleted in the carnage of the battles at Bullecourt in the April of 1917 and William Ralph was one of the much-needed fresh troops to arrive in June of that year. The 15th Battalion AIF were fighting in Belgium for the rest of 1917 and it was here that William was wounded in action. Although wounded, William remained at the front.  

Despite the way his younger brothers, sisters and cousins were treated, William Ralph had the fortitude to fight alongside his fellow Australians in the Great War.

He returned to a heroes welcome at  Nambucca Heads in September 1919, where he and another returning digger, Private Wheeler were treated to a wonderful civic welcome home function. William Ralph eventually married and moved to Sydney where he lived until his death at 70-years-old.

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