Photograph by Belinda Mason OAM 2024, inkjet on brushed aluminium 60cm x 40cm
Wadjanbarra Yidinji Man
Private
51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment
Regional Force Surveillance Group
Australian Army
Australian Defence Medal
“For the love of country leads me – 51st Requiem.”
My name is Jai Joseph, and my skin name is GurabanU (Crow). I am a Wadjanbarra Yidinji man from the Atherton Tablelands, North Queensland and Director/Coordinator of Gambir Yidinji Cultural Heritage and Protection. I joined the Regional Force Surveillance Unit, 51st Far North Queensland Regiment (FNQR) in 2017 after being asked by Major Josh Mickel of 51st’s Alpha Company to attend a survival training weekend, where an exchange of army and traditional survival knowledge and practices were shared. It was at this weekend I realised that certain qualities within the army and tribal values aligned.
Trust, respect, camaraderie, and honour are qualities hard to find in any other job in the wider community. The focus is on supporting your tribe or unit; everyone has a role to play, and the importance of good leadership of the tribe or unit is compatible with, and valued in both army and Indigenous cultures. This goes right down to the use of an animal totem to represent the tribe or unit area and to identify with it. These are the reasons why I joined – but my reason to stay are the people that make up the 51st FNQR. They have become my family, my tribe. It is through my work with them that I grow as a father, partner and leader for my people.
