A new exhibition dedicated to Indigenous servicemen and women has been unveiled at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The show, the first of its kind, tells the stories from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who served, recognising their decades of contribution to wartime efforts.
For Kudjala elder Uncle Harry Allie, serving as a warrant officer in the air force during the 1960s was tough.
And he says being away from country was even tougher.
"It was a sort of a heartbreak if you lined up on the mail parade and there wasn't a letter from home, and, particularly, it just sort of added to missing home. And these are the sort of things that, leaving community, your community is always in your heart."
Uncle Des Mayo remembers his time serving in what was then Malaya and Vietnam.
"On the last day in Vietnam, they were going to send me out on patrol. They decided to not send us out there, because we would've walked into the ambush. So I'm lucky to be here today."
Their stories are part of a new exhibition unveiled at the Australian War Memorial.
The exhibition, For Country, For Nation, is dedicated to recognising the Indigenous stories of military service.
Memorial director Brendan Nelson says the exhibition has taken a long time to happen.
"After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and all of the devastation that would mean for Indigenous Australians with millennia of rich custodianship and culture, living in a desperately unequal Australia, denied the opportunity to serve, to fight for the young nation that had taken so much from them, they did everything they could to enlist."
Uncle Des Mayo welcomes the acknowledgement.
"I'm grateful they finally give us some recognition, because, even (in) today's society, people said, 'Oh, there wasn't many Aboriginal people that served in the army, you know.' I said, 'I beg to differ with that.'"
Among the uniforms and other collected items are six commissioned artworks that look beyond war.
They include Yhonnie Scarce's work that marks the nuclear testing in South Australia's Maralinga.
"There's a bomb site up at Maralinga called 'Breakaway,' and the ground was so hot when that bomb went off that it turned it to glass. So I wanted to talk about that story of so many Aboriginal deaths that happened during that time, too, as well as the non-Aboriginal people who suffered as well."
An integral part of the exhibition is the telling and passing down of stories.
And upon walking around here, SBS reporter Nakari Thorpe discovered her own story -- that of her great-great-grandfather, Harry Thorpe.
He served and died in World War One.
Lead curator Amanda Reynolds says he is grateful to be able to share the stories with the wider community.
"It's something our old people have fought for for a long time, to have this space, this recognition, and just to be part of that and to contribute to that is such a great honour."
Serviceman Uncle David Williams campaigned to have Indigenous service recognised for many years.
"We got to do it together, and I'm so glad I came here. I am so glad."
