Roland Winzel Carter (1892–1960) was an Indigenous Australian who was born in

Raukkan, South Australia Raukkan is an Australian Aboriginal community situated on the south-eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina in the locality of Narrung, southeast of the centre of South Australia's capital, Adelaide. Raukkan is "regarded as the home and heartland o ...

, and was the first of the

Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...

people to enlist in the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

to fight in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Carter was wounded and captured during combat at

Noreuil Noreuil () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Noreuil is situated southeast of Arras, on the D5 road. Population History World War One In 1917 it was the location of fighting dur ...

in northern France on 2 April 1917. He was initially held as a prisoner of war at

Zerbst Zerbst () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until an administrative reform in 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the former Anhalt-Zerbst district. Geography Zerbst is situated in the Anhalt-Wittenberg regio ...

in Germany and later at the Halbmondlager POW camp where he and

Douglas Grant Douglas Grant (1885 – 4 December 1951) was an Aboriginal Australian soldier, draughtsman, public servant, journalist, public speaker, and factory worker. During World War I, he was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war at ...

were the only Australian aboriginal soldiers in a camp intended principally for the holding of Moslem prisoners of war. Following the war, Carter was repatriated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and then to South Australia where he returned to Raukkan where he lived until his death.

References

Further reading