Jackie Huggins and Ngaire Jarro on a remarkable indigenous serviceman in 'Jack of Hearts QX11594'

Good Reading Podcast

Jackie Huggins and Ngaire Jarro are sisters from the Bidjara and Birri Gubba Juru nations. One hundred years since the birth of their father John Henry 'Jack' Huggins III, they decided to research and write about about a man they hardly knew. Jack Huggins was one of only fifty indigenous servicemen to enlist in the Australian Armed Forces in WWII. 'Jack of Hearts QX11594' is a great story of tradition and survival that spans more than a century as two sisters look deep into their family history. In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Jackie Huggins and Ngaire Jarro about the tradition of indigenous men serving their country in wartime, their own journey to the Thai-Burma Death Railway to walk in the footsteps of their father Jack, and the challenges of bringing together a great oral tradition with dedicated historical research.