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Mussa Adrian Wone, also spelt Musa (123367), was born in 1923 in East Innisfail, Queensland. His father was a Singaporean Malay who came to Australia at the age of 14 and his mother, born in Australia, was an Australian of Javanese heritage. He was one of 14 children. Prior to the war, Mussa lived in Innisfail, but later in Mackay and Ayr, then again in Innisfail. He worked as a cane field officer. Mussa loved family gatherings and also cherished community friendship. He participated in family gatherings such as those during the month of Ramadan, Eid festivals, boys’ circumcision and funerals. There was no mosque and gatherings were in private homes – community members and families shared the meal sitting around the table, invited imams and recited chapters in Arabic from the Qur’an. They all – Singaporeans, Indonesians, Malays, some Chinese and Aboriginals – were as one community having close ties.

Mussa enlisted in 1943 in Brisbane wishing to be in the air force. In attestation paper, he was described as of ‘dark complexion, Mahommedan of Malay extraction’. Other references of Mussa Wone said, he is ‘reliable and trustworthy, good character and had some experience as a motor mechanic’; he ‘was employed by [the Dorrell Motors - Innisfail company] for 18 months and was a very industrious and an intelligent lad’. His reference from the Mourilyan Police also stated ‘…He has been employed at the local motor garage and is at present employed by the Mourilyan Cane Post Destruction Fund, Mourilyan. He received his education at the Mourilyan State School. The police officer further stated, ‘Mussa Wone has been a well-behaved youth and is of good character and in my opinion is fit for admission as a member of the Air Force, for which section I understand he has made application for admission’.

He completed requested training in Brisbane and was accepted by the RAAF. Beside his desire to serve in the RAAF, it was also an adventure as he was very young, wishing to explore something new, a way which was opposite to the monotonous cutting of sugar cane as did many Asians in that part of Queensland. His dream of flights became reality. He held the rank of Leading Aircraftman. Recalling Mussa’s social-military experience, his son narrated, ‘My father, Lac A/Corporal Mussa, fought in a number of battles, including the Coral Sea battle, one of the decisive battles against the Japanese army to push it from the Pacific region’.
When the Japanese armada with its large concentrations of shipping had been prepared for weeks to strike at Australia, the Australian armed forces undertook ‘swift gigantic strides’, supported by the Allied US military. It was said, that ‘the Coral Sea battle may decide the fate of Australia’. The terrific air raid by the RAAF and the RAN’s naval engagement in a bitter fight against the Japanese was successful in areas south of the Bismarck Archipelago in the Coral Sea. Reportedly, eighteen Japanese ships were sunk and four damaged in a sea battle of the Coral Sea. These figures included the destruction of two aircraft carriers, one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, one 9-000-ton seaplane tender, six or seven destroyers, and other vessels. The battle resulted in the Japanese experienced failure in their major operation against Australia; and the battle also stopped the Japanese sea-borne invasion of Port Moresby. Fighting there with his Aussie comrades, Mussa remembered that he also became acquainted with the ‘Allied American soldiers’.

Australian pilots, including Mussa, attacked enemy flying back and forth under clouds and through dangerous stages ‘dodging a pick here and cloud there’. He experienced the heat of the battle with a mix of uncertainty of being killed or injured which sometimes required spiritual support. Being in a comparatively small number and deployed across all the various units, Muslims did not have an opportunity to receive such support by an imam as Christians by the priests and Jews by the rabbis. They were left to cope by themselves on an individual basis for their ‘own salvation’. Some even sought out the support of a clergyman of another religion, such as Adrian Mussa Wone, who didn’t find an imam in the RAAF, as the following remark passed by him to his son, Neville stated: There was a Christian chaplain who provided spiritual support. Alternatively, such care was good for Mussa too as he believed that ‘there were similarities between Christianity and Judaism with Islam’ that may also provide ‘salvation’ during the tough years of war.

However, he was upset about the White Australia Policy and its impact, especially towards Asians. On one occasion, when Mussa was coming down the road, an Italian woman said in Italian, ‘black kid driving down the road’. Mussa pulled her up because he understood her. She apologised. Mussa said he was in the Second World War and, then, a young man also approached him and asked, ‘Which side did you fight on’? He was gutted… Nevertheless, Mussa valued his military past. Joining the RAAF had done far more for him than he could have ever done for it, and he would have done it all over again. His son also recalled:

My father believed it was good to fight for Australia! He was a patriotic Australian! Even if there was to be another war, he would tell his children to fight for Australia.

After the war, Mussa suffered from post-war trauma which worsened as he became older. It had a strong impact on his post-war time. During the night, he often woke after dreaming of scenes from the war, bombing and killed or wounded friends in battles. Partly it was due to the fact that he couldn’t find his closest friends in his unit in which he served to share difficult experiences – ‘he missed them dearly’. Despite his mental suffering he was friendly, worked as a salesman selling trucks and various industrial machines and as a diesel fitter. He had six children. His post war hobbies were gardening and fixing mechanical parts. He spoke Italian because he learned it from his brother-in-law who was an Italian but also from other Italian relatives and friends. Mussa passed away in his hometown, Innisfail. The funeral was performed in accordance with Islamic customs.


From the book:

Dzavid Haveric, ‘A History of the Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution’, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2024.