Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ludgate, Jack. 3297, Private 27/3rd Light Horse. Born Oodnadatta, S.A. Enlisted Adelaide, S.A. 1 March 1917. Drover 27 years, single – Address: Oodnadatta, S.A. Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A15 Port Sydney on 9 May 1917. N.O.K. (Friend) Richard Underdown, Oodnadatta, S.A. Disembarked to Hospital, Colombo, Ceylon 4 June 1917. Re-embarked Colombo for Australia 23 August 1917. Entrained Melbourne for Adelaide [Meningitis]. Discharged Medically Unfit 19 October 1917. [Aboriginal].

Centralian Advocate (Alice Springs), Friday 26 January 1951
WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO OUR COLOURED PEOPLE?
Sir — Some seven years ago a meeting was held in Alice Springs by the coloured people themselves, to discuss their housing project which was just then announced by the authorities. A member of the Native Affairs Department and my self were present at that meeting. The chief spokesman at the meeting was Mr. Jack Ludgate, who expressed the views of the people. He pleaded that the cottages be not built at the Gap which he contended was a dust bowl — too near the slaughter yards and too segregated. He claimed the right of a free man, who had fought for his country, to express his views. He asked why they should be pushed away out of the town when the people themselves wanted to try and raise themselves to what he called European standards. Wherever he went as a soldier, he said, the British flag had been honoured and he was proud to serve under it. He claimed the right for his people to be treated as British subjects. It was one of the finest pleas I have ever heard. But there was only one Native Affairs official and myself to hear it, besides the people he represented. I don’t know if it was reported to the Administration but I do know that the plea of these people was entirely ignored. They were told eventually that the Gap was where the cottages were to be built and there they would have to live. A couple of other meetings were held and the same fears and apprehensions were expressed. Mr. Jack Ludgate is dead now but he would be appalled if he were to see the conditions of the cottages today. He would be appalled at the over crowded state of the places because of the very inadequately sized buildings. This has tended to a slum condition — a condition which has been created by a policy which while attempting to do something for these people has only half done it and therefore has been responsible for creating these unsatisfactory conditions. He would be indignant at the failure of the authorities to keep their word to supply the cottages with electric light, proper water supply and fencing. The cottages are only big enough for two people to live in. I know of one of these places where eight children and two adults live. There are still some white men living in this country (some of them quite well off) whose coloured offspring live under these conditions — children whom they have never recognised or supported. The Government has been forced to carry the burden of this problem financially and most people are content to say it is the Government's business. But the Government is merely the representative of the people. We are all as Australian citizens, responsible. What have we done to these people? What have we done to help them? The coloured people can help themselves too, and I call upon them to form an association to protect their own interests and I will promise them all the support I can give them. This was the idea at this first meeting seven years ago but it fell through because of lack of leadership and the general feeling of frustration amongst the people themselves who had come to feel “who cares for us and our welfare anyway.”
Can we, as a community be content to let it go at that. Cannot we help them to feel that they belong? Can people raise their standards while living under such crowded conditions? It’s no good of being merely critical. There must be a constructive policy, something thought out with the people themselves, whereby we can help them feel that they are wanted and help them to rise above their environment. Perhaps as first step there could be some amenities provided, such as a children's playground dedicated to the memory of Jack Ludgate.
P. McD. SMITH