Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

James ‘Clarence’ Nabibux (also Nabi Bux) (2695), of ‘black complexion’ was born in 1899 in Moama, New South Wales. His father was James (also known as Jim) Nabi Bux (al-so Nabi Bukahsh), who was a Muslim labourer originally from the Punjab, India. His moth-er, Grace, was of Aboriginal heritage. The surname, Nabi Bux (Nabibux), is probably a modified surname, spelt in different ways from Nabi or Nabby joined with Bux, or Buksh or Bukahsh which was a name well-known in Muslim communities across Australia. James was a single man, aged 18 years, although he apparently enlisted at his age of ‘21 years and 7 months’, having worked as a labourer in Narrandera. In an attestation paper, he was rec-orded as a ‘Methodist’. James enlisted 14 July 1916 in the AIF at Cootamundra, and held the rank of Private, serving in the 45th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement. On 7 October 1916, he embarked from Sydney on HMAT A40 Ceramic to then disembark at Plymouth, England on 21 November 1916. He was to serve on the Western Front in France. In the battlefield, he was injured with a sprained ankle and brought to the hospital on 16 February 1917. When he recovered, he returned to join his Battalion. He fought in the appalling conditions of the war, where many soldiers were lying injured and dying on the frontlines of the con-flict and along roadsides. They were in a terrible state, and many, many would die.

Five months later, on 7 July 1917, James was killed in the Battle of Messines, just days be-fore the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium. It was beyond his human nature to survive this bloody combat and its gory situation. He was to die in action, a Muslim soldier whose young life was extinguished on the Western Front in a hope for a better future. The war was turned into an Allied victory but, indeed, it was achieved with enormous loss and at incalcu-lable expense. James was listed in a long list of those Narrandera volunteers who lost their lives as published by the military authorities in the Narrandera Argus. The following words were composed and then published in his loving memory by his mother, brother and sister. ‘The dearest and best are the first to die. Time cannot heal the aching heart. Or from our memory tear. The face, the form we loved dear’.

His grave is unknown, but his name is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial Panel 27 in Belgium near the place where he was killed. It also stated that James age was actually 19 years. His name also appeared on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Hon-our, Panel 140, and on the Cairn at the Monument made from stone quarried in vicinity of Narrandera, in the Memorial Gardens Narrandera, New South Wales. James was issued with the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

From the book:

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