The story of Reg Saunders, the war hero denied a beer in the land he bled for

Reg Saunders returned to Melbourne in 1945 as a decorated Australian Army officer, including the distinction of being the first Indigenous Australian commissioned as an officer leading white troops overseas. He hoped to reintegrate into civilian life, but encountered prejudice based on his Aboriginal identity. At a train station canteen, he was ignored by the waitress, and at a Returned and Services League (RSL) club he was blocked from entering under a “members-only” policy, despite serving the country. After repeatedly facing housing rejections despite agents’ earlier enthusiasm for returned servicemen, Saunders moved his family into his wife Dorothy Banfield’s parents’ home in Cheltenham.