Jeff McCormack joined the army in 1966 and his military career spanned 30 years. Jeff spent his first 4 years with the infantry and for the remainder worked in recruit training, a role he absolutely loved. Jeff’s older brother had joined the army in 1965 and served in Vietnam, and Jeff himself was motivated to join by the steady stream of Australian soldiers coming home from the conflict dead or badly injured and he felt he just had to do his bit. It was only very much later in life, around age 60, that Jeff became aware the he was Indigenous, and since then has been researching deeply into his family background. Two of Jeff’s sons are in the army, and Jeff and his wife are foster carers to a number of children from troubled circumstances, both indigenous and non-indigenous.

This interview took place on 9 July 2012 in Adelaide and was conducted by Dr Noah Riseman.

The interview recording above is made available to be listened to here by permission of the interviewee(s), Jeffrey McCormack. The recording may not be copied, reproduced or communicated in whole or in part without the prior permission of the interviewee(s). Requests for permission for use of this material should be made to the Serving our Country research project: our contact details.

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