Hidden veterans speak up

SERVING in Silence, an exhibition on LGBTQI+ members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) past and present, is now on display at Bendigo Pride.

The display has toured other locations for pride events since 2018, and Bendigo is the second regional city to host the presentation.

Also a book, Serving in Silence tells the history of LGBTQI+ people in the Australian military from World War Two to today.

It’s based on the life stories of over 100 people and archival research on past policies and media coverage and emerged as part of a body of work started by Professor Noah Riseman, Shirleene Robinson, and Graham Willett in 2014.

In 2016, Professor Riseman from Australian Catholic University, reached out to the military and civilians who had formerly served, asking to speak with those who wanted to share their stories.

“We want the public to see that LGBTQI+ people have always been serving, often at great personal costs, and even when they had to hide their true selves to do so,” said Professor Riseman.

“We hope that the public can learn about their experiences and contributions to the defence of Australia, and how the ADF has overtime become a more open and inclusive place.”

Yvonne Sillett served in the Army from 1979 to 1989 eventually reaching a high-security clearance level job.

Last year she provided a submission to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide about her experiences.

The Royal Commissionaires acknowledged the mistreatment of LGBTQI+ veterans like Ms Sillett and has provided her with assistance for mental health rehabilitation.

She said worked out that she was gay in 1983 but had to keep it a secret before it was discovered by her superior officers five years later.

She was then forced to leave the Army.

“For a long, long time, we’re talking 30 plus years, not even my parents, only my partners knew,” she said.

“When I got the opportunity to tell my story for the book, Serving in Silence, it was cathartic.

Ms Sillett said she is grateful for Noah Riseman’s call out.

“I always say he poked the bear,” Ms Sillett said. “Since then, I’ve been telling my story to whoever wants to listen.”

Likewise, Danny Liversidge was forced out of the Air Force due to his sexuality.

For him, it was an important exhibition to visit regional Australia, and he was responsible for bringing it to Daylesford’s Chill Out Festival in 2022.

“We felt that no one was bringing this story to the mainstream, apart from Noah’s research and his exhibition,” said Mr Liversidge.

“Simply because of who I was, I was followed, photographed, interrogated, and asked extremely personal questions, including how many times had I had sex with men, and was I likely to do it again,” he said.

“The types of things you would never expect in a job to be asked. It was horrific.”