But how many are aware of the contribution made by thousands of Indigenous men and women to our nation’s war effort before and since Federation?

Indigenous Australians have served the country in conflicts going back to the Boer War, and many have died protecting Australian and Commonwealth interests.

They became soldiers, sailors and airmen, fighting and dying alongside other Australians on battlefields across the world and were awarded decorations for valour, including the Distinguished Conduct Medal – second in significance only to the Victoria Cross.

Among Queenslanders to have enlisted for service was famous poet, Kath Walker, of the Noonuccal people of Stradbroke Island, who reverted in later life to her indigenous name, Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Another was Warrant Officer Leonard Waters, the first Indigenous Australian to earn his "wings" as a pilot, and whose Kittyhawk aircraft was named ‘Black Magic’.

For most of the twentieth century, Australia’s Indigenous servicemen and women weren’t just forgotten, they weren’t wanted as part of our historical military matrix.

It’s amazing these young Australians even bothered to join up because they certainly owed no allegiance to the governments of the day.

They were not classed as citizens, had no right to vote, could not buy property or enter a public bar. Like our Vietnam veterans in years to follow, they were shunned on their return home.

Many of them had been treated as equals for the first time in their lives as soldiers, but upon returning to civilian life they experienced the same discrimination and prejudice as before going into uniform.

Indigenous veterans couldn’t even join in ANZAC Day re-unions with their service mates for decades because they were denied the right to have a beer in the pub.

The sacrifice of Indigenous service personnel should be commemorated on 25 April with appropriate dignity and remembrance as for all Australian military personnel.

The further we get from the original ANZAC Day on the killing fields of the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915, there is a risk of diminishing community agreement on the relevance of setting aside 25 April each year to commemorate Australia’s history of military engagement.

For some Australians, ANZAC is a distant and possibly irrelevant memory; a public holiday rather than a day of solemn commemoration. That is to the detriment of Australian society, and leaves us the poorer as a nation.

The period 2014 to 2018 will mark the centenary of World War One campaigns which established Australia’s reputation as a dedicated and tenacious fighting force.

It will have special relevance for local communities across Queensland.

The largest focus of commemorative events for the centenary will be ANZAC Day 2015 but there will be many other significant campaigns and battles to commemorate.

There have been many wars since that April day in 1915 and Australia has lost many more of its men and women. As a society, we should honour the memory of Australians who died fighting wars not of their own making.

For some, military service was an opportunity for adventure and excitement in a far off land. For others, it was from a sense of duty to king and country.

Generations of Queenslanders have been touched either directly or indirectly by war, and it’s fitting that we remember and recognise the sacrifices made and hardship endured.

It makes no difference whether service personnel were Indigenous or not, or whether their service was out of a sense of duty or adventure, we should all be thankful that they served. We should acknowledge the sacrifice they made, whether they returned to Australia or lie buried in a far distant field.

• Glen Elmes is state minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Centenary of ANZAC