An Indigenous scholar specialising in Aboriginal Australians soldiers who served in World War I, Joe Flick, is off to launch his own photographic exhibition in France next month on those who never returned.

His exhibition features a number of his own photographs and is being hosted at the Sir John Monash Centre near the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery in northern France, close to the site of the bloody series of battles where more than 10,000 Australians paid the ultimate price in the "Great War".

“It was from a Churchill Fellowship I got in 2019, but only went on in 2022 due to COVID, I chronicled the graves of so many Aboriginal Australian soldiers when I was there,” Joe explained.

“I’ll also be opening the exhibition at the John Monash Centre of images of all the headstones and names of Aboriginal soldiers, as well as those whose bodies were never found,” he added.

Joe will also be hopping over the England for a commemoration of another western NSW soldier whose story has fascinated him for some time.

“I’ll also be going to Salisbury to visit the grave of Joseph Knight, an Indigenous solider from Bourke; he died in Salisbury Plains Recuperation Hospital during the war.

“I came across him when on an under 16 Aboriginal rugby league trip with blokes including Ronny Gibbs and Steve Hall.”

His aim, he added, is to record as much about the largely-forgotten number of Indigenous soldiers who fought for Australia at a time when many experienced prejudice in many small towns even after their return.

Joe’s grandfather, Private Michael (Mick) Flick, was one such soldier, enlisting in 1916 and serving during the rest of the war, before returning to Australia in 1919.

“The inspiration is from my Pop, and the lifelong friendship of Steve ‘Bear’ Hall, who first took me to France and Villers-Bretonneux in 2013.

“Go along to your local dawn and main service on Anzac Day and take your children and, if you see a person who has served or is currently serving, please, thank them for their service,” he concluded.

Joe’s “Bringing Their Spirits Home” exhibition is at the Australian National Memorial from mid-May and comprises available photos of 31 Aboriginal soldiers who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.