One of Central Australia’s most highly respected Aboriginal leaders and Vietnam war veteran has died.
Kaytetye and Arrernte man, Geoffrey Shaw OAM, was born in the dry Todd riverbed in 1945 and began his military career at 18 in 1964, serving until the early 1970s before returning home to devote himself to his community in Alice Springs.
He died in Alice Springs on Thursday, aged 79.
Shaw served in the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation for 18 months as a commander with the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment.
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