Australians have been called upon to donate their DNA and help establish the country's first historical DNA database, providing researchers with a crucial tool for solving wartime mysteries - some which date back 100 years.
To be managed by the Centre for Ancient DNA at Adelaide University, the database will provide scientists and historians with a snapshot of the genetic makeup of the Australian population in the early 1900s. Currently, nothing like it exists.
The DNA database would prove a vital tool for any number of projects, including identifying unrecovered war dead and even solving decades-old missing person cases. It will paint a picture of Australia before post-war immigration dramatically altered the genetic composition of the population.
The March discovery of a World War II mass grave in Papua New Guinea containing the bodies of up to eight Australians and the discovery of a second mass grave nearby in May highlights the need for such a database.
"Many forget about the tens of thousands of Australians who died serving overseas and whose bodies haven't been recovered or identified," said Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Centre for Ancient DNA. "We're morally bound to do our best to identify them and there is also an obligation to the living, to the families who don't know where their family member is."
The Army's Unrecovered War Casualties unit is currently investigating up to 50 cases, most involving WWII servicemen killed in Papua New Guinea.
Defence has confirmed to Fairfax Media it is aware of the discovery of the mass grave in PNG and is in the early stages of investigating. It is understood Australian dogtags have been found at the site at Tol, 50 kilometres south of Rabaul, where one of the worst atrocities of the war in the Pacific took place.
After capture by the Japanese, 160 Australians were massacred on 4 February 1942 in four separate incidents around Tol plantation and neighbouring Waitavalo plantation. Descendants of soldiers executed at Tol have been advised by Defence not to talk to the media while an investigation takes place.
The missing soldiers of Tol are among more than 25,000 Australian servicemen missing in action and yet to be recovered and identified. Around 2000 WWII servicemen remain unaccounted for in Papua New Guinea and dozens of WWII servicemen remain unaccounted for in the Pacific region, including 25 defence force members aboard a medical evacuation plane which went missing while flying from Indonesia to Darwin in 1945.
There are 42 Australian servicemen who remain unaccounted for in Korea. Of the 250 WWI soldiers recovered from mass graves in northern France in 2009, 150 have now been named.
Associate professor Austin said the DNA profiles of a number of recovered Australian war dead have been established – but their identification has been hamstrung because suitable family members have not been located to provide a DNA sample for comparison.
"We want anyone who was alive and resident in Australia before 1945 or people descended from people alive and resident in Australia during that time to come forward," Ahe said.
Donating DNA involves a simple cheek swab which can be posted out to volunteers to do at home.
Those who wish to donate their DNA to the database can contact Jeremy Austin by email jeremy.austin@adelaide.edu.au or phone (08) 8313 4557.
