May 31st is the 108th anniversary of the signing of The Treaty of Vereeniging that ended the Boer War in 1902. This year the celebration falls on Sunday 30 May. It is likely that most living Australians’ only cultural reference to that war may be the film Breaker Morant, which tells the tale of Lieutenants Peter Handcock and Harry “The Breaker” Morant being executed by the British for war crimes committed against prisoners and a German missionary.
The movie was a legal drama that did not educate its viewers about the background of the war itself, which was fought between the British and the Dutch Boer settlers in South Africa. The pre-federation population of Australia had a very high proportion of British immigrants who had strong ties to “The Mother Country”, and many thousands of Australian men volunteered to fight for Britain. And many Australian women paid their own passage and expenses to go serve as nurses. As a matter of interest there were also more than 43,000 Australian horses sent to the war that never returned.
In Canberra there are beautiful structures commemorating the service of our countrymen and women in wars throughout our history, and there is even a memorial to our most respected adversary – that being Kemal Attaturk, the Turkish commander at Gallipoli. But there is no national memorial to those who died in the Boer War serving between 1899 when war broke out and 1902 when it finally ended. This is an inexplicable oversight that will soon be remedied by the efforts of the descendants of those 23,000 men and women who fought, served or nursed, and the 1000 who died. The National Boer War Memorial will be constructed in Anzac Parade, Canberra based on the winning design of the competition currently open to artists, sculptors and designers across the land.
The rest of New South Wales has not been so lax in their observance of the war. There are 124 memorials to honour those who served in the Boer War. St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney will soon be installing a plaque to honour the service of Mary Julia Anderson who served in the 3rd Victorian Bushman’s Contingent from March 1900, nursing in Rhodesia, Mafeking, and Springfontein. The Australian medical care was known to be of such excellence that British soldiers had labels sewn into their uniforms directing that, if injured, they wished to be sent to the NSW Army Medical Corps field hospital rather than to the British. This became so widespread that there was a British Parliamentary Inquiry resulting in NSW practices being adopted by the British field hospitals.
If you are interested in attending any of the commemorations across the state contact your RSL or Local Council what events have been planned. All of our history is worth knowing, remembering, and honouring. The National Boer War Memorial Association website has many more stories, reports, photographs, war diaries, correspondence and descriptions of memorials: http://www.bwm.org.au/site/Home.asp