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Australia's Reactions to the Boer War—a Study in Colonial Imperialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Barbara R. Penny
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Extract

“After God I dearly love the British Empire.” Imperialism is a belief as well as a political phenomenon, and one can often come closer to understanding it by exploring the emotions underlying significant events than by describing the events themselves.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, for example, British imperialists were inspired with fervour and confidence. Nowhere was the inspiration stronger than amongst Australian colonists, who were beginning to thrill not only with the vicarious agony of exiles, but also with the virility of frontiersmen. Although the pull to the heart of the Empire was strong, the void beyond the red pale of civilization was beckoning too. In an increasingly hostile world it was encouraging to measure one's strength as part of the force of an Empire greater than Greece or Rome had known, and inspiring to feel that a colony's achievements were part of the historic mission of an imperialist power. It is not surprising, although it has been overlooked by European-centred historians of empire and by parochial historians of emerging nations, that the convinced and practising colonial imperialists were a significant force in shaping the ideals if not the strategy of European expansion, and in popularizing the creed, to the great comfort of the planners at “home” and the discomfort and bewilderment of local republicans.

The Boer War has become a symbolic episode in British imperial history and the spontaneous colonial participation a notable feature of it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , November 1967 , pp. 97 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1967

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References

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42. N.L.A., Canberra, Boer War hymn, rendered into English from the Taal, ibid. See also N.L.A., Canberra, “A Call to Arms! An appeal to the burghers of Orange Free State, October 11, 1899,” Hutton Papers, MS 1215.

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In commemoration of the late illustrious Queen Victoria:

Her court was pure, her life serene,

God gave her peace, her land reposed.

A thousand claims to reverence closed

In her as mother, wife and queen.

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73. N.L.A., Canberra, “Diva Britannia and Zaphnath Paaneah,” E. A. Petherick Papers, MS 760, Box 3.

74. See the incident over the Fitzroy State School flag, which Higgins was invited to supply to prove his loyalty. N.L.A., Canberra, Higgins Papers, MS 1057, series 1, items 78, 79, 81. Hermes, VI (Aug. 14, 1900), 14,Google Scholar speaks of University men who “have given their lives for the Flag.”

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77. See the opening paragraph of the petition opposing the war, Parliament House, Canberra, House of Representatives Records, 563/1901-02. See also the entry for New Year's Eve, 1900-01, at Mafeking, , in Kemp, , “The South African War,” Vic. Hist. Mag., XXXVIGoogle Scholar. See also speeches by Sleath, and Davis, , N.S.W. Parl. Deb., C, 1563, 1573;Google ScholarBennett, , Vic. Parl. Deb., XCII, 2787;Google Scholar Maloney, ibid., XCII, 1759; Carter, ibid., XCII, 1764; Bowser, ibid., XCII, 1773; Rawson, ibid., XCII, 1774; Sir H. Wrixon, ibid., XCII, 1794.

78. For a model young man, see speech by McBride, ibid., XCII, 1780. V. L. Hodgman, second federal contingent, was a “healthy-minded, clean-living country lad, who did what he conceived to be his duty.” Bufton, , Tasmanians in the Transvaal War, p. 483Google Scholar. For political caution overriding private opinion, see N.S.W. Parl. Deb., C, 1567Google Scholar; Fitzhardinge, L. F., William Morris Hughes (Sydney, 1964), I, 98Google Scholar; Holman, Ada, Memoirs, p. 11Google Scholar; Evatt, , Australian Labour Leader, p. 144Google Scholar; Griffith, , Facts about the Transvaal, p. 24nGoogle Scholar; N.L.A., Canberra, Glynn diary, pp. 519, 607, McMahon Glynn Papers, MS 558. For a record of the coincidence of the end of long political regimes, the retirement and death of prominent politicians in all colonies, see Coghlan, , Statistical Account, pp. 39, 60, 88, 109, 110, 137, 159Google Scholar. For the dullness of country life and lack of a cricket tour, see Murray, , Vic. Parl. Deb., XCII, 1731;Google ScholarReay, , Australians in War, pp. 24–26Google Scholar. See Bulletin, Jan. 11, 1902, for a cartoon showing the Prime Minister christening the Commonwealth with the blood of the contingents.

79. The Bulletin misjudged public opinion, and through propagating a crude antiwar campaign, its circulation dropped considerably. See Jebb, R., Studies in Colonial Nationalism (London, 1905), p. 199Google Scholar.

80. Higgins was particularly incensed as his brother-in-law, Dr. G. E. Morrison, was erroneously reported murdered by the Boxers in Pekin—to Higgins, typical and deliberate distortion by the press. See Palmer, N., Henry Bournes Higgins: A Memoir (London, 1931), p. 164Google Scholar; N.L.A., Canberra, Wood to Higgins, May 6, 1902, and Higgins, , “The Duties of Patriotism,” pp. 6, 13Google Scholar, Higgins Papers, MS 1057; Higgins, , C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8757Google Scholar, and Vic. Parl. Deb., XCII, 1777Google Scholar; N.L.A., Canberra, letter by “An Australian Spectator,” Oct. 10, 1899, E. A. Petherick Papers, MS 760, Box 3. Wilkinson, , Australia at the Front, pp. 244–45Google Scholar, lists some Australian war correspondents.

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85. “I pray God that I may be equal to the emergencies and may be able to do full justice to the responsibility attaching to [my] command.” N.L.A., Canberra, Hutton to his wife, Apr. 7, 1900, Hutton Papers, MS 1215, I.

86. Address of the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney to the Catholic Soldiers of the South African Contingent, at St. Mary's Cathedral, 14 January 1900 (Sydney, 1900)Google Scholar. For items about Catholic chaplains see N.L.A., Canberra, South Africa, an Album of press cuttings, pp. 59, 54; also Eddy, , “Some Aspects of Imperial Opinion,” p. 21Google Scholar. For the Irish-Australians' attitude, see N.L.A., Canberra, Deakin's article in the Morning Post, June 12, 1902, Deakin Papers, MS 1540.

87. N.L.A., Canberra, “A Call to Arms!” Hutton Papers, MS 1215.

88. Australian Christian World, Mar. 2, 1900.

89. N.L.A., Canberra, Hutton to his wife, July 22, 1900, Hutton Papers, MS 1215, III, letter No. 33; Holroyd, , Boer War, p. 42Google Scholar; N.L.A., Canberra, lecture by Larke, Commissioner for Canada, July 12, 1900, Australian Student Christian Movement Papers, MS 980, Box 2, S.U.C.U. Memorabilia Book, 1896-1903, p. 51. For a discussion of the attitude of the churches in South Australia, see Haydon, A. P., “South Australia's First War,” Historical Studies, Australia and New Zealand, XI (1964), 222–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A bishop told a departing contingent that the streets of the city were consecrated by the tread of their feet. Griffith, , Facts about the Transvaal, p. 5Google Scholar.

90. McLeod, , For Empire, Home and Honour, p. 6Google Scholar. A few “advanced” women protested against the war, but they could be dismissed for having special motives for doing so: Vida Goldstein, the suffragette, for publicity; Ada Kidgell, secretary of the Anti-War League, married W. A. Holman in 1900; Eleanor Whitfield married her professor, G. A. Wood, in 1898.

91. Hermes, VI (May 22, 1900), 17Google Scholar, 15–16, 8–9. Ibid., VI (Aug. 14, 1900), 14; ibid., VI (Oct. 27, 1900), 3-4, 8, 10; ibid., VI (May 4, 1900), 6. The Boer War memorial at Gundagai, N.S.W., claims: “Sgt. Major G. A. Griffin, 1st Australian Horse, killed in action at Slingersfontein, Cape Colony, 16 January 1900. The first soldier from N.S.W. to fall in the war.”

92. Kemp, , “The South African War,” Vic. Hist. Mag., XXXVI, 59–60Google Scholar.

93. That is 4.6 per cent of all British troops; 3.6 per cent of the Australians. Compiled from Murray, Official Records, passim; Holt, E., The Boer War (London, 1958), pp. 163, 293–94Google Scholar.

94. Reay, , Australians in War, p. 27Google Scholar; and see Wigmore, L., They Dared Mightily (Canberra, 1963), pp. 13–26Google Scholar; Hayes, B., Hull Down (London, 1925), p. 117Google Scholar; Bufton, , Tasmanians in the Transvaal War, p. 253Google Scholar. See C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8741et seq.Google Scholar, re the accusation in Vossiche Zeitung, Dec. 1901, that “so long as it was thought in the colonies that military laurels could be cheaply won by a promenade to Johannesburg and Pretoria, there were young people forthcoming in Canada and Australia, bent upon adventures and military glory … But military ardour soon vanished when it became evident that the war against the Boers was po nursery game.”

95. Lewis, R. C., On the Veldt (Hobart, 1902), p. 1Google Scholar; Blackmore, E. G., The Story of the South Australian Bushmen's Corps 1900 (Adelaide, 1900), pp. 3–8Google Scholar; Evening News, Feb. 6, 1902; N.L.A., Canberra, French to the officer commanding Capetown, Mar. 13, 1901, Cox Papers, MS 37; Tremearne, , Some Austral-African Notes, p. 7Google Scholar; Reay, , Australians in War, p. 26Google Scholar. See Holroyd, , Boer War, p. 42Google Scholar:

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96. N.S.W. Parl. Papers (1901), III, No. 559, 48, 62;Google ScholarBlackmore, , Story of the S.A. Bushmen's Corps, p. 7Google Scholar; Vic. Parl. Deb., XCIII, 3924Google Scholar; C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8954Google Scholar.

97. Quotations, in order, from: Abbott, , Tommy Cornstalk, pp. 11–12Google Scholar; Wilkinson, , Australia at the Front, p. 286Google Scholar; Paterson, , Happy Dispatches, p. 12Google Scholar; N.L.A., Canberra, Cox Papers, MS 37.

98. Green, , Story of the Bushmen, pp. 2–4Google Scholar.

99. Wilson, , With the Flag to Pretoria, I, 226–28Google Scholar; Wisden, for 1901, p. 463Google Scholar; The Australian Bushmen's Contingent, second souvenir (Sydney, n.d.), final souvenir (Sydney, 1900)Google Scholar; Blackmore, Story of the S.A. Bushmen's Corps, passim; Lewis, On the Veldt, passim; How Westralia's Sons Served the Empire, passim.

100. The first such contingents (1,068 men) were paid for by public subscription; the remainder were “Imperial Bushmen,” paid by the Imperial Government. Murray, , Official Records, pp. 70, 207, 337, 392, 441, 542, 577Google Scholar. See typical examples in Dooner, M., The ‘Last Post’: being a roll of all officers (Naval, Military or colonial) who gave their lives for their Queen, King and Country, in the South African War, 1899-1902 (London, 1903)Google Scholar. See also In Memory of the gallant Officers and Men of Victoria who died in defence of our Empire in the Transvaal War, 1899-1900 (Melbourne, 1900)Google Scholar, and the scores of Boer War memorials scattered throughout Australian country towns — columns, fountains, plaques in churches and halls, memorial rolls in schools.

101. Abbott, , Tommy Cornstalk, pp. 264Google Scholar, 97-98; Tremearne, , Some Austral-African Notes, p. 1Google Scholar.

102. The rates of pay were raised in 1900 for the Imperial Bushmen's contingents, and confusion and delays in paying caused much resentment, Feb. 1901; offers of cheap land in Rhodesia were made to Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand volunteers, Aug. 1900. Colonial troops took a keen interest in the agricultural or pastoral possibilities of the land they fought over and spoke of prospecting after their term of service was up. See Kemp, , “The South African War,” Vic. Hist. Mag., XXXVI, 52, 53–55Google Scholar; Abbott, , Tommy Cornstalk, pp. 19–23Google Scholar; Wilkinson, , Australia at the Front, p. 286Google Scholar.

103. “The recruiting of colonial corps has been overdone, and the quality of the army in South Africa has suffered accordingly.” Times, May 28, 1901Google Scholar.

104. Telegraph (Sydney), Apr. 4 and 3, 1902Google Scholar.

105. News first appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, Mar. 26, 1902; the official version from South Africa followed in the evening edition, ibid., Apr. 7, 1902. For an understanding account see Renar, F., Bushman and Buccaneer: Harry Morant. His 'Ventures and Verses (Sydney, 1902)Google Scholar; obituary for Morant, , Bulletin, Apr. 5, 1902Google Scholar; cartoon, “A glimpse of the real thing,” ibid., Apr. 12, 1902. For a partisan account see Witton, G. R., Scapegoats of Empire: The Story of the Bushveldt Carbineers (Melbourne, 1907)Google Scholar. For the official Australian reaction see C'wealth Parl. Deb., IX, 11250-51, 11380–81Google Scholar.

106. Voice from the Veldt, p. 21; Reay, , Australians in War, p. 118Google Scholar.

107. For the incident concerning the Victorians, see C'wealth Parl. Deb., IV, 5405–08Google Scholar; for stories see Hayes, , Hull Down, pp. 115 ff.Google Scholar; Abbott, , Tommy Cornstalk, p. 219Google Scholar; for the strain between colonial and imperial officers, see C'wealth Parl. Deb., IX, 11409Google Scholar.

108. Only five voted against an affirmation of “the readiness of Australia to give all requisite aid to the Mother Country, in order to bring the present war to an end,” Jan. 14, 1902. C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8738–8800Google Scholar. Subsequently proposals to send Commonwealth contingents were not debated but simply notified to the House; Jan. 21, 1902, ibid., VII, 8594; Mar. 20, 1902, ibid., VIII, 11099.

109. Coghlan, , Statistical Account, pp. 310–11Google Scholar; Vic. Parl. Deb., XCIV, 205, 381 ff.Google Scholar, 401-02; N.S.W. Parl. Deb., first series, CIV, 1267 ff., 1514Google Scholar.

110. N.L.A., Canberra, Morning Leader, Mar. 15, 1900, Deakin Papers, MS 1540. Deakin was a Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, 1880-1900, a Member of the Commonwealth House of Representatives, 1901-13, and became Prime Minister of Australia, 1903, 1905-08, and 1909. See Nauze, J. A. La, Alfred Deakin: A Biography (Melbourne, 1965), I, 196–97Google Scholar; II, 482-83.

111. Vic. Parl. Deb., XCIV, 381–82Google Scholar.

112. The first request arrived on Dec. 21, 1901, and the first Commonwealth contingent sailed from various Australian ports, Feb. 12-26, 1902; the second cabled request arrived Jan. 20, 1902, and the second contingent sailed Mar. 25 - Apr. 8, 1902. A third contingent sailed May 18 - June 2, 1902. See Murray, Official Records, passim; and C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8741, 8954Google Scholar.

113. Quick, ibid., VII, 8783; N.L.A., Canberra, Morning Post, Jan. 29 and Feb. 11, 1902, Deakin Papers, MS 1540.

114. C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8757, 8774, 9029Google Scholar. Concern about the “loss of able-bodied population” had been shown occasionally in the colonies before federation. E.g., Hamilton, , Vic. Parl. Deb., XCII, 1737–38Google Scholar; Sawers, , N.S.W. Parl. Deb., C, 1555Google Scholar; Miller, ibid., C, 1576; N.S.W. Parl. Papers (1900), I, 87, 255, 459Google Scholar; ibid. (1901), I, 118. The considerable civilian emigration from Australia to South Africa from Jan. 1902 caused concern. See Sydney Morning Herald, Jan. 8, 1902.

115. Coghlan, , Statistical Account, p. 250Google Scholar. The population of the six Australian colonies at the end of 1899 was 3,726,480. See Watson, , C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8751Google Scholar, re injuries; for anxiety that the men be discharged in Australia, see ibid., VI, 7609. Altogether 1,246 men are known to have been discharged in South Africa. Murray, , Official Records, pp. 337, 441, 542, 577Google Scholar. No figures are available for N.S.W. or S.A.

116. Parliament House, Canberra, House of Representatives Records, 563/1901-02.

117. C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8954, 9105Google Scholar.

118. Sydney Morning Herald, Apr. 24, 26, 29, and May 29, 1902. N.L.A., Canberra, Wood to Higgins, May 6, 1902, Higgins Papers, MS 1057, series 1, item 85. N.L.A., Canberra, Morning Post, June 12, 1902, Deakin Papers, MS 1540. Crawford, , “The Antipodean Pilgrimage,” Jour. Roy. Aust. Hist. Soc., XLVIIIGoogle Scholar, Pt. 6, passim. Wood resigned as chairman of the Anti-War League, May 4, 1902. Sydney Morning Herald, May 20, 1902.

119. Ibid., Apr. 8, 12, 21, and 24, 1902. Nonetheless the League claimed to have collected over one thousand signatures by Apr. 23, including those of six senators and seven members of the House of Representatives. Ibid., Apr. 12 and 24, 1902.

120. O'Connor, , C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 9009Google Scholar. See also Neild, ibid., VII, 9023; Downer, ibid., VII, 9016; Barton, ibid., VII, 8798; McLean, ibid., VII, 8751. The contrary view was expressed by Higgins, ibid., VII, 8762; Watson, ibid., VII, 8750; McGregor, ibid., VII, 9009; Higgs, ibid., VII, 9636; and in de Wet, , Three Years War, pp. 289et seq.Google Scholar

121. C'wealth Parl. Deb., X, 12938Google Scholar. Watson contested Chamberlain's assertion that “Australia will be satisfied with nothing less in the way of a settlement than the complete subjugation of the Boer States,” but continued, “It is not for me, nor for the members of this House, to indicate the terms upon which the war should be concluded.” Ibid., VII, 8750-51.

122. Senator Pearce, ibid., VII, 9026; Senator McGregor, ibid., VII, 9009. See also the Presidential Address to the Imperial Federation League of Victoria, March 1900 (Melbourne, 1900)Google Scholar: “The colonies which have assisted the mother country in the prosecution of the war should be consulted on the settlement of the terms of peace. This would be a first step towards consulting them upon all questions of foreign policy which might involve the risk of war.”

123. C'wealth Parl. Deb., X, 13146et seq.Google Scholar For an account of the reception of the news of peace, see Sydney Morning Herald, June 3 and A, 1902. “Australia has had her first taste of war, not a very great or very important performance, but we have buried our dead, and that at least binds us more closely to the Motherland than ever before.” Hales, , Campaign Pictures, p. 6Google Scholar. “On the plains of South Africa, in common danger and in common privation, the blood brotherhood of the Empire was sealed.” Doyle, , Great Boer War, p. 551Google Scholar.

124. Holman, Ada, Memoirs, pp. 9–10, 11Google Scholar. According to Evatt, Holman himself at the 1916 Labour conference alluded to his earlier stand, in order to avert censure of his Government. See Evatt, , Australian Labour Leader, p. 386Google Scholar.

125. N.S.W. Parl. Deb., C. 1466, 1552–54, 1563, 1567Google Scholar; Fitzhardinge, , William Morris Hughes, I, 98.Google Scholar

126. McGregor, Senator, C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 9009.Google Scholar

127. Palmer, , Henry Bournes Higgins, pp. 161–65Google Scholar.

128. See C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8753, 8755Google Scholar. N.L.A., Canberra, Wood to Higgins, May 6, 1902, Griffith to Higgins, Dec. 11, 1902, and W. Newton to Higgins, Feb. 6, 1903, Higgins Papers, MS 1057, items 85, 91, 92, 93. Holman, Ada, Memoirs, pp. 129–30, 132Google Scholar.

129. C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8754Google Scholar.

130. E.g., N.S.W. Parl. Deb., C, 1436, 1510Google Scholar; C'wealth Parl. Deb., VII, 8755Google Scholar. Higgins personally was in touch with Spencer and Stead.

131. N.L.A., Canberra, Morning Post, June 12, 1902, Deakin Papers, MS 1540.

132. Jebb, , Studies in Colonial Nationalism, p. 199Google Scholar.

133. Tasmanian Journal and Proceedings of Parliament (1900), XLIII, No. 71Google Scholar.

134. Wood, , “Australia and Imperial Politics” (written in Aug. 1917), in Atkinson, , Australia, pp. 394–95, 381Google Scholar.

135. Hughes, W. M., The Splendid Adventure (London, 1929), pp. 22–23Google Scholar.

136. N.S.W. Parl. Deb., C, 1574–75Google Scholar. It is interesting to remember that the Immigration Restriction Act (“White Australia Policy”) was being debated and passed by the Commonwealth Parliament from June to Dec. 1901.

137. Sydney Gazette, Feb. 1, 1817.