Breaker Morant

[Jon Skagfeld]

Greetings, all Australian MLU members.

Today (27 Feb 07) is the 105th anniversary of the murder of Harry Harbord Morant and Peter Handcock.

They were both shot at dawn by a firing party of the Cameron Highlanders, convicted by highly suspect circumstantial evidence.

In a previous post, I said that every time I watch that movie, I get enraged.

Anyway, does Australia have any recognition of this event?

Did I hear/see/read that their remains were flown back to Australia to be re-interred?

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
Greetings, all Australian MLU members.
Anyway, does Australia have any recognition of this event?

Did I hear/see/read that their remains were flown back to Australia to be re-interred?

Unfortunately, there is little public mention of Morant and Handcock these days. The current political sitution sees us involved with yet another Empire in a far off war, and Morant and Handcock did much in their day to stir anti-Imperial feeling at home.
While Morant and Handcock obviously paid the highest personal price, others also suffered.

Major J F Thomas (played in the film by Jack Thompson) defended the three at the trial. Thomas was on his "Second tour" to South Africa and had served admirably. Prior to his volunteering, Thomas has been a Solicitor and Newspaper owner in the NSW country town of Tenterfield. Tenterfield is notable for being the site of Sir Henry Parkes's speech on Federation of the colony states, on a tour which was incidentially lobbied for by Thomas. (This was followed by Federation Conference in the sleepy town of Corowa, believe it or not!). Despite his political leanings (or perhaps because of them), he was highly regarded and respected in Tenterfield, and could be properly described as part of "The Establishment". Upon his return from South Africa, his outlook on life deteriorated. Whether it was from disillusionment with the Military Justice he witnessed in Pretoria, or from what might today be called PTSD, it had a hard effect on Thomas' reputation and personal fortunes.

Lt Peter Handcock, despite being commissioned in South Africa, was hardly typical British Officer material. At home in Bathurst NSW, he was a blacksmith and a bit of a larrikin about town. Despite being married and having 3 children, he was notorious for being a pub brawler and popular with the ladies. While never "Establishment", he was well known amongst the Irish-Catholic community and held to be a fair, but wild bloke. He enlisted as a Trooper in the NSW Mounted Rifles and was promoted to Sergeant Farrier in Sth Africa, and again to Leiutenant on transferring to the Buslveldt Carbineers. Never being financially well off, following his Execution his widow was devastated to learn that her husband was not entitled to any war service pension and that he would not receive any financial recognition for his service in South Africa. In 1910, Lord Field Marshall Kitchener toured Australia for an Imperial Defence Conference (This led to the establishment of the Lithgow SAF, Duntroon Military College, and the cruisers HMAS Australia and HMAS Sydney, but that's another story!!). Kitchener was the very embodiment of the Empire and was seen to be the architect of the Boer War. During this tour, he found himself in the town of Bathurst to unveil a memorial to the men of the district who lost their lives in the Boer War. This Memorial did not have the name of Lt Handcock as he was not recognised as died on service and was regarded as being disgraced. At the unveiling, Mrs Handcock publicly harangued and abused Kitchener, pelting him with tomatoes and shouting he had "My husband's blood is on your hands" and "I've become destitute because you've murdered my husband". Mrs Handcock had strong public sympathy and support in the community and the crowd booed and jeered Kitchener. The Police, being sympathetic locals themselves, were reluctant to manhandle a widow in front of an angry crowd and did not intervene. Kitchener was hugely embarrassed, and actually left the country days later. It was not until 1964 that Lt Peter Handcock's name was placed on the Bathurst memorial.

The Morant case had a strong and enduring effect on Military Justice in the new Federation of Australia. Never again would discipline of Australian soldiers be abrogated to Britain. While the Government of the day did not strongly pursue the matter with Whitehall, it strongly influenced popular opinion regarding the independence of Australia within the Empire, which in turn ensured the political sucess of Federation.

Lt Harry Morant and Lt Peter Handcock remain buried in Pretoria, South Africa. While it is not a Commonwealth War Grave for the reasons mentioned above, it is maintained and preserved by the Australian Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Why isn't the date officially remembered today? Well, we have just hosted a visit by Dick Cheney and his tour has become a lightning rod of protest re the Iraq war. It just wouldn't do to be reminding people of how Kitchener was treated in Bathurst in 1910!

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Coincidentally Ada & I drove past this place a few days ago. This was one of the locations for the film and I actually thought about Breaker and the injustice that was meted out to him
Bob