Preface

The Boer War remains an intensely contested conflict a century after its outbreak. There is no clear agreement on its significance, its outcomes, the manner in which it was conducted, or even on what it should be called. It was not one war, but three, experienced in very different ways by the forces of the British Empire and British South Africans, the Afrikaners, and the black and coloured populations who were not allowed to remain neutral in a 'white man's war'. Its early phases, with their emphasis on mounted actions and gritty sieges; are heroic in a decidedly nineteenth century manner, but the long guerrilla phase after 1900, with forcible relocation of the enemy civilian population, destruction of property and infrastructure to deny its use to the enemy, and allegations of atrocities, has an emphatically modern and unheroic, even anti-heroic, ring to it.

The role of Australian colonial forces and the impact of the war on Australian colonial societies has not received much scholarly attention. The Boer War is overshadowed in our historiography by the First World War, while the unheroic nature of much that Australian colonial soldiers were called on to do left a sour and dissatisfied taste even among contemporaries. In addition, the war suffers as well from the general neglect of the colonial military past which is likewise a feature of Australian historical writing.

The papers in this volume were delivered at the Chief of Army's annual history conference on 4-5 November 1999, held on this occasion in conjunction with the Australian War Memorial which sponsored an additional day's proceedings the following day. The paper by Ian van der Waag was delivered at the Australian War Memorial on 3 November, and Peter Stanley's and Iain Spence's were delivered at the Memorial on 6 November, and we thank them for agreeing to their inclusion here. We thank all the speakers for their involvement and effort, and extend our appreciation to those who chaired sessions as well. Roger Lee and his staff at the Army History Unit and Dr Peter Stanley and his staff in the Military History Section, Australian War Memorial, attended to the administrative arrangements which ensured a smooth and rewarding conference. We are especially indebted to Margaret McNally and Jeff Doyle for their work in helping to prepare the text for publication.

Peter Dennis and Jeffrey Grey

Contents

Contributors: Contributors

Introduction
Lieutenant-General Frank Hickling: Hickling

Looking Back on the South African War
Craig Wilcox: Wilcox

South Africa's Post-Boer, Boer War
Bill Nasson: Nasson

The South African War and the Late Victorian Army
Ian FW Beckett: Beckett

South Africa and the Boer Military System
Ian van der Waag: van der Waag

The Boer War as a Media War
Stephen Badsey: Badsey

The Crucible of War: Canadian and British Troops During the Boer War
Carman Miller: Miller

Modern Cavalry: Mounted Rifles, the Boer War, and the Doctrinal Debates
Jean Bou: Bou

'To Shoot and Ride': Mobility and Firepower in Mounted Warfare
Iain G Spence: Spence

'Manufacturing Spontaneity'?
The Role of Commandants in the Colonial Offers of Troops to the South African War
Stephen Clarke: Clarke

Tommy Cornstalk: A Soldier's Impression of the War
Peter Burness: Burness

With Banjo to Kimberley: Banjo Paterson's South African War Verse as History
Peter Stanley: Stanley

The Influence of the Boer War on Australian Commanders in the First World War
DM Horner: Horner

'A Wanton Deed of Blood and Rapine': Opposition to Australian Participation in the Boer War
Bobbie Oliver: Oliver

Home Front Largesse: Colonial Patriotic Funds and the Boer War
Melanie Oppenheimer: Oppenheimer

Blooding the Nation: The Boer War and Federation
John Hirst: Hirst

Convenient Conflict? Aspects of the Boer War and Australian Federation
Luke Trainor: Trainor