More than 60 Australian nurses appear to have gone to the Boer war,
either provided by governments or by privately raised funds or at their
own expense. They served with the New South Wales Army Medical Corps units,
in British hospitals - Field, Stationary and Base - or on hospital ships
and trains. Initially they experienced some resistance from the regular
British Army Nursing Service and local nurses, but performed well in scattered
groups or singly from Cape Town and Durban to Rhodesia. They nursed the
wounded but found a higher proportion of cases suffered from diseases such
as enteric fever (typhoid).
A group of 14 New South Wales nurses departed Sydney on the Moravian
with the 2nd NSW contingent on 17 January 1900:
E J Gould P Frater E W Lister N
Newton M Steele J B Johnston A C Garden
M Martin E Nixon
T E Woodward A Austin E Hoadley A
J Matchett A B M Pocock
Arriving at Cape Town in February 1900, six went to the Base General
Hospital (BGH) Wynberg, Cape Town, four to No 2 Stationary Hospital, East
London, and four to the Field Hospital, Sterkstroom, serving with the NSW
AMC. Following the advance from Bloemfontein they served at No 3 BGH, Kroonstad
and No 2 BSH, Johannesburg. In August 1900 four were at No 17 BSH, Middelburg,
No 6 BGH, Johannesburg, and then No 25 BSH, Johannesburg, from September
1901 to February 1902, then at No 31 BSH, Ermelo.
A group of nine nurses was raised with private funds in South Australia:
M Bidmead A G Cocks A Watts Milne
N B Harris M A O'Shanahan M A Glenie
Sanuels
A B Stephenson.
Bidmead, Glenie and Harris are believed to have gone earlier
than the others who sailed on the Australasian on 21 February 1900.
They served at No 2 BGH, Wynberg and at Bloemfontein and until March 1901
at Pretoria. Some served on hospital ships and one served on No 4 Hospital
Train.
A group of ten nurses from Victoria went on the Euryalus
with the 3rd Victorian Bushmen contingent on 10 March 1900:
M Rawson F E Hines E Smith A E H Thomson
D Tiddy E Walter D Smith E
Langlands I Ivey
J B Anderson.
They accompanied the Bushmen contingent to Rhodesia and served at
Salisbury, Fort Charter, Bulawayo, Hillside, Mafeting, Springfontein and
Tuli. Nurse Hines died at Memorial Hospital, Bulawayo on 7 August 1900,
the only Australian nurse to die in this war.
A group of 11 nurses raised by a public appeal in Western Australia
sailed on the Salamis from Albany on 21 March 1900:
M Nicolay L A Naylor M Plover E
A Bole I Tchan A Emmins B Brooks E
E Speers
S Armstrong B Milne L E Rogers
They were employed in the Natal area at Mooi River, Howick, Estcourt
and Volksrust. One reference states that they were disbanded in Cape Town
and individuals joined Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service Reserve
(PCANSR).
Individuals who went to this war served in several theatres. Some
appear to have been with PCANSR, enlisted direct into the Imperial service:
A R Chutt (V) R Gwyer (N) M G A Warner (T) L Dawson (T) D Burgess
(V) L H M O'Ryan (T) A Teesdale (SA) M A Grace (T) G Fletcher (N) M A Robertson
(T) K O White (T).
Others who paid their own way are mentioned in the references: B
Hutson (Q) R L Shappere (?V) J M Lempriere (V) E Orr B Kennedy A McCready
(N) E Marsh E M McCarthy A M Chatfield (Q) L Mansfield (T) R A Hinton (Q).
Hutson served at BFH, Rondebosch, Green Point, near Cape Town, where
she nursed Boer prisoners; No 11 BFH, Kimberley, and at Somerset. McCready
was at Fort Napier Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, Kennedy at Estcourt and
Shappere was in Ladysmith and at Johannesburg. Fletcher and McCarthy were
Australians in the British Army Nursing Reserve.
Three Australian nurses were awarded the Royal Red Cross - Sisters
Bidmead (SA), Nixon (NSW) and Rawson (Vic.); three were mentioned in Dispatches
- Sisters Ivey (Vic.), Pocock (NSW) and Shappere (?Vic.); and two received
the Devoted Service Cross - Sisters Bidmead and Glenie (SA).
Max Chamberlain is a member of the Anglo-Boer
War Study Group of Australia.
BALLOONS
Boer Soldier John Lane, in the Laager at Paardeberg. Wrote:
'I have not been able to have a wash since last night, I ventured
down to the river. I had just pulled my shirt over my head, happening to
look up, my eye caught sight of a big black thing, at first glance it seemed
to be right on the top of me, I said, Oh my God, and fell flat on my stomach,
thinking it would explode. I then got my senses about me and looked up,
and Lo and behold, it was the balloon, appears for the first time since
lying around Magersfontien... Some fellows shouted to me to hide away,
"Poets kernel" they shouted, it does not much matter now, it
is all up, they will now be able to find out every hole and position we
are in and will pour in a hell of shells. The balloon kept up for about
three hours, it looks very close, but is far out of range. Lots of our
men kept firing at it. It is amusing to hear the talk of some of our Burghers
such as "do you call this fair play" that damnable big round
thing, spying our positions, we would not be so mean to do a thing like
this'.
Smurthwaite, David: The Boer War 1899-1902: Hamlyn History:
London: 1999: p.165.
AUSTRALIA'S EARLY WAR CORRESPONDENTS
By Max Chamberlain
Several Australian newspapers sent war correspondents
to the Boer war to report events for a public eager to read about their
contingents in action. Among them was Australia's senior military reporter,
W.J. Lambie (Melbourne Age, Adelaide Advertiser, Sydney Daily
Telegraph), who had been with the New South Wales contingent in the
Sudan in 1885, where he was wounded. Other Age representatives were
D. Pontin and G. King.
Some Australians represented English papers:
M.D. Donohoe (London Chronicle), M. Mempes (Black and White) and
A.A.G. Hales (Daily News). Others, like Frank Wilkinson (Sydney
Daily Telegraph, Melbourne Age, Adelaide Advertiser),
Donald Macdonald (Melbourne Argus) and W.T. Reay (Melbourne Herald),
wrote on early campaigns and later produced books on the Australians in
various engagements. Lambie was the first Victorian to die in this war
when, accompanied by Hales, he was with a patrol that was attacked by 40
Boers at Jasfontein on 9 February 1900. As they tried to escape Lambie
was killed and Hales was wounded and captured. Reay and J.A. Cameron (Reuters,
Daily Chronicle, West Australian) later rode out to visit Lambie's
grave site, being blindfolded by the Boers under de la Rey, who expressed
regret at the death of a non-combatant.
A.B. (Banjo) Paterson (Reuters, Sydney Morning
Herald, Melbourne Argus) and H. Spooner (Sydney Evening News)
were with General French when he entered Kimberley, and Paterson gave some
account in his book Happy Dispatches and in his poem With French
to Kimberley. Together with H.A. Gwynne (Reuters) and P. Landon (Times),
he was first into Bloemfontein ahead of the army. Spooner was another war
correspondent to die in this war when after observing the action at Glen
Siding, he had a recurrence of fever and died at Deelfontein in May 1900.
Macdonald returned from the siege of Ladysmith
a sick man, wrote How we kept the flag flying and articles on the
Australian participation, notably the series Bushmen in battle,
and Victoria's fifth. After the capture of Bloemfontein Reay also
returned ill and his reports were gathered into his book Australians
in war with valuable reference to the action at Pink Hill. Hales also
gave an account of Pink Hill as told to him by a Boer captor, in his book
Campaign pictures of the war in South Africa. Bert Toy (Perth Morning
Herald) wrote on actions including Koster River and returned to a distinguished
career in New Zealand and Sydney.
Most of the Australian war correspondents
had returned by late 1900. Frank Wilkinson accompanied NSW units until
about September 1900 and some account of their experiences were included
in his books Australian Cavalry and Australia at the Front. Chaplain James
Green was at Elands River and contributed newspaper articles and later
wrote The Story of the Australian Bushmen. Thereafter firsthand
accounts of the Australians relied on occasional mention in the London
cables or letters from serving troops. For this reason the history of the
later contingents is fragmentary.
It is surprising that no attempt was made
to utilise the war correspondents' experience in preparing an Australian
official history of the war, as happened in later wars with C.E.W. Bean
and Gavin Long. Macdonald's The Australasian contingents in the South
African war - Their work for Queen and Empire - A historical record
is perhaps the most readable narrative of the colonial participation although
with noticeable gaps. For The Story of South Africa Volume II the editor
attempted a similar task. It was extended in successive editions as the
war progressed and also has important omissions. It included chapters by
Paterson, Wilkinson and Padre Green as well as serving troops. Green's
account of the Australian Commonwealth Horse in the final edition is a
valuable contemporary account of the first Australia-wide force sent overseas.
The war correspondents faced the same hardships
as the troops, risked their lives and health in difficult situations and
rode long distances to get their stories dispatched. They suffered at the
hands of Generals as censors, but these early Australian war journalists
gave the people at home some idea of the colonial experience and achievements
in the first year of the war, and left valuable permanent records for future
generations.
Max Chamberlain is a member of the Anglo-Boer
War Study Group of Australia.
Concentration
Camp Statistics - April 1901
Boer Prisoner Populations (including
sickness/death rate for April 1901)
Bloemfontein (April 2
- July 2, 1901 Total prisoners =
4339)
Deaths Men
33 Women 80 Children under 8 years 198
Total deaths
311
Infectious disease 101
Lung and heart disease 99
Typhoid, dysentery, diarrhoea 107
Debility, old age 4
Kroonstad (1 April -
26 May, 1901: Total prisoners
= 2638)
Deaths Men
17 Women 20 Children under 8 years 67
Total deaths
104
Infectious disease 33
Lung and heart disease 30
Typhoid, dysentery, diarrhoea 39
Debility, old age 8
Source: Consular
Corps of Transvaal report, following renewed appeals by Committee of Boer
Women of Pretoria, printed as supplement to "The New Age" 24
October 1901.
Lt Grieve (N.S.W.) dies with
the Black Watch at Paardeburg
Lieutenant G.J. Grieve, a Special Service Officer, was killed in
front of the trenches on the southern bank of the river. A member of the
New South Wales Permanent Staff, Grieve is honoured by a memorial erected
by his friends and former comrades near where he fell. In the City of Sydney
a granite obelisk to his memory stands outside the Scots Church near the
southern approach to the Harbour Bridge. There is also a memorial at Watsons
bay, not far from the entrance to Sydney Harbour.
When he first arrived at Cape Town, Grieve was detailed to a position
in the Railways Communications Staff Office. After the disaster to the
Highland Brigade at Magersfontein when so many officers were lost Grieve
at last succeeded in getting to the front, leaving at an hour's notice.
On that Sunday morning at Paardeberg he went into action leading 'F' Company
of the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch.
Lieutenant Grieve at first fell shot through the body, but not seriously
enough to stop him crawling to the assistance of one of his men. While
doing so he was shot again in the chest and head. He was buried on the
field in a common grave with about 50 of the Highlanders, in the presence
of his mates in the New South Wales Mounted Rifles. His name was faithfully
marked on a small cross made from boxwood and put over the grave. Major-General
H.A. Macdonald, commanding the Highland Brigade, paid him high tribute
in a special General Order on 19 October 1900.
Source: Wallace, R. L.: The Australians at the Boer War: AWM and AGPS:
Canberra: 1976: p. 128.
