Breaker Morant
I wrote this article in February 2002 in response to a campaign by Senator Julian McGauran and Tim Fischer to obtain a pardon for English officer “Breaker” Morant, who ordered the killing of prisoners in the Anglo/South African War.
I was annoyed that McGauran took up this issue without any community consultation. It was the only time I heard him get any publicity for anything, until he quit the Nationals to join the Libs. He hasn’t been heard from since.
Breaker Morant doesn’t deserve a pardon
The current campaign seeking a posthumous pardon for Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock is a distasteful exercise in popularism. Although the two men shouldn’t have been shot by firing squad, they clearly deserved punishment for their actions.
I’m an Australian partly of Dutch descent. My wife is an Afrikaner. We believe that many people with South African connections, and others who value human life, share our objection to Morant being pardoned.
The fact is that he executed Boer prisoners. Whether he did so under orders is irrelevant. Nazi soldiers who killed Jews were also acting under orders.
Putting ourselves in Morant’s position, it is possible we might partially excuse him given the brutal loss of his comrade, Captain Hunt, and the guerrilla nature of what was then a dirty phase in a lingering, dirty war. However, I’d like to think we definitely would not have participated in the killing of a missionary, as Morant did.
The German missionary, Reverend Hess, had Boer sympathies, but the motive for his death was to cover up the crime he discovered. The fact this motive existed proves that Morant knew it was wrong to kill the prisoners.
It’s become fashionable in Australia to regard Morant, who was English, as some sort of romantic folk hero. It’s unfortunate this sentimental tendency has distorted our collective memory of the Boer War.
Britain didn’t need Australia’s help to defeat the small group of Afrikaner farmers who dared to fight the Empire for their independence, but thousands of our young men rushed overseas to join what they considered an adventure.
Their enthusiasm makes Australia equally culpable, with Britain, for the atrocities which were committed in the later stages of the war.
The war wasn’t justified. The Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State were internationally recognised as sovereign nations. Britain wanted control of their diamonds and gold.
After their official surrender some belligerent, fiercely nationalist Boers in rural areas continued to wage a guerrilla struggle against the British and Australian troops.
You have to admire these frontier people and the value they placed on their freedom.
Lord Kitchener’s infamous response was a “scorched earth” policy. Boer women and children were herded into unsanitary concentration camps where thousands of them died.
This holocaust remains among the greatest unanswered war crimes of the 20th century. It’s a stain on our history comparable with the genocide of Tasmanian Aborigines.
Australia was a federated, autonomous nation at the time our soldiers implemented Kitchener’s unforgivable strategy. This left a bitter legacy in South Africa that arguably contributed later to the establishment of apartheid.
The hatred between white majority Afrikaners and people of British descent was a key factor in the South African National Party’s rise to power in 1948.
We should acknowledge our inglorious past rather than seeking to elevate the status of someone who was rightly punished for committing murder.
Dear Sir,
I start with the quote ‘ Hero or Villian’ Some History
It is with some anger that I write to dispute your article
1 . Community consultation is what a lot of people have been waiting for , unfortunately we now have to wait until 2019 rather than 2002 as it should be, one would ask why the British War Office is reluctant to release the full transcripts of the Courts Martial rather than depend on the writings of Lt. George Witton,
one would have thought 2016 , 100 years on from the death of ‘Kitchener’ would put to rest the question of ‘Orders ‘ given rather than 2019. Perhaps everyone associated with the drama will have expired by then.
Even Lt Calley (Vietnam) who shot Vietnamese civilians was not shot!!
2 Punishment – Yes , Death by firing squad No.
History shows that on the morning of 23 rd Jan 1902 a Boer commando lead by Beyers attacked Pietersburg at which time Morant and Hancock fought for the British to repel the attack.
I am unable to find the quote I think from Wellington – says something about pardons in the cases of duty done. – you might look it up.
2A. Although two wrongs do not make a right, consistency would be the least expected at a Courts Martial,ref:
Captains Taylor and Robertson were in charge in the Spelonken district. Capt. Taylor was charged with murder in inciting
Sgt-Maj Morison and Sgt Oldham to kill and murder six Boer prisoners – verdict – Not Guilty!
3 Death of Hesse – You say that the motive for his death was to cover up a crime, If as you say the missionary was shot so as to not tell the authorities of the goings on by the BVC, the authorities already knew, so there was no need to shoot him.
Missionaries, nurses, general public who aid the enemy are tried as spies and shot.
The Treason Bill of 1900 brought down in Cape Parliament suggested that
‘all acts of rebellion against the King would be dealt with under the old common law, and would be punishable by death or imprisonment’
The court produced a verdict of ‘Not Guilty’ in this case.
I personally think that Lt. Hancock shot the missionary -why , who knows!
4 Romantic Hero –
As he appears in Australia in 1884 , ref Cutlack F. M , 1962 Breaker Morant, he spends his working years in the Australian Bush. It was know he was British but I guess we adopted him, after all he enlisted here, I hope you call yourself an Australian, I could quote a number of Australian Bush Ballardists who would be seen as romantics due to their ability to provide entertainment to the population. Morant was one, I quote,
‘he can do anything better than most people: can write verses;break in horses; trap dingoes; yard scrub cattle; dance, run, fight drink and borrow money; anything except work.
ref ; Pro Harts Breaker Morant,1981, Intro.
In fact Morant and Paterson wrote to each other.
The British Forces in South Africa at the onset of the conflict were approximately 10,000 men, there were some 80,000 names on the Boer Commando lists with about 50,000 ready for the conflict.
No-one in his right mind would go into battle with that type of inferior force like the WW’s ,people went for a variety of reasons- yes one being adventure but another that clinging to the ‘mother land’ and all things British.
The Boer as such were not in line with the British military system. They were civilians who believed in their rights, Louis Botha and De la Rey (politian) were farmers, De Wet a businessman and Smuts a Lawyer. In the book ‘Commando’ Reitz describes Boers dresed in captured Khaki, killed and wounded seventy odd troopers for the loss of seven of their own. This lead to the ‘order’ to shot all prisoners wearing Khaki.
The Boers have as much to answer for as they too ‘took’ the black man’s country. Did not the black man resist too. Is this not the same? They were Black and heathen? I could go on about the creation of a new world, special people, a rigid adherence to faith, true Christians and a fundamentalist belief! Don’t stop me here – please.
Don’t blame Australia for Apartheid! The Australian forces were commanded by the British, it was only with the start of WW1 that Australia argued successfully that Australian Forces were to be commanded by Australians and subject to Australian discipline -that is why the Govenor General refused to sign Court Martial descisions for execution of Australian deserters in WW1.
If Kitchener order the strategies (all of them) then the British are to blame – not us !
Yes the British started the idea of concentration camps and here is the belief that more exists in some dark corner of an archive- they certainly made the Germans remember the Holocaust but have not examined their own early history.
5 The next sentence is repulsive to say the least, one forgets about two world wars where Australians fought for the ‘British Empire’, WW1 and ‘Britains survival’, WW2. 61,700 dead, 155,000 wounded or about half of the 324,000 who served.
(Both my parents, and my wife’s parents- WW2)
The English did not quibber at the help given by Australains in either of these wars, so much so that the British wanted the Australians fighting with the 8th Army in North Africa to go to England rather than home to defend Australia at the start of Pacific conflict.
There are 7 books on the topic; 4 worth reading are:
Scapegoats of the Empire , 1907 , 1982, Lt George Witton.
Shoot Straight You Bastards 2002 N Bleszynski
Breaker Morant 1962 F.M. Cutlack
Closed File 1983 K.Denton
These I think are in order of reliability of the facts until the British War Office releases its papers
Closed File
Wow! I don’t feel as motivated about this topic as I did five and a half years ago when I wrote the original post, but Ed’s interest deserves a reply.
I expressed an opinion. Ed expressed an opinion. That’s democracy.
Yes, I’m Australian dating back to 1841 on my father’s side. Four great-uncles served in the First World War, an uncle and aunt in the Second World War, one uncle in the Korean War and my father was on reserve in the 1950s.
I challenge Ed on a couple of fronts.
1) He didn’t address the cause of the Anglo-Boer War. Clearly it was imperialist aggression by Britain (including Australia). The Boer republics were peaceful, sitting on tremendous wealth (a bit like Iraq!).
2) The Boers didn’t invade black lands. They entered vacant lands escaping the British. They encountered some Matabele heading south and after skirmish conflict, staked their position.
I don’t accept Ed’s premise that Australia can claim exemption from British actions prior to a particular point. Our soldiers were volunteers in all actions where they engaged, albeit under British command.
I don’t have a problem with that, but the conflict in South Africa was misguided and we should accept some responsibility, in my opinion, including the consequences (ie concentration camps and apartheid).
History is so sexy! Where do you find all this stuff Michael?
I’ve always been interested in history. I used to read it for pleasure when I was a child. My parents had a set of Richards encyclopedias and I read every word of the history sections.
It bothers me my kids are playing computer games instead of doing that.
This You Tube video reflects my views.
Apartheid could have been avoided.
Hello Michael. George Witton is my great-grandfathers brother. I am currently trying to produce a family history on him so that my grandchildren never forget him. I am proud to be part of his family, just as proud of my grandfather and father who were both military men.
I just wanted to let you know that there are proud family members.
Cheers
Karen
Karen, it’s great you feel proud of your forefathers. I’m proud too that men volunteered to serve the Queen.
I’m not proud, however, that Boer women and children were killed in concentration camps. Are you?
The Boers had two independent nations that were internationally recognized and they actually had an agreement with the Zulu chief Dingane to have land in exchange for the cattle that the Boer settlers got back from another black tribe that had stolen it from the Zulus. That region was the Transvaal Republic.
The Orange Free State was the other Boer Republic that was settled on mostly semi-desert land.
The traditional homelands of the black tribes are much more well watered and green than the Free State and most of the Transvaal.