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Who Was The
First Australian Soldier to be Killed in a War?
The Boar War
From 10th October 1899 to the end of
May 1902 a bitter conflict raged across the South African
veldt between Britain and her Empire and the two largely self
governing Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State. The six Australian States (colonies) were quick to
make troops available to Britain when a Boer ultimatum to
the British expired Boer commandos streamed across the borders
into the British colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal.
The first formed unit of troops from Australia, a squadron
of the New South Wales Lancers landed in Capetown on 2 November
1899, less that one month after hostilities began.
Up until 1899 for Australians there
had been quite fierce fighting in some areas as European settlement
expanded across the lands of the Aboriginal peoples, and two
minor rebellions on the Australian mainland quickly put down
by British garrison troops. Australians had also fought in
the Maori wars in New Zealand and, in 1885, New South Wales
sent a 700 strong contingent of infantry and artillery, with
a small medical detachment, to the Sudan in North Africa.
The Boer War was the first full commitment of troops by all
the Australian Colonies to a foreign war and with the formation
of the Australian Commonwealth on 1st January 1901 it became
our country’s first military involvement as a nation.
Australia’s contribution was significant;
we suffered casualty numbers which have only been exceeded
by those of World Wars 1 and 2. In all, over 16,000 troops
were engaged in the Australian contingents and another 7,000
Australians fought in other colonial and irregular units.
Possibly 1,000 Australians lost their lives on service in
South Africa during the Boer War.
In the beginning there was a preference
for infantry units but the value of Australian horsemen was
quickly recognised as mounted infantry, due to their capacity
to deploy quickly and their ability to match the Boers’
own game. Therefore they were much sought after. With the
exception of one field artillery battery and some medical
groups (field ambulance, stretcher bearers and some 60 nurses)
the Australian forces in South Africa comprised mounted infantry.
Along with the New Zealanders, Australian horsemen were unsurpassed
as scouts and were greatly valued by column commanders. After
Federation the mounted troops which were sent to South Africa
included the various Australian Commonwealth Horse units.
Our soldiers, who were truly the first
Australian expeditionary force to fight overseas, did Australia
proud in the Boer War as they have done in all conflicts since.
Informed military commentators saw the magnificent defence of
Elands River by Australian and Rhodesian troops as the finest
episode of the whole war. The majority of the defenders were
Australian bushmen, mainly men from Queensland, New South Wales
and Victoria with a lesser number from Western Australia, South
Australia and Tasmania. They manfully defended the post against
impossible odds for 12 days.
Australians in irregular units took
part in both the epic defence and the relief of the Siege
of Mafeking and a number of Australians died during the defence
of the town. It was a nine man patrol of the Imperial Light
Horse, led by Major Walter Karri Davies, arguably the most
famous Australian in South Africa at the time, which entered
Mafeking a day ahead of the relief column.
In addition to six Victoria Crosses,
Australians won many awards for gallantry in the Boer War
and were frequently mentioned in the Commander in Chief’s
despatches.
The trial and execution of Australian
BVC officers ‘Breaker’ Morant and Peter Handcock
without the knowledge of, or any reference to the Australian
Government, changed for ever our nation's attitude to the
execution of servicemen. In the period since, no Australian
serviceman has since suffered the death penalty, regardless
of the war-related crime committed.
The sacrifices made by Australia and
Australians during the Boer War were very significant. ANZAC
Parade, however, does not yet have a Memorial. A site has
at last been reserved for it and the National Boer War Memorial
Association (NBWMA) formed to design, fund and construct a
suitable monument. The NBWMA will ensure that those who fought
in South Africa are commemorated in a way that will preserve
our heritage and military history for the education and benefit
of future generations of Australians
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It is said that Trooper
Victor Stanley Jones was the first Australian to be killed
in the first full commitment of troops by all the Australian
Colonies to a foreign war
Trooper Victor S Jones
Q M I of Rockhampton, Queensland
Killed January 1st 1900. Aged 27 years,
The first Australian to fall in action in SA
Victor Stanley Jones, was
employed as the paymaster at the Mount Morgan Company, at
the time of his enlistment in the Queensland Mounted Infantry.
An athletic twenty-seven year old, he had for some time been
connected with the mounted infantry and when the contingent
was being formed obtained leave from his employment to volunteer
for active service.
The contingent left on board the Cornwall
on 1 November 1899 and arrived in Cape Town on 12 December,
entraining to the Orange River. From there the contingent
proceeded to Belmont, whence it took a prominent part in the
engagement at Sunnyside on 1 Jan 1900.
On the morning of 1 January a picket
party consisting of Lieutenant Adie, Trooper Jones and four
others were sent out to discover the line of the enemy’s
retreat. Frank Wilkinson, a war correspondent who was nearby
reported –
"Two reconnoitring patrols were
detached from the Queensland Mounted Infantry to move around
the east and west sides of the Sunnyside hills, with the idea
of ascertaining exactly the position of the Boer laager. Unfortunately
the western patrol, under Lieutenant Adie, after working round
to the north-west corner of the broken ground above the laager,
found itself too close to be comfortable, or even safe. The
party was suddenly confronted by two Boers, about thirty yards
from the rocky cover, afforded by the neighbouring kopje.
Adie dismounted and called upon the pair to surrender, but
just at this moment he and his men were fired upon by another
lot of Boers, who were concealed among the rocks."
Trooper Jones was shot through the heart
and died instantly. His brother, G B Jones, writing to the
Guild of Loyal Women of South Africa advised -
"He was buried by a fellow trooper,
on the veldt, far from any farm house, some thirty two kilometres
from Belmont. Trooper W Thomas, who laid Jones to rest with
nought but his soldier’s cloak around him, told us it
was on the open veldt and there was little or nothing that
he could do to mark the spot."
He later wrote from Rockhampton to the
Central Graves Committee of the Loyal Women of South Africa
advising personal details about his late brother -
"Victor was a fine young man, aged
27, 1.82 m in height, who at the first announcement of sending
a Queensland contingent to South Africa gave up a good position,
home and friends to fight for his Queen and country. He was
afterwards destined to have the, to us, sad honour of being
absolutely the first Australian to be killed in action in
South Africa. This fact is certified to by his Captain ...
(Captain P W G Pinnock). Victor was in the scouting party
of 4 men, under Lieutenant A G Adie, sent out on the morning
of the Sunnyside engagement, and was shot dead on the veldt
when his group were surprised by about 14 Boers."
Charlotte Sclater of the Guild of Loyal
Women of South Africa wrote to the Jones family advising that
the graves of Jones and McLeod were on the veldt far away
from any farm house, about a mile apart from one another on
the veldt. Jones stated in his letter that after the engagement
at Sunnyside, the troops returned to Belmont and there erected
a monument to his brother and Trooper David McLeod, who also
died later on the same day. He requested that the Central
Graves Committee attend to the erection of a simple headstone
with stone kerbing and the following inscription –
In loving memory of
Trooper Victor S Jones Q M I
of Rockhampton, Queensland
Killed January 1st 1900
Aged 27 years,
The first Australian
to fall in action in SA
The Loyalists at Douglas contributed
£30/5/- ($60.50) towards the cost of erecting headstones
over the graves of Jones and McLeod. As soon as hostilities
ceased the Guild of Loyal Women of South Africa attended to
the erection of the headstones. Lillian Orpen, the secretary
of the Guild, requested that the remains of these two brave
soldiers may be allowed to rest undisturbed in the graves
where their comrades laid them.
In his last letter Jones’ brother
advised that he was forwarding £10 ($20) towards the
cost of the headstone and also expressed the desire that his
brothers remains be left where he was buried on the veldt.
Despite the requests of the Jones family
and the members of the Guild, the remains of both Jones and
McLeod were moved to the Garden of Remembrance, West End Cemetery,
in Kimberley.
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