Banjo by Grantlee Kieza

Author:Grantlee Kieza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC Books
Published: 2018-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

Boer commandos in 1899 at the time Banjo was in the thick of the fighting. The Boers proved to be fierce opponents. Australian War Memorial P07379.079

At Arundel on 8 December 1899, Banjo found the Boers defending a big hill a few miles from the British camp.

It was only a small skirmish that was going on, but quite exciting enough for beginners such as ourselves . . . The battleground was a great big plain (called veldt in this country) with a circle of irregular hills round it. These hills are very rugged and stony, and are called kops if of a great size and kopje (pronounced coppy) if small. All Africa so far as we have seen it is either veldt or kopje . . . No better fighting ground for cavalry could be found than the veldt, and no worse ground for them could be found than the kopje.51

The action would soon become much more brutal. And every soldier was soon ‘as dirty as a badger with the dust’. One night a storm flooded the tents and stained everything with muddy water. ‘We have no time to think of appearances,’ Banjo explained. ‘I have averaged 14 hours a day in the saddle since I came here. We thought we were being put in a little quiet out-of-the-way corner, where we could do no harm; but ever since we came here we can have a fight any hour of the day that we happen to want it, and it is supposed that a really big battle must be fought before we take Colesberg.’52

Early in his South African adventure, Banjo was present at the taking of a Boer homestead, the owner having been arrested as a sympathiser with the enemy. Banjo was given the use of the stable for his horses. It was, he said, absurdly like an Australian homestead in every way. ‘Sheep-yards, horse-yards, cultivation paddocks – everything reminds one of Australia. There is a spring here of lovely water and a grand garden. The troops keep great discipline. The crops are untouched in the fields, the sheep go out with their shepherd through the middle of the camp.’53

Lord Roberts54 arrived in Cape Town on 11 January 1900 to take charge of the campaign, with Herbert Kitchener55 as his chief of staff. Roberts had replaced Victoria Cross recipient Redvers Buller,56 who was sent off to a subordinate role in Natal. Roberts had a plan to capture Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State.

Two days later, The Leader began the serialisation of Banjo’s book – with the first title, In No Man’s Land – and it would run until May.

Banjo returned briefly to Cape Town in order to interview the author and anti-war campaigner Olive Schreiner,57 whose brother, William, was the Cape Colony prime minister. After six weeks of blazing days and freezing nights, spent in tents where the dust storms coated everything with a dull-red powder, wondering how close he could get to the enemy without being shot dead, Banjo

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.