Australia's Communities and the Boer War by John McQuilton

Author:John McQuilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Souvenirs, the Tommy, Tucker, “Tip Top” and Home

The region’s men were keen tourists. Some visited the graves of the men killed during the war. Others visited sites of historic significance, like the ruins at Zimbaybe. 36 They also sent a steady stream of souvenirs back home: the hides of animals killed which were turned into native shields, shrapnel from Mafeking, objects purchased from African tribes, postcards and shell casings. 37 When life was dull, they challenged English regiments to mini Ashes series. And the men speculated endlessly about the duration of the war. Some were confident that the war could not last long. Mahy, for example, predicted its end no less than five times. Henry Crisfield, however, believed it could go on for years. 38

At first, the Tommy fascinated the men: this was the paragon against whom they would be measured. Initial reactions were often a mixture of the positive and the curious. Both Stanley Fletcher and James Dare praised the Yeomanry as “fine fellows” and “good soldiers”. Percy King, however, could not understand them because their accents and vocabulary were “strange”. Mahy could not believe that Scottish highland regiments fought in kilts, but he was delighted to discover that the Gordons, seen as “giants” by the popular press, turned out to be “just men like the rest of us” and “just as big liars”. 39 Familiarity, however, brought about a rapid reassessment. Mick Sharry thought the Yeomanry “a poor lot” with no bush skills. Other letters claimed that the Tommies were more susceptible to malaria and enteric fever. And their horsemanship was woeful. Respect for the Tommy as a fighting man disappeared. Drummond was particularly scathing. The Australians did all the fighting, he bluntly asserted, because British mounted troops were “slow” in getting to the action. 40 And James Clingin firmly believed “our biggest enemy is the Tommy”. If the Tommy found two or three Australians and they numbered a dozen “they will belt us”. But if the numbers were even, the Tommies gave the Australians a wide berth. 41

The men rarely commented on the generals but had plenty to say about their officers. Cudgewa’s George Barber thought them a positive hindrance: he relished patrols where there were no officers to “interfere” with the troopers’ tactics. Quinlan had nothing but contempt for his captain, especially after he put the men on rations for the “benefit of their health”. Robert Carlisle doubted that the captains and the lieutenants had the confidence of the men. Wangaratta’s Colonel Hoad, however, had the respect of local men writing home and Colonel Tom Price, a “bully” in camp, was praised as the best man to lead his troops into action. 42

Food was a constant theme in the letters home. Patrols on the veldt were poorly supplied, and the men had little time for the British Army’s staples of bully beef and biscuits, the biscuits in particular. They were as “hard as the hobs of hell” and needed a hammer to break them up. 43

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