AUSTRALIA’S COMMUNITIES AND THE BOER WAR John McQuilton Australia’s Communities and the Boer War John   M cQuilton Australia’s Communities and the Boer War John   McQuilton University of Wollongong Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia ISBN 978-3-319-30824-1 ISBN 978-3-319-30825-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30825-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016941863 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS Any author owes a debt of gratitude to many people. Mine includes Karl James, Linda Wade and Jen Roberts who read the manuscript and pro- vided constructive feedback, the peer reviewer who alerted me to a source that, much to my shame, I should have checked more thoroughly, and John Kwok. I also owe thanks to the staff at the National Archives of Australia and the Public Record Offi ce of Victoria for their assistance, and to the good people at Palgrave Macmillan. The research was funded in part by the University of Wollongong. The book is dedicated with love to my son, Alexander. v A BBREVIATIONS NEWSPAPERS AO Alpine Observer B&BA B ogong and Benambra Advertiser BMM B order Morning Mail and Riverina Times C&HT C hiltern and Howlong Times and Ovens Register CC Corryong Courier FS Federal Standard MI M urray Independent O&MA O vens and Murray Advertiser RS R utherglen Sun and Chiltern Valley Advertiser UM&MH U pper Murray and Mitta Herald WC W angaratta Chronicle W&TS W odonga and Towong Sentinel YT Y ackandandah Times OTHER AMA A malgamated Miners’ Association ANA A ustralian Natives Association AWM A ustralian War Memorial ION I nspector of Nuisances NAA N ational Archives of Australia PROV P ublic Record Offi ce of Victoria VMR V ictorian Mounted Rifl es vii C ONTENTS 1 Introduction: “Dot” Briggs 1 2 Portrait of a Region 5 3 “Skyrocket Patriotism”: October 1899 to December 1900 1 7 4 Exploring Disloyalty 3 3 5 Our Boys 45 6 From the Veldt 5 9 7 Removing the Stain: Wilmansrust 71 8 The Occasional War: January 1901 to August 1902 83 9 Obligations, Monuments and Moving On 9 7 10 Conclusion 1 09 ix