Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

In March 1900, a young 19 year old from Point Pass, a small town just north of Eudunda, enlisted in the 4th South Australian Imperial Bushmen contingent (4SAIB).Frederick Hammond Farley was the son of a farmer who had immigrated from Cornwall sometime in the 1860s and was one of many from the colonies of what was to become Australia, that answered the call for reinforcements to support British forces in the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. Farley boarded the transport ship Manhattan at Port Adelaide on 1 May 1900 and set sail for the conflict in South Africa.

Frederick Hammond Farley, March 1900
Source: www.lifetimes.co, VWMA

Now, 126 years later, I am in South Africa to re-trace some of the steps of my great grandfather.

Map showing Frederick Farley’s service in South Africa during the Boer War
Source:www.lifetimes.co

The Second Anglo-Boer War had erupted in October 1899 when Boer militias from the Transvaal and Orange Free State attacked British forces, sparking fierce battles and sieges across the region. The attacks caught the unprepared British forces off guard and they were besieged by the Boers at Mafeking, Kimberley and Ladysmith (now uMnambithi).

Panoramic view from Convent Hill (now La Verna Hospital) of Ladysmith (now uMnambithi) which was besieged from November 18999 to 28 February 1900
Source: www.ifetimes.co

From 10 to 15 December 1899, during what became known as ‘Black Week’, the Boers inflicted a series of defeats on the British at Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso.At the start of 1900, the British sought reinforcements, and the colonies of what was to become Australia, responded.

Boer War troops in camp, old exhibition grounds, Adelaide:
Back row L-R 1. Unknown 2. Tpr. Frank St Clair Richardson, 3. Tpr. Sidney Lansdell, 4. Unknown. 5. Tpr. Percy Nagor Graham Wilson 6. Tpr. Gordon Eugene Victor de Reyher Front row L-R 1. Unknown. 2. Unknown. 3. Unknown (squatting, pipe in left hand and right hand on 2’s shoulder). 4. Sgt. Samuel Albert White (seated) 5. Frederick Hammond Farley (squatting, looking over White’s left shoulder). 6. Tpr. Frank Birt Trevenen,
Source: SLSA B63857, VWMA

After some basic training, 12 officers, 222 men from 4SAIB including Farley, together with 240 horses, set off from Port Adelaide. After stopping in Fremantle, where the 4th Western Australian Mounted Infantry contingent (4WAMI) embarked, the Manhattan continued on to Beira (now in Mozambique) and Durban before arriving at Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) on 19 June 1900.

By the time Farley arrived, the British had regained the momentum and captured Bloemfontein, the capital of the Boer Orange Free State (13 March 1900) and Pretoria, the capital of Transvaal (5 June 1900) but faced ongoing guerrilla warfare from Boer fighters.

Farley started keeping a diary of his experiences in South Africa, the original of which is now in the Australian War Memorial’s collection.A week after landing, 4SAIB having headed north came under fire for the first time at Sand River, near Welkom.Farley writes, “26 June 1900: Met the Boers about sunrise had a sharp skirmish for about an hour, this is my first time under fire it seemed very queer and I ducked to every bullet it seems”.Over the next week they were regularly under fire from the Boers: “2 July 1900: We are now on the top of a kopje & the bullets are whistling everywhere… have been under fire all day. We slept on the top of a kopje last night and began fighting early this morning.The shells have been falling around for about two hours.”

During this time, Corporal David Jones of 4SAIB’s A squadron and five men from 4SAIB’s B squadron were wounded including G J Richardson, whose bone was splintered below the knee, Lisle Walters, John Gifford Wagstaff, and L C Hall.Troopers Jackson Hawksby, Scott and Reid were taken prisoner by the Boers.

Kerkenberg Mountain range near Bethlehem, in the former Orange Free State,
Source: www.lifetimes.co

The fighting for Bethlehem continued over the next week: “7 July 1990: Our flank attack yesterday failed and we spent a most miserable night on the veldt patrolling.The game began this morning before sunrise, and is still going.Rifles have been blazing by thousands, maxims, Lyddite and a general pandemonium.”By the next day, the town of Bethlehem had fallen.The efforts of 4SAIB were noted by the British leadership. General Archibald Hunter “complimented us Australians this morning, on the part we have taken in the war.”

The 4SAIB troops camped near the cemetery in Bethlehem. Like my great grandfather, I wandered for a moment around the cemetery.It is peaceful now: while he was camped here, they were still subject to Boer sniping and shelling.

Old Bethlehem Cemetery, South Africa near where 4SAIB were camped from 9 to 15 July 1900
Source: www.lifetimes.co

By July 1900, 4SAIB set our north-west towards Pretoria in pursuit of the Boer guerrillas, passing through Linley and Vredefort. Farley’s diary records that during this time Troopers Frederick Joseph Tothill, Alexander William Nicholas and John Hartly Moore were killed in action and Sergeant Henry Clifton Prosser was wounded – “shot in three places, the head, shoulder and hand” – together with Troopers George Edwin Catchlove, Frederick Otto Thorn, and Arthur Randolph Tate.

Bullet casings from the Second Anglo-Boer War
Source: www.lifetimes.co

By August 1900, 4SAIB was involved in what turned out to be a fruitless hunt for the Boer commander De Wett.Farley’s diary records that Lord Kitchener, now in command, “expects to capture De Wett to-morrow & some of the officers have bet on it” (13 August 1900). They next day 4SAIB were informed that “De Wett has got into the hills but we hear that all the passes are guarded & he cannot get out, if, so, so much the better.” But that night, de Wett slipped away: “14 August 1900: De Wett has gone again, [Major General Sir] Ian Hamilton was too late to stop him.”

In the hills before Pretoria, Farley observed “19 August 1900: The Boers had the best position here for holding I have ever seen. … A lot of English Tommies are knocked up, I am by the side of the road & every now & then they pass looking the picture of misery. ”

From September 1900 to January 1901 4SAIB repeatedly saw reveille at 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning, with orders to saddle up, only to be stood down after four or five hours. When they did ride out the troops escorted convoys around Pretoria travelling west to Rustenburg, and east through Bronkhorspruit, Middelburg, Belfast (now Emakhazeni), as far as Machadodorp (now eNtokozweni).When they were stood down, the troops occupied themselves playing cricket and reading and writing letters home.

On 25 September rumours spread that peace was imminent. “Bugles have been playing all the morning & a fife & drum band has been playing, we hear that peace is to be declared to-day in Pretoria.”

The war’s harsh realities extended beyond the battlefield. On Christmas Day 1900, 4SAIB had the unpleasant task of rounding up Boer women and children and transporting them to camps as part of British counterinsurgency efforts, a tactic that, over a century later still evokes a lasting bitterness among Afrikaner descendants we met.

Boer women and children in the concentration camp during the Second Boer War (circa 1901)

Frederick Farley returned to Gawler, South Australia on 28 March 1901 and was discharged on 14 August 1901, but re-enlisted on 21 April 1902 with the 8th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse (8ACH), one of the first ‘Australian’ units of the newly federated country formed following another request from the British. They were among the first troops to wear the Rising Sun badge of the Australian army. 8ACH sailed for South Africa on the St Andrew on 26 May 1902. However, by the time they arrived in Durban on 19 June 1902 the war was over.The Treaty of Vereeniging ending the war had been signed on 31 May 1902.

Table at Melrose House, Pretoria at which the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902
Source:www.lifetimes.co

Our travel through South Africa had taken us to Durban, where Frederick Farley first landed, and fittingly, ended at Melrose House in Pretoria where a table includes a plaque with the signatories of the Treaty of Vereeniging.

This had been an opportunity to reconnect across time with my great-grandfather as I re-read his diary, learnt more about an almost forgotten conflict in which Australian troops fought and died, see the countryside on which they served, and visit some of the grave sites in which they are buried.

Anglo-Boer War Memorial at Durban Military Cemetery which includes Herbet Edgar Prosser of 4SAIB who was accidentally killed when he fell from his horse.
Source:www.lifetimes.co

Each Anzac day, crowds quietly intone ‘Lest we forget. We will remember them.’

Travelling in the footsteps of those who served is one way to honour this commitment.

© Paul Wiebush