Australia's Communities and the Boer War

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction: “Dot” Briggs

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 1-3

3. Portrait of a Region

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 5-15

4. “Skyrocket Patriotism”: October 1899 to December 1900

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 17-31

5. Exploring Disloyalty

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 33-43

6. Our Boys

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 45-58

7. From the Veldt

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 59-70

8. Removing the Stain: Wilmansrust

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 71-82

9. The Occasional War: January 1901 to August 1902

   • John McQuilton

   Pages 83-95

10. Obligations, Monuments and Moving On

    • John McQuilton

    Pages 97-108

11. Conclusion

    • John McQuilton

    Pages 109-112

12. Back Matter

    Pages 113-128

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This book explores an Australian regional community’s reaction to, and involvement with, the Boer War. It argues that after the initial year the war became an ‘occasional war’ in that it was assumed that the empire would triumph. But it also laid the foundations for reactions to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. This is the first exploration of the place of the Boer War in Australian history at the community level. Indeed, even at the national level the literature is limited. It is often forgotten that, despite the claims that Australia became a federation via peaceful means, the colonies and the new nation were, in fact, at war. This study aims to bring back into focus a forgotten part of Australian and imperial history, and argues that the Australian experience of the Boer War was more than the execution of Morant and Hancock.

• Military history
• First World War
• British empire
• Colonialism
• Twentieth century

• History, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

  John McQuilton

John McQuilton is Associate Professor of History at the University of Wollongong, Australia.

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