The Boer War and Lieutenants Breaker Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton

Between 1899 and 1902, 16,000 men went from Australia to the Boer War in South Africa, more than 500 of them died there. Australians who served also included an unknown number of Aboriginal trackers.

Six Australians received the Victoria Cross in South Africa, and many others received other decorations.  Though the nation honoured its dead with ceremonies and monuments, the enormity of the following two world wars overshadowed the legacy of this terrible and bloody conflict. It should always be remembered that the Boer War soldiers are the precursors of the Anzac Legend.