An extraordinary find at the municipal tip at Tenterfield, New South Wales earlier in 2016Talk about treasure in trash! ‘Priceless’ Aussie items uncovered has focused attention on the lives and execution of Lieutenants Breaker Harry Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton during the Boer war, http://http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/breaker-morant-relics-found-on-rubbish-tip-20160422-gocn1a.html,
The items were found stored in an old hessian bag discarded with other rubbish destined to be buried as land fill! Perhaps the most valuable item is a red ensign Australian flag that bears the handwriting of Major J.F.Thomas, the lawyer who defended these men at their courts martial between January and February 1902. Thomas’ comments on the flag bears witness to his claim that the men were the scapegoats for the crimes of their British superiors for orders to take no prisoners.
Breaker artefacts include –the inscribed Australian flag that draped the grave of Lieutenants Morant and Handcock, some other items have emerged. The following images of the falg bear the handwriting of Major Thomas the lawyer who defended these men, inscriptions include: utter scapegoats of the empire, Lt Henry. H Morant Dec 9th 1864 Feb 27th 1902 RIP, Peter. J Handcock Feb 17th 1868 Feb 27th 1902 RIP, a bayonet scabbard with initials HM, silver cigarette case initials, H.M, British penny, used for identification, inscribed EDWIN HENRY MORANT damaged by what may be a bullet ricochet, a British penny 1900, Queen Victoria, inscribed, good luck to Australian Bushmen Corps 1900. This penny is of great significance since it appears it was minted specifically to honour Australian volunteers.
Significant historical items that record the story of the injustice suffered by Lieutenants Morant, Handcock and Witton. The items are now being forensically examined. The flag discovered is the same flag shown in the attached picture of Major Thomas, covering the Morant / Handcock grave.
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Breaker Morant’s possessions may have been found at Tenterfield tiphttps://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://startsat60.com/trending/talk-about-treasure-in-trash-priceless-aussie-items-uncovered&ct=ga&cd=CAEYASoTMzU4NjI3MDkyOTc3MzQ0MzY1NTIaOTY5NTFkMmI4NmRmN2EyOTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNEvpuNW6ttwSiKldZCMJvxsvxYMYg
Jim
I greatly look forward to reading your book when it is published as you have waged a solitary battle for many years. I have done the tour of the Morant related sites with Charles Leach in 2012 and have read much of the available literature on this court martial. There is always new evidence emerging and I recently visited Tenterfield, NSW to see the recently discovered relics found on the local rubbish tip. I believe you recently spoke to a close friend of mine, Dennis (Old Sea Dog) who said the content was very interesting.
Warmest regards
Nigel
Hi James, I thank you for the lengthy call back just prior to the Christmas holiday period. I have been following your various posts over the years and if you have a special email broadcast list, would you mind placing my personal email address on it. I’m off to South Africa 25th Feb (details on my web site)and will be holding a remembrance service grave side on the morning of the 27th – 115th anniversary of their execution. I have invited both the High Commissioner and Defence Attache. On return I’ll send you a post op brief and photos of the event. Regards, Dennis Weatherall. Tel: 02 95206023 M: 0428 280 536
Thanks Denis, may have a response from my efforts to Canberra very soon, cheers Jim
Have a look at the ABC’s coverage of this amazing find at the Tenterfield tip!
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-27/breaker-morants-possessions-may-have-been-found-at-tip/8655516&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTMzU4NjI3MDkyOTc3MzQ0MzY1NTIaOTY5NTFkMmI4NmRmN2EyOTpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNGg7xApQekhQXgdhVpm07acScKCYQ
Why on earth are we doing this? It was over a century ago. We have current problems that are surely more pressing. Australians are killing innocent people in Afghanistan and Syria as I type – why? It seems that we just can’t help ourselves from becoming involved in conflicts which have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH US. We have learned nothing. There is no glory to be found in the Boer War, just as there was none in Vietnam, and will be none in all our current misguided wars. How on earth do we stop this madness?
Where is the sense of perspective?
Thanks Ian for the feedback. This is complex case involving issues of military law and injustice. It has everything to do with US!
This case has drawn the attention of senior Australian legal counsel and MPs, including noted jurist and human rights advocate, Geoffrey Robertson, AO, QC who stated:
‘They were treated monstrously. Certainly by today’s standards they were not given any of the human rights that international treaties require men facing the death penalty to be given. But even by the standards of 1902 they were treated improperly, unlawfully.”
Sir Laurence Street, AC, KCMG, QC, former Chief Justice New South Wales has called on the British government to appoint an inquiry on the grounds that:
‘This is an appalling affront to any general notions of justice, and an appalling injustice to the remaining living man. This was an exercise of the administration of criminal justice which sadly miscarried. In 2010, the Australian House of Representatives Petitions Committee declared the case: “strong and compelling and deserving of justice.”
How then to bridge this gap between Australia’s realisation that something is unjust with this case and British intransience and denial?
Were Lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton tried according to law or were they treated as pawns by the British Command to secure a peace treaty to bring the brutal Boer war to an end?
We should seek redress because Australia is an independent nation in control of its own destiny and because as former Attorney General, Robert McClelland put it, ‘this goes to the moral values and fabric of a nation. We know these wrongs were done.” the facts of the matter are there were fundamental flaws in the criminal process that resulted in these people being executed, and when that injustice occurs I think it needs to be revisited, and certainly it is a matter of public interest that that occur’.
One of the most enduring responsibilities of Government is to protect the values and ideals of its country and to preserve a fair and just judicial system focused on the rule of law.
How Australia responds to this case remains a test of our values and is important to the descendants of Morant, Handcock and Witton and those who respect the rule of law and seek justice. In the eyes of the law and the Australian community, a wrong is never diminished by the passing of time, it reflects our Australian values and our duty is to put it right. The Australian Government between 1902 and 1904 took action with respect to the release of George Witton. The existing Government should now finalise the matter of pardons in 2018, one hundred and sixteen years after the executions.
‘This matter involving a miscarriage of justice, our alliance with Britain and a true test of our values and nationhood, but three Australians and their descendants await justice and that must be put above all other considerations’.
The descendants want justice to be done and a compelling case exists that should be assessed by a Parliamentary inquiry. Morant, Handcock and Witton should get the justice Australians believe is long overdue.
I believe that Thomas is correct. The men were scapegoats. But my question is, to what extent did their ethics, morals and conscience allow them to follow such orders? History is littered with many stories of soldiers who refused to carry out such orders. It is known that they carried these orders out with more than a little gusto. I believe they were not as innocent as it would seem. I think they were nothing more than murderous bullies with official sanction.
Thanks Geoff, my book READY, AIM, FIRE, Major James Francis Thomas, the Fourth Victim In The Execution, of Lieutenant Harry “Breaker” Morant discusses the very issues you have raised.
I will provide detail of publication this month and how you can but the book.
I have second book on the Morant trials due to be released in the new year. It explores the legal issues that arose from the charges and the conduct of the trial proceedings. Details to follow soon.
Regards
Hi Guys
As a former military member this is important – Ian. I , ironically now teach History at Year 9 Level , would you believe pg 44, there it is “contestability” relating to Morant , Handcock and Witton
What happens on Wed by the DoD UK is anyone’s guess as they have already deferred the release of any details which should have been released in 2002
Thanks Ed, agree
A little bit of history. About fifty odd years ago I worked in Northern Queensland around the Charters Towers area. The Clarke family owned Fanning River Station just north of Mingela. Mr Clarke showed me a copy of the station records in which the signature of Morant appeared as receipt for wages. I cannot remember the date of the entry,however Morant worked in that area.
Thanks Jim, I get a lot of comments like yours, people who reveal details about these three men, documents that have been uncovered, photographs etc
I don’t suppose you know what happened to the wages record, a long time ago!
Love this site, it explains quite a bit about something that is hard to get detailed information on . . . at least here in Virginia. I have read Growden’s book on Major Thomas, and I just recently completely Peter FitzSimon’s book on Breaker Morant. I am curious as to the impartiality of Mr. FitzSimon’s book. I was curious as to why some of the things that your research has turned up was left out. On the other hand, it does paint a pretty damning portrait of what went on. I am likewise curious about whether or not Major Thomas raised the issue of condonation. One book says he did, another says he didn’t.
Oh, and one correction on the artifacts: That is not a “cigarette case”, it appears to be a tinder box (note the kindling). My grandfather had one for lighting fires when I was a kid. Morant supposedly gave his cigarette case to the officer in charge of the firing party on the day of his execution.
Thanks for taking the time to publish all of this great info.
Thanks John, appreciate your feedback.
In addition to the campaign I have mounted to have this case independently reviewed, I also have researched the life of Major Thomas, “Ready, Aim, Fire – Major James Francis Thomas – The Fourth Victim in the Execution of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant”. The manner in which these men were treated remains controversial, shrouded in protest that they were scapegoated for the war crimes of their British superiors.
The book is dedicated to the memory of Major James Francis Thomas who was relegated to history without an understanding of who he was and the part he played in the dynamic development of the town of Tenterfield in New South Wales, Australia, as a property owner, solicitor, newspaper proprietor, historian, poet, proponent for Australian nationalism, volunteer soldier. How he came to serve in the Boer War, yet destined to die alone from malnutrition, destitute having suffered from the stress of what he experienced in representing Morant, Handcock and Witton as their trial lawyer.
My book acknowledges Thomas’ sacrifice he made in acting for his clients, a task that took a terrible toll on his mental and physical health and his life in Tenterfield.
My book can be ordered on Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=james+unkles&productType=917504
It was reviewed by Geoffrey Robertson QC, international human rights lawyer, judge and author. His opinion:
“It is an awesome responsibility for a defence lawyer to try to save the life of a client – as I know from my own death row practice. This fascinating book tells the story of a country solicitor called upon at the last moment to defend three Australian soldiers facing a British military establishment determined to execute them and to cover up its own failings. The trial was outrageously unfair by today’s standards, and even by rules of the time, but Major James Thomas did his best – which is all you can do. A worthy contribution to literature on miscarriage of justice.”
I am committed to celebrating Thomas’ sacrifice in trying to secure justice for his clients.
Regarding your comment about Fitzsimons book. My view:
‘I was very disappointed by this book, an expectation that it would uncover new material regarding Breaker. I expected a more scholarly examination of Breaker’s life instead of a rehash of research, photos and documents that have accumulated over the decades. There is nothing new in Fitzsimons’s book. His conclusion that Morant got what he deserved, completely misses the research and compelling evidence these three veterans, Morant, Handcock and Witton were not tried and sentenced according to the law of 1902, in short due lawful process was not followed and this is the basis for an inquiry and posthumous pardons. Fitzsimons’s book makes an entertaining review of the research of others, what it lacks is an understanding of military law, the case for pardons and the progress that has been made to have the case reviewed. The book, misses an understanding of the case for pardons, the law that related to reprisal that applied during the Boer war and orders to take no prisoners. Despite his denials, there is evidence of orders from Lord Kitchener and the rights of appeal, the right to state a Military redress and a common law right to petition the King for mercy, all denied in the indecent haste to carry out the executions without any notification to the Australian Government and the families of the accused.
The other glaring omission which may reflect the author’s ignorance is a critical understanding and review of Military law of 1902 that applied to the trial proceedings. If the public want a story then buy it, but there is an absence of critical analysis, comment dressed up as historical accuracy and reliance of unproven assertions’.
Others have also commented on the book:
‘Tom Richardson, lecturer in history at UNSW Canberra, wrote a review of the book in the Sydney Morning Herald November 20, 2020. While he largely agrees with Fitzsimons’ conclusions he stated:
‘As is always the case with FitzSimons, there is a lot of fiction spliced in with the fact, as what he imagines characters would have thought or said is put alongside what is in the historical record. This is bad history, but it is mitigated somewhat by the fact that Peter FitzSimons can only write characters who sound like Peter FitzSimons; combined with his liberal use of footnotes, that is enough to make clear what is real and what is not.”
That might be true for those of us who have access to the sources listed in his footnotes but some of the more important ones (e.g. “Breaker Morant and the Bushveldt Carbineers”, Edited by Arthur Davey) are quite difficult to obtain so I’m guessing that a lot of readers will have a great deal of difficulty sorting fact from fiction. Unfortunately, those readers will be persuaded to Fitzsimons’ point of view without having the opportunity to draw their own conclusions.
I didn’t find any “new stuff” in the book and I am unable to recommend it’.
John, I will taking this case forward and will provide updates on my web site. The solution is clear, the Australian Government should provide the descendants of these men an opportunity to have their concerns considered by an independent inquiry. The evidence I have produced, (ignored by FitzSimons) is clear, these men were not tried and sentenced according to the law of 1902 and there are strong grounds for posthumous pardons.
Harry morant . You bloody legend I have always regarded you as our finest son of the Southern Cross.. your Southern Starr will always shine in the hearts of many a young man who walks the streets of Adelaide as I pass by your big grand statute in the heart of Adelaide I have always stop and said hello. To see it up close and the powerful vibes I feel coming from the sculpture is something one must experience I am transformed to a time a place that is in the past a time of visual feelings I can see through your eyes I can hear from your ears I can become you as I stand right there touching this amazing figure the sheer power of the man and horse are truly amazing I can close my eyes and see you riding jumping shooting all with total control balancing and riding that amazing horse while shooting that power rifle God Harry how could such a man be sacrifice to please A. King. A country. A religion.. you my Sir are in my eyes the first Australian to be put on a new bank note the breaker morant 500 dollar note. You and that amazing horse . And look its just my opinion. No one has to agree or disagree.. It’s just a Southern man’s opinion of a son of the Southern cross…. God bless all the men women children animals that have lost their life’s because of war …. and you can’t tell me this wasn’t found by accident.. it was gods will to prove the men followed orders .. they would of been shot either way .. it was a mission of sacrifice order by someone who new it would help end the war in a way to please who.. anyway I am just glad they found them fantastic pieces before they disappeared with out a trace . Just like they wonted to happen to the breaker and his men . But now hopefully we will finely find out the truth . But in war many a time has war brought out the good the bad in humans.. it’s something I never faced and something a lots of us haven’t. So who are we to judge.. the people who have .. sacrifice life to save life . RIP.. ALL THE FALLIN IN EVERY WAR ON THUS EARTH .
Thanks Anthony, more news of this case, to clear Lts Morant, Handcock and Witton. Will post details.
Regards
Ah Good day to all Australian people who have an interest concerning the court marshal & execution (Death By Rifle Fire)
I read a book about 3 years ago , book title being Hell ,West & Crooked , Author Tom Cole ,,, a mention in this book is of Harry Morant ,,, read this book
Fact or Fiction ,, for I know not ,,,
Regards Muzza 303
Gympie Queensland
Thank you, appreciate your comment Muzza