‘Banjo’ Paterson and Major James Thomas (defending officer for Morant)

PATERSON, ANDREW BARTON (1864-1941), poet, solicitor, journalist, war correspondent and soldier, was born on 17 February 1864 at Narrambla near Orange, New South Wales.

Paterson was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson’s more notable poems include “Waltzing Matilda“, “The Man from Snowy River” and “Clancy of the Overflow“.

In 1885, Paterson began submitting and having his poetry published in the Sydney edition of The Bulletin under the pseudonym of “The Banjo”, the name of a favourite horse. Paterson, like The Bulletin, was an ardent nationalist, and in 1889 published a pamphlet, Australia for the Australians which told of his disdain for cheap labour and his admiration of hard work and the nationalist spirit. In 1890, The Banjo wrote “The Man from Snowy River“, a poem which caught the heart of the nation, and in 1895 had a collection of his works published under that name. This book is the most sold collection of Australian Bush poetry and is still being reprinted today. Paterson also became a journalist, lawyer, jockey, soldier and a farmer.

Paterson became a war correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age during the Second Boer War, sailing for South Africa in October 1899. His graphic accounts of the relief of Kimberley, surrender of Bloemfontein (the first correspondent to ride in) and the capture of Pretoria attracted the attention of the press in Britain.[3] He also was a correspondent during the Boxer Rebellion, where he met George “Chinese” Morrison and later wrote about his meeting.[3] He was editor of the Sydney Evening News (1904-06) and of the Town and Country Journal (1907-08)

On 8 April 1903 he married Alice Emily Walker, of Tenterfield Station, in St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, in Tenterfield, New South Wales.  One of his most famous poems is “Waltzing Matilda“, which was set to music and became one of Australia’s most famous songs. Others include “The Man from Snowy River“, which inspired a movie in 1982 and inspired a TV series in the 1990s, and “Clancy of the Overflow“, the tale of a Queensland drover.  Paterson’s poems mostly presented a highly romantic view of rural Australia. Paterson himself, like the majority of Australians, was city-based and was a practising lawyer. (refererence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_Paterson)

During his career, he became a close friend of ‘Breaker’ Morant and given his contact with Tenterfield, he apparently met Major James Thomas, the lawyer who defended Morant at his courts martial in 1902.

In an extroadinary letter to the Sydney Morning Herald dated 25 Feb 1939 http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17564428),  Banjo gave a a ‘lively’ description of ‘Breaker’ Morant and how they became acquainted.  What is intriguing is Banjo’s meeting with Major Thomas.  In a paragraoh entitled, the ‘Execution of Morant’, Banjo describes what he had been told by Thomas.  In particular, Banjo’s description of Thomas’ story said in part, ‘

“Morant was sentenced to death “Thomas said, “but I never believed the execution would be carried out.  When I found that the thing was serious, I pulled every string I could; got permission to write to Australia, and asked for the case to be reopened so that 1 might put in a proper defence. It was of no use,  Morant had to go.   He died game. But I wake up in the night now, feeling that Morant must have have believed that he had some authority for what he did and that I ought to have been able to convince the Court of it.’

Banjo’s story also claimed:

‘I happened to know all that was to be known about Morant’s trial and execution, for the lawyer who defended him, one J F Thomas, of Tenterfield asked me to publish all the papers-evidence cablegrams decision appeal etc-a bulky bundle which he carried about with him grieving over the matter till it seriously affected his mind He blamed himself, in a measure for the death of Morant but I could not see that he had failed to do the best he could with a very unpleasant business.’

Comment

Banjo’s description of his discussion with Thomas confirmed:

  • Thomas consistently maintained that his clients did not receive fair trials and an appeal against convictions and sentences should have been permitted in the interests of justice;
  • Thomas blamed himself for failing to convince the courts martial in the defence of Morant;
  • Thomas  suffered mental anguish for many years after the courts martial;
  • Thomas carried with him documents about the trials and wanted Banjo to publish the documents.

Infertility is becoming http://seanamic.com/overview/our-companies/ discount levitra no rx an usual problem in today’s overstressed culture. cialis properien Read this and find out about these drugs, particularly the kinds of female libido booster and how it works. Not to mention that there viagra generico cialis are various types of erectile dysfunction drugs. Primary causes include poor flow, low testosterone, vascular harm and the maturing generic super cialis procedure.
From my own investigation of this matter and Banjo’s writings, it appears that Banjo either did not receive the papers from Thomas or if he did, they were not published.  The papers as described by Banjo could have included Thomas’ copy of the courts martial transcripts.  Another intriguing aspect of the Morant case.  Had Banjo received and published the court documents, the case for pardons could have relied on a record of all the evidence given at the trials, directions of the Judge Advocate etc

This communication betweeen Banjo and Thomas is a another fascinating aspect of Australia’s military history.

Jim Unkles

This entry was posted in News. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to ‘Banjo’ Paterson and Major James Thomas (defending officer for Morant)

  1. Ian Brander says:

    Keep up the good work James, well done. You would be obviously interested in the book written by Lt Witton — ” Scapegoats of the Empire ” . I haven’t personally read it ( but would like to someday ) . There is another book that you would probably like to read that being the book written by Ian Pfennigwerth —-” A man of Intelligence ” — a book about the life of Captain Eric Nave — Australian Codebreaker Extraordinary ISBN 1 – 877058 – 41 – 6 . He was of the one who broke the Japanese codes . Also started all the Australian Security Services ( i.e …..ASIO ) This books shows more of the abominable English heavy handedness and criminality.

  2. jamesunkles says:

    Thanks Mick, the politics of this case is dominating the British thinking that this case for pardons must not succeed, (not becasue of its merits), but becase the British do not want to admit to errors in the administration of justice whether yesterday or 100 years ago. I think the the government has ‘special’ interests to protect at a time when Britain is facing alleagtion of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pardoning these men would serve the broader interests in the present.

    My case for review does not ‘hang’ on the transcripts but it would assist if we had access to a copy. I have already revealed persuasive and credible evidence of orders to shoot prisoners as confirmed by one of Kitchener’s senior lawyers in 1901. Britain has chosen to ignore the evidence I produced.

    Denial of a fair and independent review process by the British will only convince the public that the government ‘fears’ the truth will be revealed, namely:

    1. orders from British officers were issued:

    2. the orders were obeyed;

    3. Morant, Handcodck and Witton were held liable while the British officers escaped culpability.

    The case for justice will continue.

    James Unkles

  3. Mick says:

    Even if Thomas’ trancripts of the court martial turned up, the Poms would say they weren’t ‘official’ documents. They have too much at stake to have the truth known. But, the fight must go on to clear these men. Keep up the good work James.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *