You can still make out the oddly-shaped indentation in the centre of the primary crossroad of Queanbeyan’s CBD where the unusual monument stood for more than 50 years.
From resurrection to transplantation, the journey of the NSW town’s memorial to a brutal, almost three-year conflict in which Australia really didn’t have any quarrel, the South African Boer War of 1899 to 1902, is almost unknown.
November 9, 120 years ago and an “imposing” procession led by the Town Band (est. 1871) with local members of the 1st Australian Light Horse joined by children from the Queanbeyan Superior Public School (1877), marched down Monaro Street to the cheers of a 350-odd throng.
The crowd attired in “Sunday best” milled excitedly around the front of the Royal Hotel of 1850 or gathered on the balconies of well-positioned two-storey establishments, jostling for the best view of the “striking” 12-foot high, banded column.
Adorned with streamers and flanked by the district’s horse-drawn fire engine (the volunteer brigade formed in 1890), it was among the first - and forever few - of its kind throughout the country. Intended to honour the brave and the dead, so too was it a demonstration of the still small town’s progressive path.
Over a decade earlier, Queanbeyan had dashed a proposal to become one of the earliest regional centres to be electrified (coincidentally, Tamworth was first on November 9, 1888). Instead, in 1903 illumination of its public spaces was limited to a few kerosene lamp posts - the lamplighter a “familiar figure for 30 years” until electricity finally came in 1920.
Funded by the community, the memorial’s dual function in lighting up the main intersection was another relatively rare occurrence.
Atop it was a small platform bearing a large and ornate vapour gas lamp. A tank to supply it was buried deep beneath the hard-packed dirt of the main thoroughfare, accessed by a stone and timber tunnel constructed almost 20 years earlier.
Among those welcoming this engineering marvel was the newly installed member for Eden-Monaro and former Braidwood pub proprietor (Sir) Austin Chapman (he’d remain so for a record 26 years, dying while still in office). Also in attendance, NSW member for Queanbeyan, the equally popular Edward O’Sullivan, and the town’s mayor - and doctor - Patrick Blackall.
On the raising of the Union Jack, the residents sang to the also new king, Edward VII (or “Bertie”). Major Granville Ryrie of Michelago then shared intimate knowledge of the hardship and heartache of an imperial war in “a land of blood and plunder and slaughter” ended less than 18 months before.
The grazier, future member for Queanbeyan (1906-1910) and decorated war hero, Major Ryrie was one of 190 to enlist from the region (63 from Queanbeyan alone, making it one of the largest contingents in NSW).
Australia, as a frontier nation volunteering for a frontier war to aid Mother England in the pursuit of far off lands and riches, in particular gold and diamonds, saw some 20,000 “citizen soldiers” pledge their service. For the skilled riders and crack shots the appeal was adventure with a side serve of patriotism, evidenced in felt slouch hats buttoned up on one side with the badge of a rising sun; a practical allowance so as to shoulder a rifle without damaging the brim.
National Boer War Memorial, Canberra. [Photo: Ben Whistler]
The unanimous outcome of a Queanbeyan public meeting had been for the district’s tribute to “bear the names of all the locals who participated in the war”. Only five though, would be etched for eternity on the marble plaque: among the 1,000 or so to die or never be found.
Trooper James Swan of Stony Creek (Carwoola) is one.
Twenty-four years old, his enlistment number was 56, his older brother Richard, 57.
Richard returned. James died in 1901 following a neck injury when his horse was shot from under him.
“One of Queanbeyan’s best known landmarks” would stand vigil to them all for just over half a century - until progress almost led to its demise.
From the arrival of the town’s first Model T Ford in 1910 thanks to “Moore Bros. the pioneers of the motor car in Queanbeyan”, the central position had become a traffic hazard.
A 1935 controversial suggestion of replacing it with a clock tower was resisted (“must be kept sacrosanct”) but when hit by a truck in 1956 requiring a three year restoration effort, nearly ten years on, preservation was paramount.
Rebuilt from “synthetic stone” (oddly, early accounts differing as to whether originally sandstone or granite), with a less ostentatious electric light fitting, it was afforded a “distinct place of its own” on a median strip across from the Town Park (needing to be repositioned further along it in 2002).
Come 2020 it was decided a location more befitting was in order: the Moore Park Memorial Rose Garden - which I had the great honour to open as mayoress in 2015 to mark the Anzac and Red Cross centenaries.
A community’s reminder of the sacrifice of the “flower of our youth”, the Boer War Memorial also came to symbolise patriotic fervour: the rallying point for "sons of the Empire" called to emulate those previous "noble efforts" in "the war to end all wars". The initial plea from this poignant pulpit saw 27 locals enlist for WWI.
As crosses row on row mark their place, so does a well-travelled but much overlooked marking in the middle of a regional city’s heart bear testament to the march of time.
Keeping watch during the 1926 rebuild of the Royal Hotel (1850) following a fire.
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