This is the story of the 60 South Australians commemorated on Adelaide’s South African War Memorial. These men, all volunteers in contingents of mounted infantry raised for service in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, enlisted for reasons including adventure, patriotism, mateship and poverty, and under overall British command fought a mobile and elusive Boer enemy. The high veldt was a huge and challenging theatre of war with no front line like the Western Front 1914-1918. All 60 died on or as a result of wartime service. Some were killed in dawn skirmishes on isolated farms or died later of wounds. Others died from enteric fever or dysentery, more insidious killers. Two were shot dead accidentally by their mates and four died at sea. Together, their individual tales tell the story of South Australia’s first major war.
