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Sudan & South African ContingentsPrint Page Print this page

S.A.S.A. Plaque : March 2014
S.A.S.A. Plaque : March 2014
Photographs supplied by Peter F Williams
The plaque commemorates the first Australian colonial soldiers to go the assistance to Great Britain during the Sudan conflict and South African (Boer) War.
 

In February 1885, news was received in Sydney of the death of General Charles Gordon at Khartoum during the Dervish revolt. The following day, the Colony of New South Wales offered up a contingent to serve alongside British forces.

The force included an infantry battalion made up largely from volunteers from the First NSW Regiment. There was no security of troop movements in those days. At Bathurst, some 2000 persons gathered at the railway station to farewell their 14 volunteers and a reported 200,000 cheered themselves hoarse at Circular Quay. The two troopships, Iberian and Australasian pulled out on 3 March, just 15 days after the force was accepted. The force finally disembarked at the Red Sea port of Suakin on 29 March 1885. 

As part of the British Empire, the Australian colonies offered troops for the war in South Africa. Australians served in contingents raised by the six colonies or, from 1901, by the new Australian Commonwealth.

Location

Address:Argyle & Lower Fort Streets, The Garrison Church, Millers Point, 2000
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.858433
Long: 151.205539
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:Conflict
Sub-Theme:Multiple
Approx. Event Start Date:1899
Approx. Event End Date:1902

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Sunday 9th December, 1956
Front Inscription

                           S • A • S • A
                          1899    1902
               The South  -   - African War

To commemorate the first Colonial soldiers to go to the assistance of the homeland Soudan Contingents 1885 and the South African Contingents 1899-1902 Presented by the South African Soldiers Association of New South Wales Australia
                        Dedicated Dec. 9th 1956


 

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au