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Trooper John Bisdee V. C.Print Page Print this page

14-October-2016 (Peter F Williams)
14-October-2016 (Peter F Williams)

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson / Peter F Williams

The plaque commemorates Trooper John Bisdee who was awarded the Victoria Cross in the South African (Boer) War. He was the first Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross.

In April 1900, Bisdee enlisted for service in the South African War as a trooper in the 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmens` Contingent. Bisdee sailed on 26 April and served in operations in Cape Colony, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony. On 1 September, near Warmbad, Transvaal, he was with a scouting party ambushed by Boers in a rocky defile; six of its eight men were wounded, including an officer whose horse broke away and bolted.

Bisdee dismounted, put the wounded man on his own horse and ran alongside, then mounted behind him and withdrew under heavy fire. For this action he received the Victoria Cross—the first awarded to a Tasmanian. Wounded during the ambush, he was invalided home but, on recovering, went back to South Africa as a lieutenant in No.1 Company, 2nd Tasmanian Imperial Bushmens` Contingent, and served from March 1901 until the end of the war.

He is buried in the Oatlands Anglican cemetery

Location

Address:High Street, Oatlands Town Hall , Oatlands, 7120
State:TAS
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -42.299893
Long: 147.371911
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Plaque
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Military
Actual Event Start Date:01-September-1900
Actual Event End Date:01-September-1900

Dedication

Front Inscription

Tpr. John Hudson Bisdee

Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen

Born : 28th. September 1869 Hutton Park, Tasmania

Awarded VC: 1st. September 1900

Warm Bad, Transvaal South Africa

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