It’s complicated, but Breaker Morant is still a war criminal | Peter Goers

I’ll always believe that Morant was following orders and that he became a scapegoat of empire – but he was also a war criminal, writes Peter Goers.

When executed by the British, Breaker Morant’s last words were, “Shoot straight you bastards and don’t make a mess of it”. We’ve made a mess of it ever since.

His last words should’ve been, “this will never end”.

For 122 years debate has raged as to the guilt or innocence of the Breaker and his two fellow soldiers Peter Handcock (OK) and George Witton.

They shot Boer prisoners of war and civilians, and they are war criminals. But there’s much more to the story.

I’ve campaigned for recognition for Breaker Morant and his inclusion among the war dead on our glorious Boer War Memorial on North Terrace – which is often regarded as the greatest equestrian war memorial in the world.

When I was knee-high to a grasshopper my father told me, “you can’t fight city hall”.

I took his advice, ignored it and have been fighting the powers that be ever since.

However, you’ve got to know when you are beaten or you are just bashing your head against walls.

Lieutenant Harry “Breaker” Morant in undated copy photograph. Picture: Supplied

Harry “Breaker” Morant & Peter Handcock's shared grave in Church Street cemetery in Pretoria, South Africa.

Thus, I opposed the dreaded beach bar at Glenelg - the only privatised beach in 38000km of Australian coastline and a bar in a dry zone.

I fought it with everything I had but it’s still there and I’ve given up.

Now I’ve given up campaigning for the recognition of Breaker Morant.

He was screwed by the British but, hey, who hasn’t been?

His court martial was a kangaroo court. The whole issue is not of his guilt but whether he was ordered to kill prisoners or not.

So do we believe the secret orders of Lord Kitchener – the venerated, ruthless, scorched earth warmonger who happily allowed more than 20,000 Boer men, women and children to perish of starvation and disease in the concentration camps he invented, or the zealous, romantic, bushman balladeer Breaker Morant?

I’ll always believe that Morant was following orders and that he became a scapegoat of empire.

We want to believe the best of our own but we can’t excuse his misdeeds.

Of late, three words and a post-nominal have not helped Breaker Morant’s case – Ben Roberts-Smith VC.

We want and need our folk heroes – even criminals like Ned Kelly and Breaker Morant.

The British tried and executed Morant and Handcock without the knowledge of the Australian Government.

A circa 1900 photo of 2nd South Australian Mounted Rifles contingent including Harry "Breaker" Morant, third from left, during the Boer War. Picture: Australian War Memorial

Young George Witton was sentenced to life imprisonment but the Australian Government intervened and his sentence was rapidly commuted.

In a way, Morant and Handcock were vindicated and because of them no Australian was ever again executed by the British.

The great Australian movie Breaker Morant makes a martyr of Morant although that was never the intention of director Bruce Beresford who felt it was a story of “what ordinary men can do under abnormal circumstances”.

Morant will always fascinate us, the larrikin horse breaker and teller of tales who secretly married the bigamist Daisy Bates – herself a ratbag and figure of profound controversy.

The high command in the Boer War (and every other war) is always more guilty than common soldiers. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

I’ve come to agree with the ever-admirable RSL and the SA Boer War Association in believing that, sadly, Breaker Morant’s name does not belong among the 60 South Australians who died more honourably in the Boer War.

We can’t change history and we can’t add and subtract names to and from war memorials.

Breaker Morant was a victim of imperialism like millions of others including the war dead on our memorial.

But he was a war criminal, too.

The Boer War is unique in history because of the execution of two Australian soldiers by the British, and it was the only war in which Australians fought Australians – there were Australians working with the Boers on goldfields who fought for the Boers and because of the White Australia Policy, Aboriginal soldiers were not allowed to come home and perished in South Africa.

Breaker Morant’s name is on a war memorial in Renmark among those who served from that area.

As a poet, he’ll always have the last word and it’s ironic that when most of us look at our beautiful Boer War Memorial we think only of Breaker Morant who will always be, as another poet wrote, “more honoured in the breach than the observance”.

Originally published as It’s complicated, but Breaker Morant is still a war criminal | Peter Goers