Exhibition: Queenslanders on the Veldt
The Relief of Mafeking
The Queenslanders of "D" Squadron, 3rd Queensland Mounted Infantry, escorting Canadian Artillery arriving in Bulawayo on May 5th 1900
Image no: 55388
The only Australians at the relief of Mafeking on May 17th 1900 were all Queenslanders - four officers and 100 other ranks with Major C W Kellie comanding. The town had been under seige for seven months, stoutly defended by Colonel R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Commander of British forces, Mafeking District, on the western Transvaal Border.
Part of the journey to Mafeking for the Queenslanders was a 280 mile trip in coaches drawn by mules, horses and bullock teams from Marandellas to Bulawayo. There were as many as 20 men and their equipment on each coach with fresh mules, horses and oxen each 12 miles or so.
The journey from Port Beira to Mafeking for Major Kellie and his Queenslanders acting as escorts for a six gun Canadian artillery unit, had taken a tiring 23 days - the last 80 miles on foot. As one trooper of Major Kellie's wrote "... we shall not be sorry to see our horses, as we have had enough walking to last us a lifetime..."
Copyright held by John Oxley Library. Copies of this photograph are available from the State Library of Queensland's photographic reproduction service.
Last updated: 2nd June 2011
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