BREAKER MORANT HISTORY LIVES ON

[Duncan Williams]

Gunnedah Shire Council has refurbished the Breaker Morant sign and memorial plaque. The sign and plaque honour Henry Harbord (The Breaker) Morant, who lived in the area on Pullaming Station, Gunnedah in the 1890's.
During his time in the Gunnedah area, Morant was said to be the star performer at 'riding over the jumps' on what is now Kitchener Oval.
The film, Breaker Morant depicts Morant sending a horse over a high jump at mid-night with candles sitting on the railing for illumination. the horse was The Rattler, owned by a local businessman RR Pritchard. The Rattler held the Australian high-jumping record for many years.
The Breaker was an Englishman, a Bushpoet and a horsebreaker of exceptional skill and courage. he worked for several years in the Boggabri and Gunnedah districts and was on Pullaming Station, near Gunnedah before leaving the area for South Australia, where he joined the Australian Bushman Forces for service in South Africa (Boer War).
He was court martialled and sentenced to death after the death of several Boer Prisoners On February 27, 1902 just outside Petoria, Harry Morant faced the firing squad of eighteen rifles and was executed. Kitcherner Oval at Gunnedah was named after Sir Horatio Herbert Kitchener, one of the Officers who refused to amend the sentence.

[Nerelie Teese]

Hi Duncan

Do you know if it's correct that Breaker Morant married (or liaised with) Daisy Bates? I worked on an assignment about this very interesting lady and her work many years ago and I think Harry/Henry Morant's was mentioned several times in the books etc that I used. (This was long before the internet and its wealth of information so a very long time ago).

I also vaguely recall a lovely verse written by The Breaker after Adam Lindsay Gordon's suicide - can anyone tell me its title or where I might be able to find a copy? I think it was something about who'll ride with us/me now. Maybe I got that upside down - did Adam Lindsay Gordon write it after The Breaker'd been executed? I'm sure someone will know and be able to point me in the right direction.

Cheers & Thanks, Nerelie

[Frank Daniel]

Daisy (Margaret May O'Dwyers) found employment as a governess on Fanning Downs Station and on 13 March 1884 married Edwin Henry Murrant, better known as Breaker Morant, at Charters Towers. However after stealing a few pigs and paying with unsecured cheques, or not at all, Daisy told him to get lost. Which he did. We know the rest about him. He was a good mate of Will H Ogilvie.
http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/bates.htm
Morant was born 9th December 1864.
Gordon was born 1833 and died in 1870, six years after Morant's birth.
I think the poem you might be asking about is 'Who's Riding Old Harlequin Now' by the Breaker written in 1897

[Dave Smith]

Hey Nerelie hows that for info and quick too, I love this forum better that an encyclopaedia ay.

TTFN

[Mal McLean]

Interestingly, Morant was defended by one Major J F Thomas of Tenterfield who never believed that the sentence would be carried out and blamed himself for Morant's death. Thomas's good friend was one A B Paterson who married Alice Walker in St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Tenterfield, in 1903. Paterson recorded that Thomas had given him all the papers, notes etc. in relation to the court martial. Paterson wrote "...I could not see that he had failed to do the best he could with a very unpleasant business."

One of the reasons I go to Tenterfield each year for the Oracles is to visit the places Banjo had been and try to see the world almost as he had seen it. Also, to stand in the theatre of the School of Arts where Sir Henry Parkes made the famous Federation Speech; to stand on the verandah of the saddlers in High Street and to revel in the colour and atmosphere of New England in Autumn.-----Not to mention one of the best performance and written poetry contests in Australia and a wonderfull concert.

Mal the Oldfart

[Nerelie Teese]

Yep, Dave much quicker than looking it up in the good old Funk and Wagnells ... this certainly is a terffic forum and a great learning place.

And Mal - isn't the saddler's verandah great for standing on and having a bit of a think.

New England in autumn is beautiful, spent many a happy time being a student of something or other at Res Schools just down the road in Armidale

Cheers & thanks Nerelie

[Jeff Thorpe]

G'day Duncan

"Breaker Morant" is one of my favourite movies. As has been brought out in recent poems in the Forum, it typifies the futility of war. I thought Edward Woodward was first class in portaying "The Breaker".

Regards, Jeff