HIGH STREET, FREMANTLE
And what a brilliant record our Western Australians, especially those of the first contingent, who have returned to Perth, have taken back with them! Truly they deserve the laurel-wreath of honour, while those who fell on the field of battle, giving up their lives for their beloved Queen and country, will live for all time in our hearts. I cannot do better, I am sure, than give Major McWilliams’ description (at the banquet given in Perth in honour of their return) of the way in which some Australians bravely distinguished themselves.
“Before closing, he desired to tell them a story about their entry into Pretoria. He thought it was an incident that all who participated in would remember to the last days of their lives. The hills around Pretoria were most strongly held by the enemy. Their mounted infantry, which included the 1st Western Australians, were ordered to take a hill. They climbed up the kopje, the horses being led behind them, and fought until relieved by the Gordon Highlanders. Their little band had to do the work of infantry, and the handful of men held the top of that hill, and kept the enemy at bay, until the Imperial troops appeared on the scene. The latter said: ‘This is our job now; you are mounted, and you will be required somewhere else.’ The colonials informally handed over the work to the Highlanders, and an order came from Colonel De Lisle to move back to the hills to outflank the enemy, if possible. They did so under a heavy fire, but the enemy, on seeing them, must have exaggerated their numbers, for they made off into Pretoria as fast as they could. The Western Australians followed, and on that night got within a thousand yards of Pretoria. At that time Lord Roberts’ main column was six miles in their rear. Their infantry decided to hold the position close to Pretoria until morning. During that night one of their number, a son of an esteemed resident of Perth—he referred to Captain Parker—was sent with a few men into Pretoria to blow up the line, and he certainly had the honour of being the first armed man to enter Pretoria. That, he thought, was a great thing to claim for a Western Australian. He might also state a fact not generally known, that the flag of truce on the night before was taken in by a New South Wales officer, an Australian born. This little company numbered less than one hundred men.”
TWO MORE COLONIAL VICTORIA CROSSES.
The Gazette of October 4 states that the King has been graciously pleased to signify his intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on Lieut. F. W. Bell, West Australian Mounted Infantry, and Farrier-Major W. J. Hardham, 4th New Zealand Contingent.
At Brakpan, on May 16, 1901, when retiring through a heavy fire after holding the right flank, Lieut. Bell noticed a man dismounted, and returned and took him up behind him; the horse not being equal to the weight fell with them; Lieut. Bell then remained behind, and covered the man’s retirement till he was out of danger.
Lieut. F. W. Bell is a Western Australian of the third generation. He was one of the handful of men who so distinguished themselves at Slingersfontein, when twenty-five members of the corps held a body of twelve times their number of Boers in check while the main body of troops—to which the corps was attached—and the guns retired.
Near Faauwpoort, on January 28, 1901, Farrier-Major W. J. Hardham was with a section which was extended and hotly engaged with a party of about twenty Boers. Just before the force commenced to retire Trooper M’Crae was wounded and his horse killed. Farrier-Major Hardman at once went under a heavy fire to his assistance, dismounted, and placed him on his own horse, and ran alongside until he had guided him to a place of safety.
Farrier-Major Hardham is a blacksmith, of Wellington, New Zealand.