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Your occasional correspondent cannot recall seeing a post about the South Australian Imperial Bushmen and , with that as an opening, herewith is a recently encountered QSA medal impressed to: "584 Tpr.C.E.Mundy. South Aus: I.B.".
- Obverse

- Naming style.

When first sighted, the illustrated medal bore only the two "State" clasps (OFS and TV) and the two date clasps are courtesy of a well-known on-line auction site and simply slipped onto what appears to be the original ribbon.

There were two distinct classes of units bearig the title "Bushmen" raised in the pre-Federation Australian colonies. The first, carrying such titles as "NSW Citizen's Bushmen" or "Victorian Bushmen's Contingent" were raised by public subscription and were "visualized as a class of Australian Yeomanry"; wheras those titled "Imperial Bushmen" were raised at Imperial request during the second phase of the war and were the responsibility of the home government in all matters of pay, allowances and pensions.

The Imperial Request was seen in the various colonies as being an acceptance of the worth of earlier contingents.The Request asked for "hardy bushmen in order to fight the Boers with their own weapons". As far as the South Aust. Imperial Bushmen were concerned, applications for places in the 5th and 6th contingents were heavily oversubscribed; many "men of substance" being enlisted. While recruiting officers were told to enlist the genuine "bushman article", a highly useful source ("The Forgotten War" by Field, ISBN 0 522 84655 6) comments that - with ten volunteers for each place - the South Aust. recruiters could easily pick-and-choose those displaying skills associated with the bushman.

Nevertheless, being mindful of certain operational shortcomings evidenced with some earlier Colonial Australian contingents, all of the South Aust. I.B. given a month or more of basic operational training before heading for the docks and embarkation. For new recruits, beng able to ride, use a rifle and fend for themselves were one-and-all valuable attributes; however, such matters as Pickets, Cossack Posts, Flank Guards, March Discipline and the like can easily and forcefully be taught to volunteers heading towards active service. An experienced military is very good at doing that.

The subject of this post, Charles Ebenezer Mundy was born at Port Lincoln, South Australia and enlisted for service (occupation Engineer) with the 6th Contingent, South Aust. Imperial Bushmen during early 1901. Background courtesy of "Mostly Unsung" - Neil C.Smith. The unit, with a strength of eleven officers and 127 ORs - effectively one mounted rifle squadron - left for SA on 05041901 via the transport "Warrigul". Normally, any recounting of the ABW adventures and hard trekking of an individual in a named unit - unless the man was a casualty or otherwise came to notice - must be of a generalised nature. In this instance, however, IL has grounds for feeling he can be a little more specific.

Part 2 to follow....