TOPIC:

To continue..

In para 4 of his despatch of 08081901, Lord Kitchener mentions "the gallant attack on Smut's Commando at Grootvallier farm" by the South Australians - and Col. DeLisle, column commander, congratulated his South Australians on the "very dashing night attack on Grootvallier (that) ws worthy of the best traditions of the Australian troops in the war". Stirling further comments that DeLisle's South Australians did endless hard work and both the 5th/6th South Aust. IB took part in the arduous driving operations in the NE of the ORC, Jan-March 1902.

It is an interesting comment on the "bush skills" of the IB in this case that Stirling credits the 5th/6th IB with catching and breaking-in 867 veldt ponies; as well as never being three consecutive days in one place, trekking 3825 miles and accounting for nearly 300 of the enemy. The 5th/6th SAIB sailed for home from Natal on 05041902.
Trooper Mundy disembarked from the transport "Manchester Mercant" at Port Adelaide on 27041902 and returned to civilian life. In July of 1903 he married Miss Annie McDermott, in due course had one son and three daughters and later resided at Albert Park, Victoria. He does not appear on the A.I.F. nominal roll for the Great War; serving instead on the Munitions advisory Committee between 1915 and 1918. Post war, he served as a Court Advocate on behalf of the Amalgamaned Engineers' Union from 1922 to 1947; he was also a member of the Apprenticeship Commission for several years.

Charles Ebenezer Mundy passed away at Heidleburg, Victoria on 03071966 aged eighty-five years and was buried at Springvale Cemetery, Victoria. By any standard, he did his bit for the Empire and had a full and productive life. These posts have, of course, placed emphasis on his eleven eventful months of active service (under the command of first rate officers and on the heels of resourceful and dangerous foe) at the expense of the remaining decades of life and public service. It is hoped that readers will excuse IL this indulgence. If only his medal could speak!

Regards to all who have read this far.

Hello Ian,
Very nice indeed, a superb medal, a quick glance at WO100/292 confirms all the clasps, to go back to your first paragraph in your original post, one reason why you cannot recall seeing a post on the Imperial Bushmen, will be because their medals are not only scarce, in particular when you do the all important number crunching, but, if and when they do turn up, they are very expensive indeed.
Yes, you certainly could just go out here, today and buy one, but you would struggle to actually buy more than five or six in a day, moreover, you would, of course have to be prepared to part with an awful lot of money to do so in the first place, £500-£600 each!
I have to say that I have never fully understood why, generally speaking, a QSA to an Australian recipient, actually serving in a contingent from Australia should command a far higher price than the same to a New Zealand recipient.
Again , a really superb medal, there is something about Australian recipients, even those in the SAMIF are sort by so many collectors these days, how many Australian medals do you have in your Anglo Boer War collection?
Kind regards Frank

Frank
Thanks for the kind words. I had to do a lot of digging in various works for this one and an awful lot of editing. Regarding the high cost of Aust. QSAs - well, I don't really know why. In OZ they hardly turn up at all - which is odd considering the number enlisting for SA. Probably the most common that DO turn up are those to the Aust. Commonwealth Horse. Many years ago I did a bit of buying from one of the local medal dealers - long since gone - and he once claimed he started the trend of buying and selling OZ QSAs at higher prices than the "normal" ones simply because of the local interest.
I personally think the same factor applies to OZ QSAs as does to Canadian ones. I hardly ever see a Canadian example (been looking for a while); so probably local interest dries up the supply and perhaps higher disposable income and competition forces up the price.
I have a handful of Aust. QSAs; 6SAIB/1NSWMR/5VMR/1QMI and sometimes a local connection is found with Imperial and S.Afr. units.
In truth, I like all of them.
Best regards
IL.

Good Morning Linney......

Read part one last night before bed and hoped that the rest would be here by morning and there it was...... Great piece of work....... Are you looking for any specific Canadian Unit or anything in general????? Will try to help.....

Again Great Piece of Work, Thanks.......

Mike

Hello Ian,
There is something of a romance that surrounds Australian recipients in the eyes of many people, but, I do still find it hard to understand why they are so expensive.
You have somewhat surprised me though, I thought that you would have had more than those you mention, but, of course, if every collector decided they needed to have an example in their collection the market would be completely devoid of even a single example within just a day, but, they certainly are lovely medals.
Kind regards again Frank

LinneyI wrote: Frank
Thanks for the kind words. I had to do a lot of digging in various works for this one and an awful lot of editing. Regarding the high cost of Aust. QSAs - well, I don't really know why. In OZ they hardly turn up at all - which is odd considering the number enlisting for SA. Probably the most common that DO turn up are those to the Aust. Commonwealth Horse. Many years ago I did a bit of buying from one of the local medal dealers - long since gone - and he once claimed he started the trend of buying and selling OZ QSAs at higher prices than the "normal" ones simply because of the local interest.
I personally think the same factor applies to OZ QSAs as does to Canadian ones. I hardly ever see a Canadian example (been looking for a while); so probably local interest dries up the supply and perhaps higher disposable income and competition forces up the price.
I have a handful of Aust. QSAs; 6SAIB/1NSWMR/5VMR/1QMI and sometimes a local connection is found with Imperial and S.Afr. units.
In truth, I like all of them.
Best regards
IL.

Hi Frank.......

Yes Countrymen tend to collect Countrymen...... I have a number of Canadian pieces or items that have a Canadian connection but only one Australian 5th QIB.....

Mike