Breaker Morant: The Final Roundup by Joe West and Roger Roper

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minimal wear to book and dust jacket. Ex library book with all external stickers removed. Date due slip on inside page.

Over 100 years ago Harry Harbord Morant (the Breaker) was shot by a firing squad in Pretoria. Thus began his ascension to national hero: over the years, some Australians have managed to turn his disgrace into distinction, to the point where some are now seeking a British pardon for Morant.

Workhouse-born Edwin Murrant, educated by the Freemasons, emigrated on a £1 passage to Australia at the age of nineteen and found work on a cattle station in Queensland. Murrant spent the next sixteen years in Australia as a bushman, balladeer and all-round chancer renowned for his riding skills. Changing his name to Harry Harbord Morant, he claimed to be the son of an admiral.

At the start of the Anglo-Boer war, he joined the army and went to South Africa, eventually becoming a lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers, an irregular unit fighting in Northern Transvaal.

Enraged by the death of a friend in battle, he instigated the murder of prisoners by way of revenge. A missionary who knew too much was also killed under suspicious circumstances. Arrested and tried, he was sentenced to death and shot.

Some Australians suggest he did not have a 'fair go' and was martyred by Lord Kitchener. Others remain fixed in their opinions: he took the law into his own hands and paid the ultimate price for his crimes.

This intensively researched book, featuring a wealth of new information, reveals the truth behind the legend of Breaker Morant. (inside cover)