Extracts and Comments
(from Sources as shown) | |
Murray: GRIFFIN killed in action at Slingersfontein 16.1.1900.
Wallace1: first killed from NSW, plaque in Sydney Town Hall.
Source:# 54 Braidwood NSW War Memorial Gundagai.
Source:# 54 grave Colesburg.
Source:# 84 GRIFFIN Braidwood NSW enlisted Gundagai.
NMCSA : biography.
Paterson: shot through head.
HAGSOC: grave photo.
URL2: photo.
Cope1: born Braidwood 1866, accountant, brother in Gundagai NSW.
URL4: Aust. Boer War Memorial database record.
URL5: original veldt grave.
URL6: GRIFFIN, son of Braidwood NSW Gold Commissioner and brother of Lt. GRIFFIN of Aust. Horse Gundagai NSW, first to volunteer & first to fall.
URL7: GRIFFIN photo.
URL8: In memoriam notice from F GRIFFIN.
URL10: Sydney City Council approval for the unveiling - but not permanent display - of the Griffin memorial in the Town Hall.
Albury Banner: Trooper GRIFFIN. - The kindliest and deepest sympathy of every town and centre of population throughout Riverina, will be extended to the relatives and friends of the late Sergeant-Major GRIFFIN, and to Gundagai generally, for the great lass they have sustained in his death on the South African battle field. The deceased officer has given his life for freedom and individual liberty, not in Australia, for here are enjoyed to the full these inestimable and priceless privileges, but in South Africa where they have hitherto been crushed beneath the iron heel of an oligarchy misnamed a republic.
Town&Country: Messrs. Ross and Bowman's (Waverley) tender for the soldiers' commemorative monument at Gundagai, at a cost of £147 10s, exclusive of carriage, has been accepted. The base will be of bluestone, with a marble obelisk column. This amount includes the cost of erection at Gundagai.
Town&Country: 3.3.1900 They [the 4 Boers who voluntarily surrended at Rendsburg Camp on 28.1.1900] were able to give some particulars about the fate of our brave boys who were cut off on 16.1.1900, which will be read with interest by all Australians. It appears that the force, which entirely surrounded the patrols, out numbered them by 4 to 1, and completely surprised them on every flank before they had time to get into any formation. The Boers had lain in wait for our troops all day, and only allowed Lieutenant HERON's patrol, which the writer [Special War Correspondent Mr HH SPOONER] accompanied, to pass because their leader had not expected us to return so soon, and had left to draw more men from the kopje on which they had bivouacked the night before. Although from the first their case was absolutely helpless, Lieutenant DOWLING and his men fought like heroes, and sturdily refused to surrender until it became apparent that unless they did so all would be annihilated. DOWLING, who to the last encouraged his men, was by this time severely wounded, and suffering considerably from loss of blood. Poor GRIFFIN lay dead with the back of his head blown away with an explosive bullet, and KILPATRICK was incapacitated from further fighting. Still, our fellows, taking what cover they could on the kopje, held their own while a human cordon, creeping from stone to stone gradually decreased the circle of fire; the hail from the neighboring ridge being all the time persistently maintained. Then the last despairing effort was made, and a few of ours scattered, and attempted to gain a high rocky ridge, only to find that this too was occupied by the enemy. To hold out longer would have been suicidal, and our men gave in. They were immediately escorted back to the Boer laager, where their advent was hailed with delight. Beyond the fact that they were made a sort of public show of, however, the Lancers were not insulted by their foes, who treated them, on the whole, very fairly, supplying them with biscuits, and in one instance, with tobacco. Lieutenant DOWLING was too seriously wounded to accompany his men, and was conveyed in the Boer ambulance to the field hospital, where it was found, that he had bullet wounds in the arm, leg, and abdomen. The only other man who was hit badly was THOMAS, who, however, only got a nasty wound in the wrist, and was able to march with the others. Sergeant MCDONALD, who was one of the fighting twenty-eight at Modder River, was unhurt, and as far as my informant knew, Warrant-Officer LISCHER also came out of the melee uninjured; while the rest, if wounded at all, received but trifling scratches. One of our men, whose name is unknown by the prisoners, was taken for a burgher by the Boers owing to his dark complexion and the length of his beard, and was at first subjected to some insult, but the commanding officer kindly put a stop to any threatening demonstration. This news though melancholy enough so far as poor DOWLING is concerned, is at least otherwise satisfactory; for it has at length dispelled any uncertainty that existed as to the fate of the rest of the prisoners, who may be regarded as safe and well. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the information, as it is corroborated by four independent witnesses, one of whom, [the Boer POW] LOGAN, was most certain of his facts, and carefully abstained from relating aught but what came under his own personal notice.
SundayT.: GUNDAGAI SETS AN EXAMPLE. On Wednesday [21.5.1902] a memorial was unveiled by Sir William LYNE, Federal Minister for Home Affairs, in honor of local soldiers who had fallen in South Africa. The cost was about £200, subscribed through the Gundagai 'Times.' Three names appear on the pedestal, as
follows - Sergeant-Major George A GRIFFIN, killed at Slingersfontein, January 16, 1900; Trumpeter Charles Anthony GILCHRIST, died of enteric fever, Kimberley,
March 20, 1900; Trooper Harold WG MARSHALL, accidentally shot, Port Manzimyama, Rhodesia, September 19, 1900. Special interest attached to the unveiling,
inasmuch as Sergeant-Major GRIFFIN was the first soldier from this State to fall in the war in South Africa. He was a member of the first contingent which left here, and so far as is known, was the first man who offered his services for the war. Mr. GH REID MHR, said - The beautiful memorial unveiled that day spoke to the people of the present and the future of what Australians had endured and achieved in defence of the old flag which the Boers vaingloriously threatened to tread into the dust while they drove its defenders into the sea.
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