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[Page 12]
certainly are facts which need to be ferreted out of the residents of the South African cities themselves. But there is a big population of British residents & Colonial Africanders who are loyal to the backbone, and who have been supplying the splendid troops who are fighting at present in German East Africa, and who, led by Botha, ran de Wet to earth & silenced the Huns in German West. I was speaking to wounded lad in the streets, and he told me he was shot in the shoulder in German East as they call it, and that his Brother was killed in German West, adding that tho' he fought with the British Empire now, his Father was one of the Boer families who opposed the British in 1899 – 01. His name was van-Weye, and he said "Well why shouldn't I, they gave us our own land back after we lost it in fair fight, and we now have our own men in our own parliament: and look here brother he added, although we can never forgive the British many things they did, and although we cannot help but smile and to an extent despise their method of waging war against us, we all know only too well that under British protection we are better off than fighting our way amongst the grasping nations of Europe.
So there you have the gist of the South African situation. We are all British in Australia, and we cant imagine anyone in the streets or other public place openly questioning British justice. But here one can raise an argument by raising his voice above a whisper. But remember what the loyal South Africans have done, and give the taint of the British short sightedness of British soldiering of the Boer campaign time to die down, and South Africa will emerge from her chrysalis a true red white & blue butterfly, as true to the Union Jack as we are ourselves.
Some rich colonial girls of Durban who gave lots of their time supplying the lads with dainties while on the ship on guard or other close duty, told us of one transport of Australians who behaved very badly here, and who did a great deal of harm to the prestige of the Anzac troops in general. But they broadmindedly looked at this, and in reply to some scoffing in the papers concerning the short sightedness of the residents being kind to the "drunken irresponsible sons of convicts from Australia" , the following poem was written. One of the boys