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Australian Colonial Queen's South Africa medals bearing "battle" clasps have always been rather scarce and sought after in OZ; the illustrated group came into IL's custody some time ago -
QSA (type 2 with wreath to "R") with clasps "Relief of Kimberley", "Paardeburg" and "Dreifontein" impressed in square caps to : "60 Pte. D.R.Morrison, QNSLND M.R."
KSA with clasps SA1901 and SA1902 impressed to: "Agent D.R.Morrison. F.I.D."
1914/1915 trio named to :"Pte. D.R.Morison. M.G.Detach't".





Readers might be interested to hear that the Australasian Colony of Queensland made the very first gesture of any government of the Empire in the matter of offering troops for the Imperial cause in the event of war in South Africa. By June of 1899, the news cabled from London had revealed the seriousness of the situation vis-a-vis the Transvaal - and on 10th July, 1899 - the Governer of Queensland cabled the Colonial Office to offer 250 M.I. plus a machine gun section should hostilities occur. The next day, the Colonial Office replied that, should the occasion arise, 'they will gladly avail themselves of the offer".
The occasion certainly did arise and enlistments for the first QMI contingent were mostly completed by 19th October, 1899. Donald Rogers Morrison, aged 41 years, occupation Miner, and hailing from Clermont, Queensland enlisted on that day and - just twelve days later - embarked from Brisbane per Transport "Cornwall" for SA with B Coy of his parent unit. Upon arrival in SA, the QMI entrained to Orange River and in late December joined Lt.Col.Pilcher; to act as scouts and flank guard for a small column tasked with the relief of the village of Douglas - some 60 km NW - where some Cape Rebels had beleaguered the locals.
At dawn on 1st January, the column was approaching low hills at Sunnyside, when two QMI patrols went ahead to establish the enemy camp's location. One patrol was ambushed (there, the first Australian casualties occurred) and with the enemy's location fixed, Pilcher sent the remainder of the QMI onto the hills to block any Cape Rebel retreat whilst directly assaulting the camp. At short range across a ditch, the QMI and retreating Rebels collided. The QMI hardly hesitated. With fixed bayonets and "yelling like indians", they swept forward and the outnumbered and outgunned rebels gave way; losing fifteen killed and 41 prisoners. There was talk that some rebels had fired after a white flag had gone up and some indignant QMI had to be restrained from precipitate action.
The action at Sunnyside - whilst a small affair - did have some important consequences. The Times History saw it as having strategic importance; helping to check rebellion in the area, securing Methuen's line of communications and lifting British morale after a series of reverses. It was also noted that Lt. Col.Pilcher had given the QMI a key role in the attack - when he had a trained Company of Regular MI in reserve. Clearly, he had placed his trust in his "confident and dashing irregulars".
During the ride to relieve Kimberley, the 1st QMI were part of Alderson's Brigade and performed the traditional auxiliary's role of guarding front and flanks. One Australian commented later that "we had killed our horses and nearly killed ourselves to relieve the Diamond City". During operations at Paardeburg, the 1st QMI were present to Koodoesburg, saw action at Poplar Grove and held an outlying kopje throughout the day at Dreifontein.
At Bloemfontein on 8th March, 1900 the 1st and 2nd QMI were merged to form part of the 3rd MI Corps; again under Col. Pilcher. Two Companies of 1st QMI were part of the relieving force at Sanna's Post; unfortunately, no
evidence of Tpr. Morrison being present there. Subsequently, the merged QMI did much work throughout the Transvaal until November 1900, when the order was made out for the 1st QMI to return home. This they did on the Transport "Orient" (another source says "Damascus") on 13th December 1899; arriving at Brisbane a little over a month later.
Clearly, the rough diamonds of the QMI attracted something of a reputation in the field; readers might excuse IL for quoting a short ditty (Kipling style) titled "Queensland Mounted Infantry" written by the well-known Australian War Correspondent, "Banjo" Patterson - who was there at the time:
There's a very well-built fellow, with a swinging sort of stride,
About as handy sort aa I have seen
A rough and tumble fellow that is born to fight and ride
And he's over here a-fighting for the Queen

He's Queensland Mounted Infantry - compounded 'orse and foot|
He'll climb a cliff or gallop down a flat
He's cavalry to travel but he's infantry to shoot
And you'll know him by the feathers in his hat! (written 1900).

Private Morrison was found to be of "good bodily health" upon discharge on 23rd January, 1901 and then returned to SA at his own expense to take up duty with the Provisional Mounted Police. It is interesting to note that the appropriate medal roll (WO 100/263 p5) shows his name corrected to the alias of "T.R.Lavers". Perhaps a rolling stone, or perhaps finding duty with the ORCP not to his liking, he joined the Midland MR for three months as Corporal in March, 1901; this time using his initial enlistment name. Later service was with the Field Intelligence Department as "Agent Morrison D.R." - where he earned his King's Medal with roll notation "Whole service with F.I.D".

Donald Rogers Morrison did not return to Australia; his address appears to have been at 12 Prince st., Cape Town. His later WW1 service was relatively brief - between 27.11.1914 and 23.6.1915 as a Gunner with the Rexer Section of Machine Guns during the GSWA campaign. Assuming he gave the correct age when enlisting in the QMI, our man must have attained almost fifty-six summers by the middle of 1915; much too old for enlisted field work - he probably knew it!
Regards to all
IL.

IL
Thank you for another very interesting post about a valuable group of medals. This post should be seen as something good to emerge from your current 'medal drought'. I hope that you will be encouraged to look through your collection for more gems.
Regards
Brett

What a great post. Many thanks IL!

Hi IL,

Many thanks for a most informative post. You are spot on with the comment about 'scarce & sought after', I have been trying for some years to obtain a 1st QMI with battle clasps without result. Came second a few times I understand.
A most impressive group of medals, I'll add his name to a roll I have been working on noting further service by Queenslanders in the Boer War.

Cheers,

Jim

Brett, David and Jim
Thanks for the kind comments. Jim, often times it is just a matter of sheer luck with OZ QSAs. Even the reference books are of little help in determining the level of an auction bid. Just keep plugging away!
Regards
IL.