Day 5 – on the trail of the Boer War. Some twenty years after the end of the Zulu war we were fighting the Boer along roughly the same battle lines. After my trip to Rorke's Drift I had planned to drive down to Ladysmith to have a look in the siege museum and emplacements there. As I mentioned in my previous post a chance view of a pamphlet at my hotel in Glencoe made me backtrack to Dundee. I had driven past the Talana Museum site, noticable from the road because of the steam train, but was not aware that this was also the site of the battle of Talana hill significant as the first battle of the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. What better place to start!
I was please with my discovery, the site is interesting in itself and evokes the 'thin red line' and how desperate the situation became in Dundee after the battle when the Boer continued to attack from the surrounding hills. There are, in fact, 68 battle sites within a two hour drive of Dundee. The population of Dundee were evacuated at dead of night on foot and ox-driven carts to Ladysmith only to be caught up in the 118 day siege where had it be known to the Boer they could, at one point, have walked into the town.
The Talana Museum site houses a wealth of interesting exhibits and displays relating to the Zulu and Boer Wars, life as it was in the 1800's and the turn of the century through to modern day mining equipment. To examine this treasure thoroughly would take about three days. There are buildings and exhibits rescued from other, now non-existent, villages. There are halls devoted to glass making, traditional bead work, coal, pottery and many other traditional persuits. I had lunch in the 'Miners Rest' before departing to follow the trail to Ladysmith. I discovered that
the other museums closed at 13:00 hours, so, in hindsight, plan a visit for during the week or reverse the trail finishing at Rorke's Drift which is open until 16:00 hours on a Saturday. In reality spend a week in the area as there is a vast amount to see historically and culturally.
Some sites have museums or information centres, some are piles of stones which evoke the imagination as to the gun positions overlooking a town or troops and the vastness of the terrain and sometimes hopelessness of the position people and soldiers found themselves in. I wanted to see Ladysmith because of the siege, which was only ended by the largest battle, the Battle of Thukela Heights lasting 14 days, fought by the British in the Southern hemisphere until World War II. Indeed the Anglo-Boer war lasting three years was the longest, costliest and bloodiest war fought since the Napoleonic wars. Some, including Kipling, also thought it the most humiliating. Incidentally, as I left Ladysmith I pulled over to watch aerobatics performed by three WWI era bi-planes complete with coloured smoke trails. Part of the Ladysmith air show!
I picked Fort Durnford, south of Escourt as there was something tangible to see, though again, the museum was closed by the time I got there. You can still get the feel of the place though and this fort, built prior to the Zulu war must have been a welcome sight to troops on the march and seen some action in both conflicts. This was at the end of my trail down the old road from Ladysmith to Colenso, then the R74 Colenso/Harrismith road turning left at the R103 junction to Escourt. I went to a great deal of trouble to find this particular location.
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| Looking back to the junction |
A few hundred metres down the road lies a turning on the right to Frere, reach this and you have gone too far. I discovered that the turn-off I wanted was a few metres on the left in my original direction of travel. If you approach from the direction of Escourt there is a signpost pointing you to the turn off (on your right this time). What was I looking for? Something I had noticed marked on the map and something which intrigued me. Something which could have altered the course of history. Something, like Rorke's Drift I wanted to see for myself as I could hardly believe it.
The armoured reconnaissance train came down the line and she blew, the armoured reconnaissance train came down the line and she blew – actually she was derailed by the Boer forces and Winston Churchill captured. There is also a cemetery of those killed in the action but I could not see it on the other side of the tracks. I believe that Churchill was a newspaper reporter at the time but don't quote me lol.
Links to Further Reading:-
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