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| Australian Colonies send troops to their First War |
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Probably the only Australian
killed in action in Sudan 1855 and therefore possibly the first
Australian casualty of war.
Robert De Courcy COVENY, (1842-1883), was the son of Sydney merchant and philanthropist, Robert Coveny; His mother was a member of an Irish military family. He was born in Sydney on 4 November 1842, and educated at the seminary of St Mary's Oscott, near Birmingham, England. In September 1862 he bought a commission in the 42nd Regiment and became a brevet Lieutenant Colonel in May 1875. He served during the Sudan War and was killed in action at Kirbekan on 10 February 1883. His 'singularly dexterous' sketches of camp life and the Nile were reproduced in the London Pictorial World.
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| Australians wanting a military career were obliged to look to the British Army before 1871 but from that year openings became increasing available in the small armies maintained by colonial Governments (Colonel R Sutton) |
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| These medals were awarded to members of the Soudan (Sudan) Contingent. L to R...Egypt Medal (front and back), the Khedives bronze star 1884/86 and the (unofficial) Mayor of Sydney Silver Soudan medal |
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<< The Sudan Medal |  |
<< The Khedives Sudan Medal |
| The Sudan
- 1885
In February 1885, as implementation of the Jervois-Scratchley recommendations in New South Wales was nearly completed, news was received of the death of General Charles Gordon at Khartoum during the Dervish revolt in the eastern Sudan. The following day New South Wales offered two batteries of its regular artillery, a battalion of infantry and a small ambulance detachment to serve with the British forces in the Sudan. Within three weeks, the force of 768 all ranks was enrolled, equipped, and dispatched in two ships. (Only one artillery battery was dispatched.)
Within a month of embarkation the contingent saw action at Tamai. By May 1885, the campaign had been reduced to a series of skirmishes and the troops returned to Sydney by mid-June. Three soldiers were wounded and two died of illness during the campaign, while three later died of illness at Colombo during the voyage back to Australia. Lord Wolseley said that 'the result was so satisfactory that I trust the noble and patriotic example set by New South Wales may, should occasion arise, be followed by other colonies', an opportunity which came fourteen years later. The Sudan Contingent was the first army contingent to be raised and dispatched by an Australian colony. In 1907, the award of the honorary distinction ' Suakin 1885 ' was made to the New South Wales infantry regiments of the Australian Army descended from their colonial forebears which had contributed volunteers to the infantry battalion that served in the Sudan.
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The Australians joined two British brigades under General Graham at Suakin. This force operated against Oman Digna, the Mahdi's commander of the eastern tribes, with considerable success until it was withdrawn. The troops, however, were in the Sudan for only seven weeks and saw little action, only being involved in two actions of note.
The six men who died did so on the return voyage to Australia. But the affair set a precedent for Australia's involvement with Britain in future overseas wars, giving Australian troops a taste of Africa. It was the first of four wars that the Australians would be involved in, where fighting on the African continent was involved. |
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The Orient
Line wharf, Circular Quay, Sydney, 1885-03.
From Fort Macquarie, a view of the New South Wales contingent to the Sudan
war about to be addressed by the Governor. In the foreground, the ship
Australasian is numbered 2 NSW and behind it is the Iberia, 1 NSW.
Other ships, sailing and paddle steamers, are visible in background.
(original in Mitchell library)
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Warrant Officer Michael Tuite, Regimental Sergeant-Major of the NSW infantry contingent to the Sudan, 1885. Prior to his service in the Sudan, Tuite had served in the New Zealand wars and Afghanistan. On the contingent's return to Sydney, Tuite was presented with a silver tea and coffee service by the mayor of Sydney because he "had been the most efficient man in the service." part of this silver set is displayed in the war memorial |
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| When they returned the men
of the Soudan Contingent were ridiculed, by some sections of the media
and some cartoonists, as having done nothing in a war that was basically
over before they arrive. A cartoon parodying a painting, topical at the
time, by Elizabeth Thompson (later Lady Butler) 'Calling the roll after
an engagement, Crimea, (The Roll Call)' 1874, the cartoon depicts the
Acting Premier Mr. Dalley riding a decrepit horse with a bag of medals
to distribute, the Governor Lord Loftus is depicted as the Sergeant
taking the roll call and the chook between his feet alludes to reports
that he sold eggs laid at Government House, the chaplains stand near the
back in front of a shipload of the gifts donated by merchants in
February, the cartoon comments on the short time the contingent was
away, the Jingoistic expectations of the daily papers, and the fact that
the Contingent came back '...uninjured, and without having wrought
injury upon anything more formidable than tinned beef' compared with the
'real' fighting and suffering experienced by the Grenadier Guards in the
Crimea as shown in The Roll Call. |
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Details of personnel serving in the NSW Contingent to the Sudan, 1885. |
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| Members of the George VI Coronation Levee (1937) who had served in the Soudan in 1885 |
