Research earlier this year by Hamilton historian Peter Bakker has located another Aboriginal man who fought in the Boer war. Bakker has found that Jack Alick was in the pre-Federation New South Wales First Australian Horse and has also been able to locate an attestation for Alick in the name of John Allick for service in the 1902 Australian Commonwealth Horse. Information in this record links Alick with a well known Aboriginal family originating in the Braidwood area of New South Wales.
Detail from a photograph of the Federal contingent before it sailed for South Africa in 1902 . It was published in the Town and Country Journal and shows Jack Alick (bottom right). The photo and its caption combined with information found in contemporary newspaper articles were the keys to Peter Bakker’s discovery of the Boer war service of Jack Alick.
John/Jack Alick (and spelling variations) also known as Jack Bond (service number 1063 ) was one of a group of Braidwood volunteers who left Australia on 17 January 1900 with the second contingent of the First Australian Horse. The contingent arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on 23 February, 1900 and joined up with the first contingent in March. The group advanced to Pretoria and beyond, taking part in action ranging from minor skirmishes to battles including engagements at Poplar Grove, Zand River, Diamond Hill, Zilicats Nek, Kameel Drift and the battle of Belfast. They arrived back in Australia, in Sydney on 2 May 1901 after almost a year and a half of war. Jack Alick’s arrival with the second contingent was mentioned in passing by another Braidwood volunteer in a letter home.
The last contingent of Australian Horse joined us a fortnight ago with Captain Thompson, Vaughan, and a few more Braidwooditcs, but none of my old mates whom I expected. Jack Alick was telling me that the Kings tried hard to come, but luck was against them Well, I was disappointed at hearing that.
The experience of the non Indigenous Kings contrasts with Jack Alick’s own. Jack Alick’s experience also contrasts with that of the other identified Aboriginal men in the Commonwealth Australian Horse. F King and E Davis are referred to as ‘Black Trackers’ while Jack Alick who was also a tracker is not referred to as such and was enlisted as a trooper. The enlistment of all three was before the question of service overseas of men not of substantial European origin had been addressed by the newly established Commonwealth of Australia. Jack Alick elaborated on some of his pre-Federation service in a letter home published by the Braidwood press in September 1900.
The following letter from the black tracker, Jack Alick, who joined the Australian Horse and went to the war, will be interesting. It is addressed to Mr George Larkins, Krawarree, and was received on Tuesday last :—
Korvall Pont, Convalescent Camp, September 4, 1900,
DEAR George,— I now take the opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you know I am still alive and kicking. I have been unfortunate enough to take an attack of fever from which I fell sick at Johannesburg just three months ago, but I am pleased to say I have almost fully recovered and am feeling well again. I have not seen the regiment since I fell sick and I am not particularly anxious to rejoin them as I am quite satisfied where I am now having an easy time here, doing no duty. I have seen quite enough fighting and have had some very narrow squeaks. It is a very healthy place here and we are close to the Orange River and also the bridge which was blown up some time ago. We are surrounded on all sides by kopjes, and after 10 o’clock in the morning we are free to roam wherever we like and sometimes I take a turn at climbing, but not often as I have seen enough of these kopjes. I have been amongst all sorts and sizes of troops since my sickness, regulars and volunteers from almost every regiment out here and I must say they are as a majority a most lively and jolly lot of chaps and damned good company, especially in the tent where I am now. I understood yon bad a good days races at Snowball on Easter Monday and hope yon all enjoyed yourselves. Of course it wasn’t my luck to be there, but I enjoyed a night out in the rain on the veldt on Easter Monday without tents, and also the two following nights, after which I felt slightly washed out. I haven’t space enough to go into details of all the fighting, &c I have been through, but will give you all particulars when I return home, which I hope won’t be long, as I reckon it has lasted just long enough. Give my kindest regards to the Mrs. and the children and accept same yourself,
from your old friend JACK ALICK
The letter was probably written on his behalf as Jack Alick signed his 1902 Attestation with ‘his mark’. The fact someone took the trouble to write it for him as well as the letter’s contents indicates that Jack Alick’s experience with his fellow soldiers was a positive one. It also shows he was beginning to tire of war. However this did not affect his willingness to serve again and he joined 1 Battalion of the Australian Commonwealth Horse on 20 January 1902 (service number no. 356). This second foray into the South African war was of much shorter duration. The Commonwealth Horse left Sydney on 17 February and returned to Australia on 11 August 1902. It’s main duties had been to clear the district north of Klerksdorp. Peace was declared on 31 May 1902.
Attestation of John Allick 1902. NAA:B4418, ALICK JJ.
Jack Alick’s Braidwood community was supportive of him and his colleagues and the local paper recorded his leaving and his first return, when a welcoming reception was held by the mayor of Braidwood. For some reason there seem to be no reports relating to his service with the Australian Commonwealth Horse or of his second return – one possible reason being the change in the mood in relation to the war in some quarters following the discovery of the mistreatment of Boer civilians.
P L Murray who documented the names and a little of the events surrounding Australia’s part in the Boer War differentiated between the trained militia and the untrained volunteers whom he called ‘much rougher material’ and noted that
Many of the recruits, however – a large majority in some cases – were mere rough bushmen, countrymen, handicraftsmen, farm labourers, and the like, who had never soldiered before, and had everything to learn in the way of drill and discipline.
in this pre-empting some of the later comments by Charles Bean on the composition of the AIF.
Jack Alick Bond fell into the bush labour force category described by Murray. As well as being a tracker and skilled horseman he was a farm labourer from the country bordering the Shoalhaven river west of the town of Braidwood, overshadowed by an extension of the Great Dividing Range, the Gourock Range also known as the Jingera mountains. His family frequented Mt Elrington, Ballalaba, Krawarree (sometimes spelled Crowarrie and Quarry in service records), Jembaicumbene, Major’s Creek and the Araluen valley and belonged to the Jincro ‘tribe’ of the Walbanja Yuin. He and his father, Alick (Jack) Bond were possibly related to another, older Jack Bond who collected blankets (distributed by the New South Wales Government) at Mt Elrington in 1838 and 1841. This man was named variously Mundula and Mundalie and was recorded as a being a chief or king by the Braidwood community which presented him and his wife with a ‘silver shield’ inscribed.
JOHN BOND, King of Major’s Creek, and KITTY BOND His Queen. Presented to him by his White Subjects.(Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal 4 November 1927 p, 2).
This status may have derived from within his group and but could also have come from the perception of his importance by the local white community which he served as a police tracker or it could have been a combination of both. On her death in 1881 his wife Kitty was referred to as ‘an old Aboriginal, queen the wife of Mr. Jackey Bond, now a trooper in her Majesty’s service.’ It was reported that more than 100 people attended her funeral.
Jack Alick Bond’s father, Alick also sometimes called Jack was the husband of Ellen or Helen De Mestre, a woman of French and Aboriginal heritage. In addition to Jack Alick Bond they had three sons Andy, Joseph and William.
William Bond 1893. He was born at Jembaicumbene according to information with this photograph but in 1917 gave his birth place as Ballalaba when he volunteered for the AIF. State Records of New South Wales NRS2138 [11/1739]
Andy and William volunteered for World War One, only Andy serving overseas where he was gassed in France and invalided home in 1918. William’s attestation contains the information that he too was a police tracker.
Andy Bond wears his former AIF jacket in this post war photo of the Wallaga Lake Gumleaf Band. Courtesy David Huggonson
Like some other Boer war veterans Jack Alick also volunteered for the AIF putting his age down by six years. His application made in September 1918 was unsuccessful although there is no indication of why. One factor could have been the imminent end of the war.
Page one of Jack Alick’s World War One attestation 1918. His place of birth written for him as ‘Quarry’ is actually Krawarree and his occupation written as ‘trapper’ is likely to be ‘tracker’. NAA: MT 1486/1, Alick /Jack.
While there was a movement of Aboriginal people away from Braidwood from the late 19th century, Jack’s attestation shows that he and his brother Joseph were still in the Braidwood area in the early part of the 20th century. Andy’s service record records his move to Wallaga Lake, Tilba Tilba, South Coast by 1916 and also that of his mother. Jack Alick volunteered from Braidwood for South Africa in 1899 and in 1902. He was recorded by the Aborigines Protection Board at Wallaga Lake mission in 1916 and at Kent Farm Tilba Tilba in his 1918 application to join the AIF. Although Jack Alick/John Bond was probably still living at Wallaga Lake and at Bega, South Coast as late as 1936 and 1937 when his name appears on electoral rolls, by the time of his death in 1941, run over by a tram, he was living at La Perouse, Sydney probably at the La Perouse War Veterans home.
A notice inserted in the press on 7 November 1941 showed that he had not let go of his Boer war service. In this the South African Soldiers Association requested its members to attend his funeral – an indication that Jack Alick was probably a member or at least known by the membership.
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Jack Alick had no known children but there are many Bond descendants and descendants of his mother Ellen De Mestre from her subsequent marriage to James Ahoy, some still living on the New South Wales South Coast and in the Wallaga Lake area. Genealogies and research on the De Mestre family website and the autobiography The Calling of the Spirits by Eileen Morgan, a granddaughter of Ellen De Mestre and James Ahoy, contain useful information about the Bond and related families, including in the latter case a photograph of Andy Bond being presented with his World War One service medals. Michael Smithson’s detailed study Munkata Yuin, drawn on here, is also an important source of information about the Bonds and the Braidwood Aboriginal community.
Despite all this, there seems to be no surviving knowledge of Jack Alick’s Boer war service. The discovery of this by Peter Bakker and the research he has undertaken make an invaluable contribution to both the history of Aboriginal involvement in the Boer war – and to the story of the Bond family. Peter’s research is ongoing. Anyone wanting to contact him with information can do so at phbakker@bigpond.net.au.
Philippa Scarlett 22 April 2014 (revised May 2016)
Particular thanks to Michael Smithson author of Munkata Yuin for his informed comments
Indigenous Histories 
Philippa,
The reference to the “King” family within the letter published within this article may well prove to be a valuable clue to the area from which Tracker F.King originated. It is interesting as well that Jack Allick subsequently appears to have served with the ACH again later in the war and it was this same unit that employed Troopers King and Davis as “Black Trackers’. Is there any way that your resources can check the family “King” in the Braidwood area at this time and ascertain whether or not this was an Aboriginal Family?
Recent research has found Aboriginal families named King and Davis in the Kiama area during the period 1899 – 1902 and while this area cannot be discounted fully , the letter mentioning the King family from Braidwood is a very strong clue for further study.
Regards,
Colin Renshaw
Philippa and Colin,
My research found that the “King” family of the Braidwood area referred to in the published letter, were not of Aboriginal descent i.e. not connected with the Aboriginal tracker, Fred King. I now personally believe that trackers King and Davis did not depart with their contingent on a ship for South Africa in early 1902 – even though ‘F. King – Black tracker’ can be seen in the group photographs (taken for the Town and Country Journal) of the Australian Commonwealth Horse taken shortly before the contingent’s departure overseas.
I have tried in vain over the last couple of years, like yourselves, to find proof that they did serve in South Africa and some evidence of what became of them after the Boer War. I believe I now have a likely explanation as to why they did not go … and it is based on a piece of evidence which I hope to reveal in the near future.
I have been very concerned of late that “King and Davis” can be / are being, associated with the claims that many Aboriginal trackers were left behind in South Africa after the Boer War due to the Immigration Restriction Act / White Australia policy. I believe there is no sound evidence, available to us at present, for these statements to be made as if they were historical fact.
Regards
Peter Bakker
Peter
You will see from my reply to Colin of 27 July 2014 that I also discount Aboriginality for the Braidwood King family. What is necessary now is for you to give reasons why you believe King and Davis did not embark so will look forward to when you can elucidate your comments. I do not see any association between these two men and the contentious 50 Trackers.
Philippa
PS I have identified two Aboriginal men named King who served in WW1 one from Maitland and one from Wellington NSW,
Phillipa
We have recently moved to Lismore and I have been off line for the past few weeks. Accordingly I have only now seen Peter’s post. I will nee to check my own records which are somewhere amongst the many boxes still unpacked, but from memory there was evidence from “Trove” newspaper reports taht King did embark but little evidence , if any, for Davis who remains a very elusive character.
I also have acopy of the offcial report into those refused reentry into Australia after the Boer WAr and there are few direct references within that report to Aboriginal persons being denied travel back to Australia. I think however taht there were some inferences that some men were denied such rights on the basis that they may have traveled to South Africa for work prior to the Boer War. Again I will need to check my files. With apologies, it may take a little time.
Colin
Peter,
As advised we have recently moved and my records accordingly are in somewhat of a tangled mess. It is my recollection that the embarkation of Trooper King was verified by list published at the time of sailing of his contingent but we could not verify Davis owing to the fact that there were other men of that surname enlisted with the contingent.
While no one can be fully certain that King and or Davis were left in South Africa, even a cursory reading of the published report on the repatriation of Australians and their families after the Boer War, shows quite conclusively that men of Aboriginal descent, who applied for repatriation WERE denied a return to Australia..
Page 14 of the Valder Report states:
“I received application from Coloured people who were natives of Australia, others were evidently half castes and two or three were Aboriginals or Aboriginal Half Castes.
As the Immigration Restriction Act states that Coloured persons from Australia CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO RETURN (my emphasis), unless that have, prior to leaving, obtained a permit, I advised these applicants accordingly.”
The report then goes on to describe the case of two men of Aboriginal descent who left Australia PRIOR to this Act coming into force. Valder referred their cases to the Prime Minister, who advised him that the conditions of the Act should be enforced no matter what their circumstances and they were denied return to Australia.
There can be no doubt that if any Australian Aboriginals were serving with the Australian Forces in South Africa , and remained there after the war, they WERE denied return to Australia.
There is at least one instance of an Aboriginal trooper discharged in South Africa just days before his unit returned. He subsequently served with a number of other Australian units throughout the war, enlisting with those units while in South Africa, possibly in the hope that he could return with one of them. I have not been able to confirm whether or not he did eventually get back here, but the evidence suggest that he did not. As to King, and possibly Davis, as you say, there is no direct evidence , but there is evidence that this denial of return was enforced and therefore a strong possibility exists .
Colin Renshaw
My question is… What connection does this person have with ‘Davis’ if there is no connection then Why are people delving and revelling in other Family information… ‘Davis’ in this photo was family to the ‘Davis’ of local area that links to Hawkesbury River to LaPerouse down long the south coast settling in area’s of Murramarang Batemans Bay Wallaga Lake and beyond… This particular gentleman in the caption (picture) above was the very last man to be initiation on culture grounds…
If there are enquiries concerning to this person then they need to make contact with the families of and today still residing in area’s nominated above… Thanking you
Maureen,
You may be assured that there was never any disrespect meant in any of the discussion regarding troopers King or Davis. At the time this review was commenced the very presence of Aboriginal Australians within the Boer War contingents was being disputed at every level.
The photograph identifying Troopers King and Davis was the first firm evidence that Aboriginal men DID serve in the Boer War. My own research leads me to believe that there were at least eight that can be positively confirmed and there were probably more.
While the photograph existed there were no other sources available which could be used to confirm either the localities from which Troopers King and Davis came, or their family origins.
Your information is the most valuable detail which has come forward to assist in fully identifying and honouring these two men.
As said, there was no disrespect meant just an honest attempt to identify them and gain the recognition that they deserved and allow their families to honour their memories.
Colin Renshaw
Maureen,
There have been some recent developments in the identification of a number of Aboriginal men who served in the Boer War. The truth of their service is an important step in recognising the contribution that has been made by these men.
Unfortunately Troopers Davis and King have not received this same recognition simply because it has proved impossible to fully confirm their details. If you could please provide more details as to the full name, family and locality of Trooper David we could then move more quickly towards giving both him and his family the recognition that he deserves.
From your message you seem positive as to his identity, and such information would be of immense assistance.
Colin Renshaw
I have also checked the Boer War WO100 Award Rolls and find four references to Trooper J. Alick number 1063 serving with the 1st Australian Horse. These rolls dated 1901 confirm that he was from Braidwood and that his Queens South Africa (QSA) medal was issued to him on 1 June 1901. A further roll dated in Sydney 4 August 1901 confirms that he was awarded two clasps to his QSA , the campaign clasp for Dreifontein and the 1901 service clasp.
Regards,
Colin Renshaw
Colin
The Braidwood Kings as far as I am aware are a non Indigenous Braidwood family. The Braidwood Historical Society could confirm this. I think the research you refer to is the presence of names King and Davis in the Elphick index to people mentioned in APB and AWB minutes. The minutes do show King and Davis names on the South Coast including in the Kiama area but also in other places in NSW. Jack Alick had strong S Coast connections – but I don’t think this is necessarily a reason to link King and Davis with the S Coast families. Another area to investigate is the names of known trackers. Michael Bennett researches trackers in NSW. Perhaps he has some ideas. Michael Organ and Cathy Dunn are two people whose research focuses on S Coast Aboriginal people and may have some clues.
Philippa
Thankyou Colin. This is great information. Is WO100 a UK National Archives series?
Another suggested NSW Boer War Aboriginal soldier whose name has recently surfaced after research by Melissa Jackson from the State Library of NSW is James Wighton. Is it possible he is mentioned in WO100?
The question now is what became of Jack Alick’s medal. Wiliam Stubbings medal was passed down through his children – but Alick did not marry and was apparently childless.
Philippa
Philippa,
The WO100 award rolls are available through Ancestry.com however I am not sure if access is also available via the National Archives, at least not online. The rolls record the medals and service clasps awarded to all participants and units involved in the Boer War. In most cases they are easyu to read and have provided valuable information on many Australians serving in that conflict. I will look for the name and advise
Colin
I know this was posted back in 2014, James Wighton is my 2 x great grandfather. He did not serve in the Boer war. I applied for his service records which confirms this. I know it was mentioned in a newspaper article about James in the Boer war however this is not true. James son John Erklas (Hercules) Wighton was a servicemen.
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Is it true that the Australian Govt didnt allow the return of Indigenous soliders back too Australia.
And you, are just finding this now. Shame on the Australia Govt your have a moral duty to to tell the Australian people your mistakes.
Lindsay
Aboriginal soldiers returned to Australia with their units after the Boer war and subsequent conflicts Australia was involved in. There is a possibility that some Aboriginal veterans were amongst a group of men, women and children who sought to return to Australia five years after the Boer war and could have been prevented by government legislation – however there is to date no evidence for this and it is purely speculation. For discussion look at John Maynard’s recently published article in Aboriginal History journal Volume 39 http://press.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Aboriginal+History,+Volume+39,+2015/11953/article10.xhtml
I wonder if anyone has any records of my great-grandfather John (Jack) Little who worked at Emu Flat police station as a Blacktracker 1899-1902, the same period as Jack Bond. Like Jack Bond also, my great-grandfather married his wife Eliza Penrith in 1901, and moved to Wallaga Lake.