A Question of Identity: The Impact the Boer War 1899-1902 had on Irish Immigrant Identity in the long nineteenth century.
The Boer War of 1899- 1902 played a fundamental role in the construction of the Australian nation, and has a particular emphasis on the Irish immigrant experience. However, the South African war can in some regards only be remembered as a forgotten war in history.[1]From the beginning of the war, Australia was considered a colony under the British Empire, but it is important to note that by the end of the war Australia had become a federation; thus, emphasising the importance of this war on the construction of the Australian nation. With this, the Boer War was a seal of identity for those living in Australia fighting for the British, and those fighting for the Boers. Donal P. McCracken argues that “a basic idea uniting the movement was the belief that Boer aspirations to national identity mirrored Ireland’s own.”[2]Therefore the general consensus creates an arguable case that the Boer War helped to create an ideology of Irishness within Australia for Irish immigrants. Similarities between the Irish and the Boers emphasised the reasoning for their fight together against Britain during the war. However, this did not stand for all Irish immigrants to Australia.
As a British colony before 1901, there was a major split in the fight of the Boer war, some fought on the British side, whereas others, particularly Irish men, fought with the Boers. Arthur Lynch, an Irish Australian, born to an Irish father and Scottish mother, was a character of interest as he fought for the Boers, but was initially a correspondent for the London Daily Mail. While taking an interest in the Boer War, he was sent out to South Africa to be a correspondent, leading him to form the second Irish Brigade.[3] Throughout this essay, the topics of identity and how the Boer War inevitably contributed in the shaping of the Australian nation shall be addressed. As well as this, the impact the Boer War made on Irish immigrants in Australia, and the importance of fighting in the war was for Irish immigrants shall also be discussed. Arthur Lynch and his involvement with the British and Boers during the war will in essence highlight the Irish immigrant’s sense of identity in Australia during 1899- 1902.
The South African War created major casualties among Australian men throughout 1899- 1902. It was considered the highest casualty rate, with similar effects on the Australian population as World War I and World War II. By the war being denoted an almost forgotten war, it casts a shadow on how dismissed this war can be seen throughout historical readings.[4] Hulme T. Siwundhla casts an interesting statement to the action of the ending of the war. Siwundhla argues that non- Europeans (“European” being a euphemism for white people by South Africans) helped end the Boer War, rather than the arguable case that “European” or white males contributed to the ending of the war.[5] However, counter arguments such as Lar Joye react by stating that the Irish immigrants wanted an opportunity to fight back against Britain due to their overriding presence in Ireland itself. [6] With such a strong Irish and partial Australian backing for the Boers in South Africa whom would be deemed as “European”, it would be acknowledged that white men may not have necessarily helped to end the war, but there was a fighting cause by white men for the Boers, rather than for the British army. With such an Irish grip on the war, it is hard to claim such a black and white picture of peace and war attempts.
However, it is also important to ask, was it the importance of the Boers that gave strife to the Irish Australian immigrants to fight for their side, or was it an underlying history of British rule over Ireland that adapted to their cause of fight? Andries Wessels comments that “as far as Irish nationalists were concerned, involvement in the war was undeniably less by sympathy for the Boers, than antipathy towards the English.”[7] Suggestively, this could be truth, but similarities between the Irish and Boer struggle, such as religiosity, folklore, nationalism, and a language movement, can exhibit a stronger value of excuse to enter the war, and fight with the Boer men.[8] With this, it establishes a sense of Irish immigrant identity by being part of the Boer War with both Australian and South Africans, fighting for something not too dissimilar to what Ireland were fighting for at the same time: freedom. This transgressed into the importance for Irish immigrants, and Irish men to fight in the Boer War alongside the Boers rather than against them in the British Army. It helped to establish grounds for a true understanding of identity for immigrants from Ireland in Australia; thus, helping in the formation of the Australian nation through a mutual side by side attitude on the battlefield.
Where freedom and nationalism go hand in hand, Arthur Lynch was also a man who fought for this, more so for South Africa, as his heritage was Irish Australian, being born in Victoria in 1861.[9] Arthur Lynch had not started out as a man of war, but as a journalist and correspondent for British news, casting a shadow on the side he stood for during the war. However, Lynch’s true Irish immigrant heritage was not to be dismantled on joining the Boer War. According to The Catholic Press, Lynch joined the Boer War around late June 1900.[10] Lynch concocted the second Irish Brigade in South Africa with General Louis Brotha in Pretoria when they both joined the Boer side. However, with that being the second Irish Brigade, the first had intricate and extreme links to Ireland. The first was led by an Irish American, Colonel John Blake, with John MacBride as his second in command. Unlike the second Brigade, the first stayed in South Africa until the end of the war on 31 May 1902, returning to Ireland with weapons, and in particular the German Mauser carbine which was taken by the British during the 1916 Rising in Dublin.[11] Lynch and Brotha’s second brigade only lasted six months, with their credibility unsure as part of the Boer War. With this in mind, McCracken argues that regardless of criticism toward Lynch, it should be investigated with caution due to Irish nationalists and Irish American’s making attempts to discredit Lynch after the war.[12] This can be understood for the pardoning a year after his arrest in Dover, 1902, the same year the Boer War ended. Some of the reasoning behind this criticism came from both Lynch’s confident character, as well as “the fact he was seen as splitting the Irish war effort on the Boer side.”[13] This emphasised the Irish immigrant experience due to the interlinking national identities coming hand in hand competitively trying to format an Irish immigrant identity within Australia, rather than fighting other countries wars against their coloniser.
Therefore, in retrospect there is a sense of reattributing with the construction of the Australian nation through Lynch, as well as his criticisms. They both acknowledge there is a need for a true sense of Irish immigrant identity within Australia. Resulting from this, with Arthur Lynch being Australian born, his actions in the Boer exasperated his identity as both an Australian, and an Irish man. However, the argument still stands with the concept of Irishness in Australia, as there were mixes of both Irish and British settlers establishing themselves in Australia during initial settlements in 1778. De Rosa argues that, “Recent scholars working on the issue of Australian national identity have based many of their arguments on the issue of whether Australian national identity was rooted in or co-existed beside or was hostile to that of Britishness.”[14] It is a complex nature of understanding where national identity comes from, but there is an open argument that because the British fought the Boers in the war, it enhanced an identity for Australians to see themselves not as an Irish person, nor a British person, but rather merging their own identity together from the century of living on the continent. Therefore, it concedes to the argument that the Boer War was an important time period for a realisation of identity by all immigrants in Australia; put a particular focus on the Irish settlers.
The Boer War both challenge and encouraged a national identity for Australia, and the Irish immigrants that lived there. During the late nineteenth century, the Irish immigrants were formally being born in Australia, not Ireland. Therefore, creating a sense of identity through true citizenship of what became a federation after 1901. The South African War is one of the most pivotal points in Australian history, as it collided with the new found country of Australia, which takes away from the once colonised continent. Through fighting the British Empire in a different country to their own, the Irish immigrants, and those in Ireland, clung to their nationalist roots. Amidst this riots were caused in parts of Dublin, resulting in British troops being unable to enter parts of the city.[15] Lynch and his brigade helped in the establishment of the sense of pride for their identity, and fighting for their identity and freedom overseas, as well as that of the Boers in South Africa. Therefore, it comes to the idea that the Boer War impacted the Irish immigrant experience, and can be seen as a reflection of the Irish immigrant experience that is seen in modern day Australia.
Bibliography:
Primary Source:
The Catholic Press, 23 June 1900, p. 3.
Secondary Sources:
Crozier De-Rosa, Sharon. “[History of the Irish in Australia – Exhibition in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra].” Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, vol. 23, no. 2 (2011), pp. 249-254
Joye, Lar. “The Boer Irish Brigade.” History Ireland, vol. 26, no. 1 (2018), p. 43.
Maynard, John. “’Let us go’ … it’s a ‘Blackfellows’ War’: Aborigines and the Boer War.” Aboriginal History, vol. 39 (2015), pp. 143-162
McCracken, Donal P. Forgotten protest: Ireland and the Anglo- Boer war. (Belfast: 2003).
McCracken, Donal P. “From Paris to Paris to Pretoria: Arthur Lynch at War.” Etudes Irlandaises, vol. 28, no. 1 (2003), pp 125-142.
Serle, Geoffry. “Lynch, Arthur Alfred.” Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lynch-arthur-alfred-7270. [accessed date: 7 April 2018].
Siwundhla, Hulme T. “White ideologies and non- European participation in the Anglo- Boer War, 1899- 1902.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 15, no. 2 (1984), pp 223-234
Wessles, Andre. The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902: white man’s war, black man’s war, traumatic war. (African Sun Media: 2010).
Wessels, Andreis. “The rhetoric of conflict and conflict by rhetoric: Ireland and the Anglo-Boer War.” Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies, vol. 20, no. 3 (1999), pp 161-174.
[1] John Maynard. “’Let us go’ … it’s a ‘Blackfellows’ War’: Aborigines and the Boer War.” Aboriginal History, vol. 39 (2015), p. 143.
[2] Donal P. McCracken. Forgotten protest: Ireland and the Anglo- Boer war. (2003): Ulster Historical Foundation, p. xv.
[3] Geoffry Serle. “Lynch, Athur Alfred.” Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lynch-arthur-alfred-7270.
[4] John Maynard. “’Let us go’ … it’s a ‘Blackfellows’ War’: Aborigines and the Boer War.” Aboriginal History, vol. 39 (2015), p. 143.
[5] Hulme T. Siwundhla. “White ideologies and non- European participation in the Anglo- Boer War, 1899- 1902.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 15, no. 2 (1984), p. 223.
[6] Lar Joye. “The Boer Irish Brigade.” History Ireland, vol. 26, no. 1 (2018), p. 43)
[7] Andreis Wessels. “The rhetoric of conflict and conflict by rhetoric: Ireland and the Anglo- Boer War.” Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies, vol. 20, no. 3 (1999), p. 168.
[8] McCracken. Forgotten protest. P. xvi.
[9] Serle. “Lynch, Arthur Alfred.” Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lynch-arthur-alfred-7270
[10] The Catholic Press, 23 June 1900, p. 3.
[11] Joye. “The Boer Irish brigade.” History Ireland, p. 43.
[12] Donal P. McCracken. “From Paris to Paris via Pretoria: Arthur Lynch at war.” Etudes Irlandaises, vol. 28, no. 1 (2003), p. 132.
[13] Ibid., p. 132.
[14] Sharon Crozier- De Rosa. “[History of the Irish in Australia – exhibition in the National Museum of Australia in
Canberra].” Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, vol. 23, no. 2 (2011), p 253.
[15] McCracken. “From Paris to Paris via Pretoria.” Etudes Irlandaises, p. 127.
Irish Aussies: historical perspectives 