Tobacco Pouch : Private C Cooke, Queensland Mounted Infantry

Tobacco pouch is made from two pieces of cream coloured cotton that have been sewn around the sides and bottom to form a pouch. The mouth of the pouch has been folded internally and stitched to allow a cotton tape drawstring to be threaded through. A leather strip has been sewn onto the lower right hand side of the pouch running vertically down the seam. The owner's name, now illegible was written on the leather.

Charles Cooke joined the Second Queensland Mounted Infantry Contingent when it was raised for service in South Africa on 29 December, 1899. He was allocated the service number 149 and the rank of private. After two weeks of training, the contingent numbering 10 officers, 144 other ranks and 178 horses, embarked in the transport Maori King from Brisbane on 13 January 1900. The contingent disembarked in Cape Town on 24 February and went into Maitland Camp for four days. On 28 February, Cooke travelled with the contingent to Modder River, arriving there on 3 March. On arrival, the contingent joined Lord Robert's field force. Cooke saw action at Osfontein, Poplar Grove and Driefontein. He also saw action in the series of skirmishes leading up to the occupation of Bloemfontein. Cooke was chosen to spend time in Lord Robert's Bodyguard Detachment. This unit was made up of one man from each of the British Colonies and accompanied Lord Roberts wherever he travelled. Cooke returned to the Queensland contingent later in the year and saw further action at Belfast, east of Pretoria, with Chauvel's Mounted Infantry. Cooke embarked at Cape Town with the Second Contingent in the transport ship Tongariro on 30 March 1901 and after a brief stop in Fremantle on 20 April, disembarked in Sydney on 29 April. The contingent travelled by train to Brisbane on 1 May, arriving two days later. Cooke was discharged on 10 May and the Second Contingent was disbanded.