The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (452) Sergeant Robert Edwin Berry, 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, Boar War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (452) Sergeant Robert Edwin Berry, 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, Boar War.

452 Sergeant Robert Edwin Berry, 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen
DOW 4 January 1902


Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Robert Edwin Berry.

Robert Berry, known as “Ted”, was born on 23 December 1878 to Thomas and Mary Berry of Brisbane.

A well-known athlete described as “just the sort of man for roughing it”, Ted Berry was one of three brothers who enlisted for service during the Boer War. He joined the 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, a contingent raised for service in early 1901. Ted and at least one of his brothers served in a small cyclist company that was part of the contingent. They left Australia for active service in early March 1901, and their arrival sparked interest in Cape Town where newspapers noted “they were a very fine lot of men … the Queensland Imperial Bushmen is one of the finest bodies of men ever landed here.”

The Berrys’ contingent arrived in South Africa after the major set-piece battles and sieges were over and an extended period of guerrilla-type skirmishes with the Boers had begun. By mid-1901 the Queenslanders were busy on patrol and regularly met with the enemy. The cyclists duty was to accompany the advanced guard, and to guard the light automatic cannons known as pom poms when required. Ted’s brother Harold wrote, “most of our work is to guard the pom-poms and guns … this is no country for cyclists, and the sooner we get horses the better, although everyone says we have done good work.”

In July the cyclists were accompanying the advance guard following a group of Boers when they came across a good piece of road. Ted Berry described how they “set sail after them, going past the advance guard like mad, and got within 600 yards of 50 Boers.” They engaged the enemy and were able to break them up, capturing a large amount of stock they had been holding behind the lines. Berry “took charge of 400 goats and sheep”, jealously guarding his spoils from some mounted officers who wanted to take it back.

The bikes were generally not useful, however, and at some point over the following months, the cyclists were given horses. In early 1902 the Queensland contingent again engaged the enemy near the village of Onverwacht. Boer forces made small attacks at various points, drawing the larger force into an area where they were outnumbered. Another member of the 5th Queensland Bushmen, Trooper Charles Bryce, wrote “we simply marched into a huge trap amongst the hills, and we were surrounded in a few minutes. We tried to make a stand, but found it was no use.”

Harold Berry wrote to his mother to tell her what happened:
“We were having dinner when the guide brought word to say that there were 800 Boers on a kopje in front of us. Major Ballantyne gave orders for us to saddle up … We had not gone 300 yards … when we got a volley from the Boers … Then our pom pom came up and the Boers made a rush at us. Poor Ted was just in front of the pom pom and that is where he fell. He fired at a Boer on a white horse, at about 30 yards’ range. He shot the horse, and stood up to fire again at the Boer, but the Boer fired first, and hit Ted, the bullet going through his wrist, hitting his second shirt button and then right through his chest. He clasped his hands over his breast and fell. He said good-bye to one of the men, and died.”

Outnumbered, the Australians were forced to withdraw.
Ted Berry was buried nearby with ten other men killed in the same action. Harold wrote that Ted “died with a smile on his face – in fact you could hardly tell he was dead. Mr Price said he had seen the same smile on his face hundreds of times when he was asleep in the lines … there is one thing to be proud of – he died like a soldier and a man.”

Friends of Sergeant Ted Berry and another cyclist killed in the same action, Corporal Macfarlane, raised money to erect a monument in St Matthews churchyard, Sherwood, to their fallen comrades. Members of the contingent attended a service to unveil the monument, many speaking warmly of the two men. The Reverend Ewan concluded the service by saying that “their thoughts that day were with the boys who were sleeping on the African veldt, under the African sun, and he was sure the deeds of the fifth and other contingents would never be forgotten.

Ted Edwin was 23 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among 605 Australians who lost their lives in the Boer War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sergeant Robert Edwin Berry, and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Meleah Hampton,
Historian, Military History Section