{"id":349,"date":"2020-05-08T11:10:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T01:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/?p=349"},"modified":"2024-03-20T13:27:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T03:27:14","slug":"the-price-of-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/2020\/05\/08\/the-price-of-honour\/","title":{"rendered":"The price of honour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When in 1921 the Queensland War Trophy Committee (QWTC) ruled that Boonah<\/a> was ineligible to receive a captured field gun, the town\u2019s citizenry resolved to try and independently secure one of these trophies by whatever means.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

In the years immediately following the 1918 Armistice a grateful Commonwealth Government distributed, to towns and cities throughout the continent, almost 2,000 captured guns and mortars (along with 5,000 captured machine guns). In relative terms this was the largest collection of its kind ever assembled by an allied army, an astonishing testimony to both the AIF’s military prowess, and the digger’s determination to make that success known in every<\/p>\n\n\n\n

part of Australia. The hometown display of vanquished  weaponry was especially important for a young country like Australia, far removed from the European battlefields, that had suffered the highest casualty rate of any combatant nation (in per capita terms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ANZAC Day Service, Boonah Memorial, 1924. From Scenic Rim Regional Council Library. Image ba1560<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

State War Trophy Committees were convened to help manage the distribution of this largesse and the [sometimes] undignified scramble that followed the 1919 arrival of the first shipment of 220 trophy guns. After a lengthy and acrimonious public debate it was determined that trophies would be allocated on the basis of population (rather than enlistments). For Queensland, this generally meant that only those towns with more than 1,700 residents could apply for the larger, more desirable field guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissatisfied with the initial offer of a machine gun, Goolman Shire Council in the State\u2019s south east wrote to the Committee on 24th July 1920 requesting that a Field Gun also be allocated, \u201cseeing as it [i.e. Boonah] is the \u201cCapital\u201d of the  Shire, and \u201cits population is well over two thousand, in the town alone. Further in comparison to its size it can hold its own in regard to enlistments and decorations gained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being supported by the Trophy Committee\u2019s Chairman, Boonah\u2019s appeal appears to have been defeated by the Committee Secretary\u2019s cautionary advice\u2026\u201cthere are 42 townships in Queensland with higher populations than that of Boonah that have not yet received a field gun. Eleven guns are available for distribution. Under the suggested scheme of distribution of final trophies Boonah [only] becomes entitled to an additional machine gun.\u201d Using population figures provided by the Queensland Statistician, the Committee believed Boonah\u2019s population to be almost half (viz. 1,090) what the Shire had claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boonah\u2019s FK96 n.A. (Nr.3388) is the only trophy gun known to have been privately owned, imported to, or sold in Australia following the Great War. Photo courtesy of Mark Clayton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For another year neither side conceded ground on the issue, despite repeated representations by both the Shire and its Federal Parliamentary representative. Frustrated by this impasse, and motivated no doubt by the appearance of trophy guns in nearby towns such as Rosewood, Laidley and Beaudesert, Boonahites began fundraising in the hope that they might yet be able to purchase their own war trophy field gun. Whereas it is not uncommon these days to see Great War trophies traded on the open market (South Brisbane\u2019s 150 mm howitzer<\/a> having been bought by New Zealand filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson), this would have been a challenging undertaking back then when emotions were still raw; when the distribution of war trophies was strictly controlled by State and Commonwealth agencies; and when war trophy guns were imbued with qualities akin to sacredness. Although the notion seemed far fetched, even then, several of the town\u2019s citizens had become aware \u201cthat a private citizen of Southport had brought out a gun at his own expense\u201d which he was then willing to sell. Brisbane\u2019s  Daily Mail<\/em> reported that this unnamed seller (13th May 1921, page 4<\/a>) had initially tried, unsuccessfully, to sell his gun to the Southport Council for nothing more than the international freight costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That ‘private citizen of Southport’ was almost certainly Henry Sidney Bere, who had served as a Captain (in England) from 1916 with the Navy and Army Canteen Board (NAA: MT1487\/1, BERE H S<\/a>). The son of Judge Montague Bere, Q.C., of Devon<\/a>, Bere took a position at Marion Downs near Boulia, following his 1888 arrival in Australia, remaining there for five years. He subsequently took up farming in the Buderim district. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the monthly meeting of the Southport Town Council (The Daily Mail<\/em>, 19 April 1921, page 9<\/a>) \u2026\u2026 ‘The clerk reported that [since] the trench mortar allotted to Southport had arrived, but was in a rusty condition. It was decided to accept a German field gun from Mr. Bere and to erect same on a suitable foundation.’ Two months later it was reported (Queensland Times<\/em> , 23 July 1920, page 3<\/a>) that Bere, ‘a former resident of Southport who recently returned from an extended trip in England, has advised the Town Council that he has secured from the Imperial War Authorities the promise of a German field gun captured in France, provided the cost of transport is borne locally. A meeting, convened by the Mayor, has been fixed for Friday next to discuss the matter.’<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
The barrel has been relined and the Kaiser’s [barrel] cypher has been mostly machined away during this process. The carriage is dated 1915 and the breech date in either 1906 (or 1898)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In the event Southport decided not to pursue Bere’s offer, thus clearing the way for Goolman Shire Council’s successful offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its well subscribed field gun fund, Boonah\u2019s envoys didn\u2019t hesitate to pay the \u00a376\/5\/ (\u201cfreight…and minor expenses\u201d) needed to secure the gun and effect its delivery home –  in time for town\u2019s annual show later that same week.  Boonah thereby became the only Australian town (or city) ever to have purchased its own Great War trophy gun (albeit, the only privately-owned Great War trophy gun ever to reach these shores).    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seemingly oblivious to these developments the QWTC reconvened a few weeks after these developments to consider an unforeseen and worrying development. Due to the \u201dapathy shown by many allottees\u201d the Committee was now left with a surplus of field guns. Consequently, at its 8th June 1921 meeting it resolved to write and offer Boonah a Field Gun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“29 Years Ago,” The Beaudesert Times<\/em>, 10 November 1950, 7, https:\/\/trove.nla.gov.au\/newspaper\/article\/216167329.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It beggars belief that a temporary Captain in the the British Army Canteen Committee should succeed in privately obtaining and importing a field gun to Australia at a time when shipping space was critically scarce? Bere, his wife and fifteen year old son all travelled first class when they returned Australia aboard the H.T. Oromonde<\/em> on 20 March 1920 ( NAA: K269, 2 MAY 1920 ORMONDE<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bere is a somewhat interesting character, an incurable inventor with a particular interest in chair design<\/a>. On his return to Australia he founded the Everest Chair Co., and later acted as its manager. He died in 1936 and is buried in Sherwood<\/a>, Brisbane<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When in 1921 the Queensland War Trophy Committee (QWTC) ruled that Boonah was ineligible to receive a captured field gun, the town\u2019s citizenry resolved to try and independently secure one of these trophies by whatever means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12,13,14,15,16,17,8],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-war-trophy","tag-boonah","tag-fk96-n-a","tag-fried-krupp","tag-goolman-shire","tag-henry-sidney-bere","tag-southport-town-council","tag-war-trophy","post_format-post-format-image","wp-image-borders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554,"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.anzacwartrophies.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}