Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

golden p1:rinJ in ,\u!\tralian art and cullun: . . . If il 1..·vcr WU!'- thal. il wa!'o ,11 o111h hrietl\'. Th,· full stnr\' o1f the lkllklhcrg · sd111\1I i, t111c lii° ultinrnt1..· failure unJ l111C or thc gn.~at merit~ ,1r the Manwn ('11lk•·ti11n i, that ii , h11w, that alHngsidc il!'-1 ,u:hicvcmcnb. "Lol1king. hat:~ nnw. Prl1l\:~~or McCaughey eundmk,. ··1hc achkvc– mcnl of the 1-lciddherg SchlH•I has an aura ,1f intHH..'t:lll'e . . . Like the rountrv. whn~c 1:onsdousncs:-i they helped io , hape. llwv were \'llllll)!.'. n A war fought on behalf of the gold barons By EDMUND CAMPION The Boer War, by Thomas Pakenham . Weidenfeld & Nichol– son, $29 .95. THE Boer War ( 1899-1902) was fought to keep the gold mines or South Africa in British hands. In that respect ii was a success. When the principal mine– uwners died - Alfred Beil in 1906 and Julius Wernher in 191 2 - their pcrs1111:1l estates ,,,ere in turn the richest ever registered for pruhule al S"mcrsel House. In all other respects, the Boer war was a horrible disaster. II cnnsumed men, money and animals at a rate that would he reckoned infamou,. were it nnl for the worse memories or World War I. Among Afrikaners ii kft a rankling hatred of Britain that cnuld be assuaged only by South Africa·s resignation from the British Commonwealth in 1961. Even today the official war museum in Bloemfontein exhihils ground glass supposedly fed 1n Hoer inmates or the Uritish concentration camps. Readers or Thomas Pakenham·s splendid hook will readily side with the Hoers. Pakcnham has !liven eight years 10 The Boer War and ii has proved time well-spent. Mis hnok is a masterlv re-creation. written with great dranulltc sense and placement. II is a hig hook. nearly 700 pages. hut ii rnnnol fail to rnptivate anyone remntcly interested in its topics. To get this honk. Pak•:nhum learned Afrikaans and qunrricd his sources from hnlh sides uf' the field. Snmc nr his findings radically correct the oflkial v~rsinns or evcnt~. In particular. he rehahiliw1es General llullcr. who for thn:c-quarh:rs uf ;i c1..•ntury has been a \'iclim nr the Rnhens-Ki tchencr fan club. Buller was nnt a great general. hut 111..•it hcr wa...; he the humhlin1! in– competent pnrtraycd in /'111• .._/'i111<·.<