Topic: BW General
Boer War
British POW's at Waterval Camp
[From The Queenslander, 5 May 1900, p. 839.]
The Boers fully understand the various uses of barb-wire. They have employed it to confuse a charging enemy and when sections of that enemy have fallen into their hands they have utilised this comparatively modern invention to keep their prisioners within bounds. The captured British officers who have been taken to Pretoria are housed in the State Model School from which it will be remembered Mr Winston Churchill made his escape. The school is a modern and well built building, having many large and lofty rooms and surrounded by a broad and cool veranda. The officers have their own cooks and servants. The bathrooms are commodious and books can be procured from the State Library. The rations supplied to the prisoners are of much the same quantity and quality as those issued to the wives and families of burghers throughout the State.
The great bulk of the captured men, however, are in camp at Waterval, the new military prison camp outside Pretoria. Their quarters consist of a series of long galvanised iron sheds. In them the soldiers make themselves comfortable and seem to have settled down to a regular garrison existence. The large enclosure is surrounded by a barbed wire entanglement. Each corner is protected by stockades, on which Maxim guns are mounted. Each stockade is in electric communication with the others and the whole camp seems to form an absolutely secure detention ground for the prisoners. The sentry appear to be men of middle age. They are in every day mufti and look anything but military, the only evidence of soldierly duties being their rifles and bandoleers.
Further Reading:
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
Citation: Boer War, General Topics, British POW's at Waterval
