Captain Ronald Campbell of Bombala Station, Cambalong: His Military Life and Times

By Ivor George Williams

Captain Ronald Campbell served in the British military in the first half of the nineteenth century, and his life and service speak to the hardships of army life around the world and in Sydney and New South Wales in those bygone days.

In Captain Ronald Campbell of Bombala Station, Cambalong, author Ivor George Williams shares his research into Captain Campbells life and the history of the regiments in which he served. Ivor traces Captain Campbells influence on the Bombala district, and he offers fellow historians a broad collection of historical documents about the men and women who both served and lived during this time in Australian history.

Although we may believe that the twenty-first century is changing at an ever-increasing rate, history reminds us that the nineteenth century had a more rapid and significant change. Captain Robert Campbells life can remind us of the service and determination that made the descendants of these pioneers rally to the flag so valiantly on the eve of World War 1.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546280798

Ivor George Williams

Ivor George Williams was born in Hereford, England, on February 25, 1932. After being evacuated from London at the outbreak of World War 2, he lived in Herefordshire and Shropshire during the war, and he later enlisted in the Welsh Guards in 1949. Ivor emigrated to Australia in 1957, and he served a long career as a police officer before retiring in 1987. Today Ivor has a strong interest in British military history, and he has researched and visited a number of important historical battlefields.

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CONTENTS

Pioneer

Acknowledgements

Preface

The Military Life And Times Of Captain Ronald Campbell Of Cambalong

The 24th Regiment Of Foot

The 31st Regiment Of Foot.

Names Of Officers Of The 31st Regiment Of Foot, Aboard The Kent

PIONEER

We are the old-world people

Ours were the hearts to dare;

But our youth is spent, and our backs are bent,

And the snow is in our hair.

By Frank Hudson.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all those persons, librarians, private individuals and societies that helped in the compilation of this work. With special Thanks to the descendants of Captain Ronald Campbell, of the 31st Regiment of Foot, Dr. John Campbell, Captain John Alexander Edwards, of the 17th Regiment of Foot, and Ann Parker, and Lieutenant Colonel John Kenneth Mackenzie of the 4th Regiment of Foot, I would also like to show my appreciation to the regimental history records of the of the 4th, 17th, 24th, and 31st, Regiments of Foot. The National Library of Australia Trove, Monaro Pioneers, and Bega District News, Ms Wendy Holz of the State Library of New South Wales, Ms Fran O’Flynn Goulburn Library, The National Archives Kew, in London, and the staff of the Bega Valley Shire Library in Bega, and in particular Mrs Margaret Sly. The Military Guide for young Officers, by Thomas Simes 1776, The History of the East Surrey Regiment, 1702-1914, Recollection of seven years service in India by John Greenwood, 31st Regiment of Foot, and Reminiscences of a veteran, by Major Thomas Bunbury, 80th, Regiment of Foot. and In Pensioner Brian Smith, Royal Hospital Chelsea.

PREFACE

This book has been four years in the making, and started in December 2013 when I noticed a Clearing Sale notice in the Bega District News Paper, one of the items mentioned was the six volumes of Napier’s Peninsular War1828.

Having a great interest in the Napoleon Wars and in particular the British army and have visited most of the Battle Field sites in Portugal and Spain. I attended the Clearing Sale at Cambalong House, near Bombala, NSW, and I am now the proud owner of the 6 volumes of Napier’s Peninsular War that had belonged to Captain Ronald Campbell of the 31st Regiment of Foot.

My interest in Australian History began in 1940 when after being evacuated from London, I attended Upton Bishop School, Near Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, The headmasters House was attached to the school, and in his hallway and on the wall was an Australian Aboriginal Boomerang, which seem to have mystic qualities to me, The headmaster when a young man, before the First World War, had been a jackaroo, in Australian. And the first book I ever read was Robbery under Arms by Thomas Alexander Brown, at that school.

I have endeavoured to trace the military life of Captain Ronald Campbell, and the history of the regiments in which he served, and to gain some insight into the life and times, and its hardships, of army life, around the world and in Sydney and New South Wales in those by gone days.

At that time the Sydney Gazette of 1833 recorded the population of NSW as 17.570 free inhabitants and 21.845 prisoners, 2.000.000 lbs of wool had been transported and sold in England that year at an excellent profit, and Australia became a land of great opportunity for wealth and prospects, military settlers was encouraged by the remission of Land Sale purchase money, with millions of acres of unexplored country and value from sheep’s wool, and an inexhaustible supply cheap convict labour was available. In early 1833 over 389 applications were made for convict servants totalling one thousand eight hundred and ninety four convicts, but only 1026 convicts were available and assigned. The settled areas, was awash with runway convicts and Bushrangers. And life and limb was always in danger, no one was safe from being bailed up.

On 12th June 1833, we find His Excellency, Governor Bourke, authorising the establishment, of the police force, for the town and port of Sydney. Two items in the Bill are of great interest, (1) Publicans, or others persons harbouring policemen, during hours of duty, being subject to a penalty. And (2) Dead animals not to be thrown into Sydney Cove or Darling Harbour.

Although we may believe that in 2015 our world is changing at an ever increasing rate, history reminds us that the 1800’s had a more rapid and significant change,

The 4th Regiment of Foot, took part in the opening of the first steam railway service,

From Liverpool to Manchester, on 15th September 1830. And communication between England and Australia, had been revolutionized by the completion of the overland telegraph line from Darwin to Port Augusta in 1872. there had been the Crimea War with Russia and the American Civil War.

For those living on the far South of New South Wales the movement of goods and chattels was by Bullock Cart Teams, travelling at about ten miles per day, on tracks through the bush, In-passable in the wet, and in times of drought, there being no feed along the roads for the animals, all movement of commerce would be suspended until the rains came and the grass grow again.

For those of us, with fading memories of military service, of Trooping the Regimental Colours, on parade grounds, we still ask ourselves, what was it that made the descendants of these pioneers, rally to the flag so valiantly in 1914, All we have to remind us are the War Memorials in every town and village and the story of the march from Delegate. That War, drove Australia to its knees. I believe, the most potent reminder of the First World War is the Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics, records, that show the total number of births in 1914 being 137.983. It was not until 1943, before this number of births was ever reached again.

Ivor G Williams, Royal Hospital Chelsea, 2017.

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With kind permission from the editor of the Bega District News and the Bombala Times news papers.

THE MILITARY LIFE