Breaker Morant

by Peter FitzSimons

The epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero?

Most Australians have heard of the Boer War of 1899 to 1902 and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. Born in England and emigrating to Queensland in 1883 in his early twenties, Morant was a charming but reckless man who established a reputation as a rider, polo player and writer. He submitted ballads to The Bulletin that were published under the name 'The Breaker' and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. When appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa, Morant joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers.

In October 1901 Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day.

Does Breaker Morant deserve his iconic status? Who was Harry Morant? What events and passions led him to a conflict that was essentially an Imperial war, played out on a distant continent under a foreign flag? Was he a scapegoat for British war crimes or a criminal himself?

With his trademark brilliant command of story, Peter FitzSimons unravels the many myths and fictions that surround the life of Harry Morant. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'The Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and, in the hands of this master storyteller, make compelling reading.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Australia, Audiobook, War, Historical

547 pages, Hardcover

Published October 27, 2020

About the author

Peter FitzSimons is one of Australia’s most prominent and successful media and publishing identities. His busy professional life involves co-hosting the breakfast program on Sydney's Radio 2UE, writing weekly columns for the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald newspapers, appearing on Foxtel's Back Page television show and, when time permits, authoring best-selling books. A correspondent for London's Daily Telegraph as well, he is also in high demand as a guest speaker and presenter

Reviews

[Clay Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more about the Boer War than just about Breaker Morant. There are whole chapters in which Breaker Morant is not mentioned. The mocking tone of the author is off putting. A better author could have done a better job with this material.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaker Morant is yet another complex Australian antihero that we love despite their criminal (and sometimes murderous) tendencies- think Ned Kelly but he’s borrowed your money, slept with your wife and wrote a poem about it. Actually he’s nothing like Ned Kelly but we love them both so you get the idea.
In any case, his story is incredible!
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To understand the whole story of Breaker, you also need to understand the Boer war. Fought in South Africa in 1899- 1902, It was complicated but essentially Mighty Britain fighting to remain in power and in control of resources. This is the war Breaker signed up for, he arrived in South Africa in 1900 with the South Australian mounted rifles and began his campaign.
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Breaker Morant was killed by a British firing squad after being found guilty of murder (this isn’t a spoiler, it’s history). But how can you murder someone when you’re at war? Well you see Breaker killed unarmed Boers who had surrendered, this is murder. What this novel does is strips away the Australian folklore and delivers scathing facts about an Aussie antihero who has been painted as the underdog, the wronged, the British scapegoat.
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War is war, but facts are facts and this war seems particularly brutal and meaningless- even Banjo Paterson spoke out against British tactics upon his return to Australia.
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“By the way, did you hear who was in South Africa for the war?! Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling (I think he was on holiday or whatever), Winston Churchill (talk about an ego, like spare me!), Mahatma Ghandi, Banjo Paterson (still unmarried, but you didn’t hear that from me) and Van Gogh’s brother! I’m not even joking, they were literally all there!” A veritable who’s whom of Victorian era society.
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True to form, Peter Fitzsimmons has written another cracker Australian history book. His novels are incredibly researched and highly entertaining. He has mastered accessible Australian history.

[Mary Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history of the second Boer War is very well researched, with exhaustive end notes and bibliography. I think anyone who reads it will come away convinced that Breaker Morant was no hero, nor was he badly dealt with by the British army. He was a liar, a thief and ultimately a murderer. I find the author's style a bit hard to deal with at times but overall it was an interesting book and very informative.

[Judy]

I am not going to rate this.
I have no doubt it is well written etc.
it is just a personal thing.
I can’t cope any longer with the detail upon detail of war, killing, arrogance, war.
It was doing my head in at about chapter 8 of the audio book. And with another 19 hours to go I decided this isn’t the book for me.
My neighbour who highly highly recommended it to me has given me a summary and for now that is fine.
So much war.

[Nick Howard-Bath · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book I’ve read in regards to the Boer War. I was unaware of both Breaker Morant and the controversy that still lives on today. While reading the first 100 pages I wasn’t quite sure how Breaker Morant would be involved however, as it progressed, so did his role in the story and it read like a crime novel and one that I was not expecting.


While reading this book I couldn’t help but think about Morants behaviour. A charming larrikin maybe but the narcissistic character traits are easing to spot. This man was a liar and I think his story is evidence of where that can lead.

A fascinating story and a glimpse into the ugliness of war and human nature.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really excellent “his-story”

Another excellent, highly detailed and foot noted history of the Boer War and the murder of Boer POWs and civilians by members of the Bush Veldt Carbineers under Lt. Morant and Handcock. Goes a long way to correcting the mythology that Morant and Handcock were victims of a British kangaroo (sorry) court. In fact, they were guilty and received the justice they and their victims deserved. The devious and criminal role of the psychopath Captain Alfred “Bulala” Taylor is finally detailed. Justice was not served in his case. The 1980 movie was great and still a favorite of mine, but this book, long overdue, is a far better and more truthful telling. Even 100 years later, the truth matters and should be always be front and center.

[Nic D'Alessandro · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll begin this by saying I'm a fan of Peter FitzSimon's work. I've enjoyed many of his other titles.

But not this one. In fact, I stopped reading it about 2/3 the way through. That's rare for me. I usually push-on regardless.

The main subject of the book - Breaker Morant - is part of Australian folklore. A movie of the same name typifies Australian sentiment against the British 'mother country', and harks to our feelings of being used and thrown to the dogs by Britain in both world wars.

But this Breaker Morant - the one the author paints - is not what I expected. He's a theiving, selfish, self-centered, narcissistic, woman-ising, drunken, con-artist. And that's just his good points. It got to a point in the book where I just so disliked him I didn't care whether he was executed, or even whether that was 'just'. I got the impression the author grew to dislike him, too, and I think this came out in his writing.

Large swathes of the book are about the setting - the Boer war between Britain and South African republics in what is now South Africa over a century ago. My god, if ever there was history made to 'end all wars' (at that time, anyway) it would be this waste of time, money and many, many lives. Both sides were disgusting. The lowest of human base behaviour on display. And while the author paints the heroics of the Australian soldiers involved, he also details their atrocities. Truly shameful.

FitzSimon employs a unique style which combines story-telling, fiction, non-fiction, auto-biography, commentary, and narration. He would drive any traditional editor to madness I'd reckon. It's an odd mix, but I'm used to it from his other books. In this book, though, the prose became awkward and stilted in parts, and sometimes plain infuriating. Who's talking? What's happening here? The reader should not be spending time working that out. And in some chapters I was reading unnecessary detail that just didn't seem to matter. So what if the researchers found it ... why do I need to read it?

Definitely not my favourite FitzSimon's title. And I suspect it's not his, either.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another glib tome from Peter "The Pirate" FitzSimons (why does he insist wearing that bandana?). If you're after a book on Breaker Morant, this isn't it. If you've bought it by accident, turn to page 200 and start there, then you'll actually be on the topic. But take what FitzSimon says with a large handful of salt - he writes like he's telling the story to a bunch of mates at the pub (after they've all had a few!) and there's nothing like a bit of fiction to colour a good story. FitzSimons makes up a lot of what he writes himself - the one reason his books will never be classed as accurate history. They're conversational down-the-pub drunken stories made up on a Friday night.

[Mick · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book’s title and blurb promise a biography of Breaker Morant. For most of the first 200 pages Breaker hardly features. What features is beautifully researched and footnoted information on the lead up to the Boer war with detailed explanations of key battles with graphic descriptions of injuries and deaths to men and animals.

Like listening to twenty verses of a song before reaching the chorus. I didn’t make it to the chorus.

[Susan Bray DeLong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading Peter Fitzsimons columns in the Sydney Morning Herald. Except for those about sports which don’t interest me.
I was attracted to reading more about Breaker Morant, a typical Australian anti hero who only joined up to fight the African Boer war because the law was finally catching up to his long string of misdeeds.

Harry Morant had other aliases, but let’s just call him “Breaker” because he was a superb horseman. He made his living breaking horses while roaming up and down through the bush townships of early 1900’s Australia. He never met a woman he couldn’t charm into bed. It didn’t matter if they were married. He liked to borrow money from mates who joined him drinking at the many pubs he frequented. He bet on horse races which he usually won . All the time he wrote poetry lauding his own exploits and along with Banjo Paterson became well known as a bush balladeer.

Breaker lied about everything. Where he was born, his father’s name and profession. He led people to believe his father was a vice admiral and he came from the British upper class. All were lies.
So when it caught up with him he persuaded a couple of like minded blokes who were also excellent horsemen to take the Queen’s Shilling and go and kill as many Boers as possible under the pretense that they had no right to the lands that they had stolen from the black Africans.
The British by this time had outlawed slavery but the Boers thought the blacks were an inferior race put on earth to serve the white race.

Once they landed and started fighting, the colonials proved they were excellent fighters who fought the same way the Boers did. They were capable too of living off the land.
There are many gruesome accounts of the battles and the dreadful slaughter on both sides as canons and rifles took aim and ended many lives.

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I don’t enjoy reading about such distressing acts of violence.

The story that most of us know from the movie about Breaker Morant has him and his fellow colonial soldier accused of murdering a Boer farmer who they in turn accused of murdering and abusing their good friend. The two men were tried and found guilty and were shot a dawn by a squad of Scottish soldiers.

The fame of Breaker Morant lives on in legend just like that of Ned Kelly and Robin Hood. All of them lovable rogues who could charm the birds out of the trees but in effect were con men who made use of their talents to fool and swindle other gullible people until they all met their just deserts!

Or did they?
The so called facts will continue to be argued over many a beer in the outback and bush pubs of Australia.
Makes a terrific Christmas present for many men.

[Jared Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's interesting to read a FitzSimons book that goes against the prevailing narrative, but here he really does stake a claim in the mountainside that Edwin Murrant aka Harry 'The Breaker' Morant, in spite of all his roguish charm, charisma a poetic talent, was quite unequivocally a horrendous war criminal. This is dealt with in the back half of the usual Fitzy tome, the first half giving for the most part a broad history of the Boer War, which establishes with equal authority that Lord Kitchener was the Breaker's equal in bastardry, although the line between the two established by received legend is really a myth.

I see from the other reviews that this was a controversial choice - to have the titular figure essentially absent from hundreds of pages - but I think it makes sense for the audience, people like me who enjoy the much-disdained 'popular history' genre and don't have much knowledge of the now very much obscure Boer War. One of the difficulties of works on history can be the amount of context provided for the modern reader, and this book definitely has buckets of the stuff. In effect, it serves as a history of Australian involvement in the Boer War in general.

I did feel in parts of this book that's Fitzy's trademark yarning style may have gotten away from him a bit. He often likes to dip into heightened imaginary voices of characters and make extraneous puns and the like in general, and in this book some passages comprise of nearly nothing except for this added colour. It can feel a bit like padding, with isn't really necessary in a book of 500-odd pages. Regardless, I recommend for readers with an interest in the period who can stomach accounts of guerilla warfare, racism, hypocrisy, and war crimes both small and borderline genocidal.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, providing a history of Australia’s involvement in the Boer War alongside a detailed narrative of the war crimes and trial of volunteer Australian soldier Breaker Morant. The author, Australian journalist and historian Peter Fitzsimmons, pulls Breaker Morant away from the many myths that surround him and tells the stories of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who brought Morant to justice. The first part of the book is the broader history of the Boer War, concentrating on the military involvement of Australia and New Zealand. The second part of the book covers the Boer insurgency and the dangerous mix of volunteer soldiers from across the British Empire, an elusive adversary, and an operating environment of mixed signals from higher headquarters. Though Fitzsimmons firmly argues Morant’s guilt in the killing of surrendered Boers and innocent witnesses, he also paints him as a un-witting tool in the hands of a British military establishment uncertain of how to proceed in the midst of an ever-worsening insurgency. I enjoyed Fitzsimmons’ writing style, with its echoes of the bush poets of the era, such as Banjo Peterson. Unfortunately, that breezy style of writing hurts the author’s attempt to narrate a serious history of a controversial topic. A great book for anyone wanting to better appreciate the early military history of Australia. Recommended for its lesson on the dangers of pursuing a counter-insurgency with volunteer troops operating outside of a professional military culture.

[FellowBibliophile KvK · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sparsely endnoted, and mostly from memoirs of interested players and newspapers. Very few archival sources. In several places, he relates Kitchener's and De La Rey's thoughts and words with zero endnotes, in stark contrast to Professor Mark Mazower's Inside Hitler's Greece and Professor Holly Case's Between States . He takes George Witton's Scapegoats of Empire to task for being inaccurate...then proceeds to cite it extensively as a source for large segments of what he recounts as "fact."

The only thing you need to do to see that this book is trash is to compare it with Australian Professor Eleanor Hancock's Ernst Röhm: Hitler's SA Chief Of Staff which is thickly endnoted, often with multiple references per endnote and with a balance of these endnotes being archival sources and other contemporary documents as opposed to memoirs written years after the fact.

That FitzSimmons received an Order of Australia after producing such drivel while Professor Hancock did not after producing a meticulous, careful, thoroughly documented and balanced examination does not speak well of how Australia values education. FitzSimmons says he "stands second to no one in his loathing for Kitchener," while Professor Hancock calmly says of the far worse Ernst Röhm "There is no evidence that he undertook any action to mitigate Nazi anti-Semitism." There, in a nutshell, is the difference between a professional like Professor Hancock and rugby player like FitzSimmons.

[Steve Swayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough account of the Boer War and the role played in it by Breaker Morant. Early sections of the book cover the back story of Morant's time in Australia. The author allowed the larrikin nature of Morant, his horsemanship, and his poetry writing talent to shine early on, then to gradually bring us down to earth with details of his swindling and defrauding exploits, womanising and need to escape Australia. The Boer War seemed the least unappealing way out.

The latter sections of the book describe in chilling detail the descent of Morant and his fellow officers into callous men capable of ordering their soldiers to fire on women and children, and to shoot unarmed prisoners.

The British have a lot to answer for in their treatment of the civilian population in concentration camps, and the author pulls no punches in the description of how the war descended into trying to get the Boers to capitulate through destruction of farms and imprisonment of families of Boer fighters and other civilians. It was a very brutal and callous business.

Unlike most other books on the subject of Morant, FitzSimons clearly shows that 'The Breaker' was guilty of the crimes he was charged with and that he and Hancock certainly were deserving of their fates. They may have been executed to appease the Germans over the murder of a German missionary, but they deserved to die for their actions.

Well researched and very well written. This is the definitive account of Breaker Morant's life.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was indeed a good and thrilling story, which kept me up into the early hours to finish it (although I did skip the unnecessary poetry / songs). I enjoyed the first half of the book, which dealt with the Boer War itself as well as the second half with Morant, neither of which I knew much about.

I was surprised by the fact that the court martial judges, while pronouncing guilt, requested mercy for Morant and Handcock, which Kitchener refused. I wasn’t aware of this mercy plea and from the way this book was written, with strong evidence and portrayal of the men, it came as a shock.

Don’t get me wrong, they were guilty, but this twist made me stop and think.

Looking at other reviews (not on this site) it appears the author may have taken some liberties, perhaps selectively omitting or changing things to suit his own interpretations. It would not necessarily change their guilt, but does put into question some of the evidence Fitzsimons has put forward as potentially incorrect, which could answer why the mercy plea by the court seems a little out of place in this book.

Whether true or not, it has unfortunately created some doubts and therefore the rating has dropped from a 4 star down to 3.

[Gael · Rating 2 out of 5]

(audiobook edition)
I've read several of Peter FitzSimons' books recently. Mutiny on the Bounty was pretty good, the story of James Cook was better. This one was awful. I could hardly wait for it to be over. The only reason I stuck with it until the end was that I really wanted to know more about the history of the Boer wars.

The story dragged and what was worse was the frequent "poetry" and occasional singing. I hate rhymy simplistic poetry and this book was full of it. Maybe the narrator made it worse - I rushed to my phone to skip whenever I could, but I suspect I would have still found it irritating in print. Overall this might have made a good short story (without poetry) but it felt like it was expanded to fit a large word requirement with almost nothing to say.

Subject of Boer wars: Interesting
Story of Breaker Morant: Could have been summed up in just a few pages
Narrator (Cameron Goodall): OK
Overall: teeth grindingly tedious

[Patrick Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I think it would be better titled as "The Boer War and Breaker Morant". True, you can not tell the story of Breaker Morant without the Boer War, but so much of the early portion of the book was dedicated primarily to the war. As a history buff, I actually appreciated this, but someone who wanted a book that focused primarily on Breaker Morant might be a little disappointed. The greatest aspect of this book was that it separated the man from the myth. Up until this book, my knowledge of Breaker Morant came entirely from the movie "Breaker Morant" which portrayed him as a heroic, tragic figure. Peter FitzSimons heavily researched book, as far as I'm concerned, got to the truth of the matter. Yes, Morant was tragic, sometimes heroic, but was also a murderer and a liar. Fair to say, he was a sociopath, and got his just deserts.

[Amanda Short · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge Peter FitzSimons fan and love all his books. Unfortunately I never finished this one. There was not enough on the story of Breaker Morant himself, and too much on the war ( pages and pages to the point where I became disengaged. I liken this disengagement to movies where there are one too many car chases.) While the Boer War is integral to the story of " The Breaker" it was such a shame that a superb start to the book lost its way 2/3 through. Don't give up on Peter Fitzsimons though. This is the first of his many novels that I have read, that just wasn't up to his normal storytelling ability.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly-recommended warts-and-all look at the saga of 'Breaker' Morant and others during the bitter and divisive Boer War.

Morant, infamously, was executed for his part in the murder of some unarmed Boer prisoners and FitzSimons' book should and hopefully will cast aside any suggestion that Morant and the other man executed, Peter Handcock, were good men, following bad orders from British superiors - kind of Australian folk heroes, if you will. Morant was not the romantic character he has been portrayed as in some contemporary accounts. The book puts to bed all the myths. Another Peter Fitz triumph.

[Michael Fleming · Rating 5 out of 5]

A significant part of the book provides a history of the Boer War along with some specific events that don't actually include the main character Breaker Morant. For me, this was not a problem as I was being educated about some history that I had very little knowledge of. For others, the fact that there is a lot of reading that does not directly involve Breaker Morant might be a problem.

I am a fan of Peter FitzSimons, his subject choices and his writing style. I was not disappointed with this book.

[Peter Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. In Fitzsimons’ often folky style but backed with solid research, the story hums along. He deals with the contentious, even outrageous controversy over whether Morant ‘got what he deserved’ and shows him up as a clever, exciting and reckless rogue. It shows some insight into instances of parochial/partisan thinking amongst Australians who could have checked first before shooting protective barrages for the Breaker. Some prominent people are included in the number of the misguided. A good read.

[Vicki Caton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Peter FitzSimons, I (even though I'm from New Zealand) believed that he was wrongly executed and made a scape coat for the British Generals who where in charge, but after reading this book I see how wrong I was, Breaker Morant and Peter Hancock where cold hard murderers, who didn't care about anyone and used the excuse of the death of Captain Hunt as a excuse to shoot unarmed men.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this story was very interesting.It took a little to get going but finished strong.I didn’t really know much about breaker morant before reading this book.It is honestly hard to break away from the fact that he was a war criminal.But he wasn’t the last war criminal following orders from a broken system to get punished.There seemed to be a few in this story that should have felt lucky not to join him.The boer war is pretty much a forgotten war these days mainly due to the fact that a lot of survivors are well and truly gone.Apparently my great grandfather served in the boer war for Britain and was well decorated so I can see myself getting into some research in the near future.
But overall it has left me in a bind.What I mean by that is would have this story happened in modern day warfare like this?We now recognise a lot more what soldiers go through.
I liked the way the story of the other side and of the concentration camps intertwined.
I must agree some of the language used in parts of the story does make it seem like a pub tale.
Never the less well researched and my first Peter Fitzsimmons book and I’m pretty sure it won’t be my last.

[Craig Dooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only knowledge of The Breaker prior to this book was the movie starring Edward Woodward and Jack Thompson. Not only does it provide an overall description and reasons for the Boer conflict itself, but provides an unbiased view of the actual war crimes that brought about his execution. Totally different to that shown in the movie. It also highlights the inhumane treatment of the Boer population imprisoned by the British in the original concentration camps. A far different perspective than that currently offered in popular historical accounts. Highly recommended.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

No better way, in my humble opinion, to learn more about the Boer War than with the help of this author and his fabulous writing ability. Whilst this book is NOT for the faint hearted, if you are interested in the history of the Boer War, or Breaker Morant specifically, this book will be of interest to you.

[Cassidy Chellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a brilliant account of the affairs of the Bushveldt Carbineers, and the trials of Morant, Handcock and Witten, though I truly struggle to imagine how one could regard them as folk heroes. Murderers, swindlers and liars all, good riddance.

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the audio edition.

Excellant book but it did contain much more on the Boer War than I expected. One might say the first half is about the war with details on the Breaker and the second half is about the Breaker with details on the war

[T. Stranger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really great story by Fitzsimons. A shameful part of our own history that is worth turning your attention to.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Shoot Straight, You Bastards!" That the Breaker deserved his fate always seemed more plausible to be on balance. An excellent, in-depth and honest look at the man behind the myth.

[Daniel Cain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Very informative about the Boar war and a detailed account of Morant.