TO FIGHT FOR THE EMPIRE: An Illustrated History of New Zealand and the South African War 1899-1902.

• Author: GREY, JEFFREY
• Position: Review

TO FIGHT FOR THE EMPIRE: An Illustrated History of New Zealand and the South African War 1899-1902 Author: John Crawford with Ellen Ellis Published by: Reed Books, Auckland, 1999, 128pp, $29.95.

The Boer War was fought when the Australian and New Zealand colonies were on the cusp of formal nationhood. Perhaps that explains why the histories of their involvement took so long to appear, and were generally unsatisfactory when they did so. It took until 1949 for the New Zealand official history, by D.O.W. Hall, to be published, and the result has usually been judged inadequate. No Australian official history ever saw the light of day, although one was certainly planned and some work on it was undertaken. (A proper Australian national history is now being undertaken by Craig Wilcox, and will appear in time for the centenary of the war's end.) Colonial Australians and New Zealanders were bit-part players in a greater international drama, and general histories of the Boer War treat them accordingly where they notice them at all.

Centenaries and anniversaries provide a fine opportunity to rectify past neglect, and to invest events with meaning in ways which would probably never have occurred to those who actually lived through them. Last year saw numerous academic conferences in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, held to mark the centenary of the war's beginning. Although this book was not the product of the conference held in Wellington in October 1999, its release was timed to coincide with it. It thus has an internal unity often missing from conference proceedings, together with a purpose.

Drawing on personal papers, official records and such secondary literature as exists, Crawford provides us with a pleasing mix of...