One Flag, One Queen, One Tongue: New Zealand, the British Empire, and the South African War (review)

One Flag, One Queen, One Tongue is a splendid addition to the growing body of work on colonial participation in the South African War. Generally, when one considers the colonial contingents, one thinks of the Australians' service and the "Breaker" Morant saga, which, in the popular account, illustrated the British government's insensitivity to and its misunderstanding of the colonial forces.

In One Flag, however, the authors skillfully steer the reader away from these tired patterns of thought. That is not to say that the Bushveldt Carbineers are not mentioned; rather, their actions, specifically those of Lieutenants Morant and Handcock, are placed into the context of Kitchener's need to maintain discipline among the troops. John Crawford points out that although the Australians might have been the "larrikin element" in the colonial military machine, it was generally recognized that there was a distinct difference between their laid back approach to military service, and an absence of military discipline, the latter of which abounded in the Morant case (pp. 208-9). Therefore, it was the Carbineers' lack of discipline, the undoing of any military force, that Kitchener sought to target.

A lack of discipline was not an issue for the New Zealanders, however. Both colonial and British troops greeted the New Zealand forces with acclaim. While they too might have taken an approach to combat and service different from the British, the New Zealanders' contribution was no less disciplined, effective, and admirable. These were, according to Crawford, the "dutiful sons" of the empire (p. 208).

Beyond the troops, the editors' mission was to analyze responses to the war among the nonmilitary communities. One Flag meets these goals, with a very good analysis of various groups' reactions to this test of imperial steadfastness. Women receive considerable attention, as Megan Hutching and Ellen Ellis illustrate in their work on women's involvement in and opposition to the war. Traditionally, Emily Hobhouse has served as the "women's representative" to Boer War analyses. Now, however, in addition to those New Zealand women who opposed the war, we learn about their sisters who sought adventure in the same way as the men did. As Ellis maintains, many of the female teachers who sailed to the newly annexed British South African colonies spent the remainder of their lives overseas (p. 148). This was an opportunity for liberation that was not to be missed.

The editors also seek to place the New Zealand contribution in the wider context of colonial participation. Thomas Pakenham, Craig Wilcox, and Carman Miller provide the material for this, with discussions of the colonial military contribution, Australian efforts, and the Canadian outlook respectively. One Flag proves that, as in the other colonies, Boer War service enabled New Zealanders to develop an increased sense of nationalism, for as they fought for the empire, so they proved themselves able members of it.