Moreton Regiment, 1886, Infantry, First Regiment of Queensland

Description

Title: Moreton Regiment, 1886, Infantry, First Regiment of Queensland

Author: Anderson, Peter

Condition: Very Good Plus – Partially removed price tag top right corner of the front cover.

Edition: 1st Edition

Publication Date: 1986

ISBN: 1862526486

Cover: Soft Cover – no Dust Jacket – 48 pages.

Comments: The unit history of the Moreton Regiment.

The 9th Battalion can trace it’s history back to 1860 with the formation of the No 1 Company comprising 50 volunteer riflemen to serve as infantry within the Queensland Defence Force. During the 1860s and into the 1870s, the company grew in in numbers and eventually in 1879 four companies of infantry were amalgamated in Brisbane as The First Regiment of Queensland Infantry under the command of Major W H Snelling. The new regiment comprised seven companies, designated ‘A’ through to ‘H’.

In 1885, the regiment was now a partially paid corps and became designated as The First Queenslanders (The Moreton Regiment) and comprised 520 paid volunteer militia officers and soldiers and 660 volunteers who did not receive any pay from the Queensland Government.

The regiment called for volunteers for active service in 1891, when the Queensland Government proclaimed a state of emergency caused by the Shearers Strike. The soldiers were badly prepared and under provisioned that upon arriving in Gympie (on the way to Barcaldine to confront the renegade shearers) that socks and other provisions had to be purchased before they could continue on their way. They remained in Barcaldine for several months before finally sailing back to Brisbane.

During the 1890s, several officers were posted to the regiment and who would later distinguish themselves as generals during the First World War. Captain Henry Chauvel was posted as the Adjutant in 1896 whilst Lieutenant Cyril Brudenel White (later Chief of Staff to Monash and Chief of the Imperial General Staff) joined in 1897. The regimental also adopted the motto “For Queen and Country” in 1898 and in 1899 saw volunteers join the Queensland contingent for service in South Africa fighting the Boers.

In 1900, the regiment lost it’s ‘F’ Company (Ipswich), ‘H’ Company (Blackstone), ‘I’ Company (Boonah) and ‘K’ Company (Lowood) to the newly formed Darling Downs Regiment. This left the regiment with six companies.

The new year (1901) brought in one of the most famous events in Australia’s history – Federation. The various state defence forces

were absorbed into the Commonwealth Military Forces and this saw the regiment become the 9th Australian Infantry Regiment (The Moreton Regiment). As more than 10 percent of the regiment had seen service in South Africa, the Battle Honour ‘South Africa 1900- 02’ was granted to the regiment by His Majesty King Edward VII with the banner being presented in Centennial Park in Sydney.

The year 1911 saw the introduction of compulsory military service in Australia which led to further re-numbering and much change within the fledgling Australian Defence Force. The regiment lost its Moreton Regiment designation in 1913 to the 7th Battalion and became known as the 9th Battalion (Logan and Albert Regiment) under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel G A Ferguson.