Breaker Morant

Peter FitzSimons in conversation with Bruce Beresford and Stephen Romei 

Most Australians have heard of the Boer War of 1899 to 1902 and of Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant who joined up to fight 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. 

In his latest book, Breaker Morant, Peter Fitzsimons unravels the many myths and fictions that surround the life of Harry Morant. 

Peter will be joined for this talk by the director of the iconic 1980 film Breaker Morant, and literary editor and film critic Stephen Romei.