Queensland Imperial Bushmen Brass Shoulder Title
 

Hi All,

Here's another photo from my archives.

A nice Queensland Imperial Bushmen brass shoulder title worn during the Boer War.

From Wikipedia:

"The Queensland Imperial Bushmen was an Australian mounted Imperial Bushmen regiment raised in the Queensland colony for service during the Second Boer War.

The British Australian government was called upon to raise battalions to send to South Africa. As with the other five Australian domains, Queensland raised a contingent of mounted soldiers for the Second Boer War. The 4th and 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen departed Brisbane on 18 May 1900 and were deployed to Cape Town on 31 June 1900. Both contingents served with distinction during the conflict, and developed a tough reputation among the Boers.

Following the conclusion of the conflict, the Queensland Imperial Bushmen sailed for home on 7 July 1901 and were disbanded on 5 May 1902."

Enjoy!

Mick

Their shoulder titles were normally made here, in Great Britain, it certainly does not look like a shoulder title, a glance at the photographs suggests to me, at least, a South African made hat badge, made in rather limited quantities simply because of the time consuming nature of the manufacture by jewellers.

The owner of this told me that it was a shoulder title made in South Africa. He's a big collector of Aussie Boer War items. It could well be a hat badge as items from that period aren't well documented.

Mick

Hi Mick

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Regards Phil.

Well, I cannot agree, their shoulder titles were made here, in Great Britain, along with the Queensland Mounted Infantry, if that badge had been made in pairs to be worn upon shoulder straps, you would certainly expect them to be far more common than they actually are, given the relative scarcity of their shoulder titles.

I'm of the opinion that it is a shoulder title unofficially made in South Africa. It's of a similar size to other unofficially made shoulder titles I have seen. Quite a few Australian units that served in the Boer War had unofficial insignia made in South Africa during their deployment.

Mick