A bullet-damaged British penny etched with the name Edwin Henry Morant has been found on a rubbish tip outside Tenterfield, the northern NSW home town of the lawyer who represented Harry "Breaker" Morant at his notorious Boer War war crimes trial.
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The coin is on a leather thong, and is perhaps an early form of dog tag.
An Australian red ensign was also discovered. It bears the names of Morant and his co-accused, Peter Handcock. Their birth and execution dates are inked into the Southern Cross stars on the design. It reads:
"Utter scapegoats of the Empire.
"This flag bore witness [to] 11 scapegoats of the Empire Feb 27 1902 Pretoria.
"Signed J F Thomas.
"Handcock Feb 17 1868 Feb 27 1902 RIP.
"Lt Henry H Morant Dec 9 1884 Feb 27 1902 Pretoria RIP."
The writing is believed to be that of James Francis Thomas, the Tenterfield solicitor who was serving as a major in South Africa when appointed to defend the two at their war crimes court martial, one of the first in British military history.
The 1980 film Breaker Morant turned the executions into a kind of new Australian nationalism and a grainy 1902 photograph of Thomas standing by the flag-draped grave in Pretoria of the dead Anglo-Australian horseman, bush poet and military officer, has become an iconic image.
The ensign found at the tip is believed to be that flag.
The items were found in February in an old mail bag inside a hessian bag dumped on the tip. Other articles included a bayonet scabbard, a cartridge bandolier (which carries the name Henry Morant) part of a trumpet and brass drinking cups, both etched with the initials HM, army field eating equipment and a Boer War medallion.
The man who discovered the relics wants to remain anonymous. He is also against revealing the rubbish tip for fear of creating a rush.
However he has donated the items to Tenterfield's Sir Henry Parkes School of Arts and local lawyer, TerryKneipp, will deliver the opening speech when they go on display on Saturday.
Kneipp, whose father knew Thomas, says the words on the ensign look to be in Thomas' handwriting.
"The provenance is hard to establish. Thomas died in 1946. But there are too many coincidences not to believe that the articles are genuine," Kneipp said.
"Of course, it may be wildly speculative to think that the British penny was damaged when the Breaker was shot, but it is tempting to think the coin was evidence that the execution squad did its work well. After all he supposedly called out, 'Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!'."
Morant, whose birth name was Edwin Henry Morant, and Handcock were found guilty of the summary execution of nine Afrikaner prisoners-of-war.
Thomas returned to Tenterfield a broken man.
He took up the cause of the two executed men but seemed out of step with the times.
Thomas became an eccentric around town, eventually bankrupt. He served time in Long Bay in the 1920s and returned to town in disgrace.
He died at 81, alone on his isolated property at Boonoo Boonoo, 30km outside of town. It was Armistice day, 1944.
