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1900 - Buller drives the Boers under Botha from Paardeplaats. Fighting beyong Lydenburg. Boer positions captured. Lord Methuen leaves Mafeking for Lichtenburg and defeats the Boers near Molopo

1900 - Jack McCance, 1st Victorian Contingent, arrived home today, after being invalided back from South Africa.
www.bwm.org.au/soldiers/John_McCance.php

....Private J. M'Cance, one of the members of the First Victorian Contingent, who volunteered from the Fourth Battalion for service in South Africa, and who was subsequently wounded and taken prisoner during an engagement at Rensburg, returned to Castlemaine to-day by the afternoon train. There was an immense assemblage of the residents of the district at the railway station, in front of which the officers and men of the Fourth Battalion, with their band, paraded. On the train steaming into the station the returned warrior was greeted with cheers. He was warmly welcomed by his old comrades and numerous friends, and had to kiss nearly all the young ladies of Chewton, who had assembled in great force to greet their returned hero. A procession was then formed, M'Cance, with his parents, his grandfather and brothers and sisters, was placed in a drag, and headed by the militia band playing "Our Jack's Come Home To-day," and surrounded by his old comrades of the Fourth Battalion, paraded the town, and proceeded to the Orderly Room, which was packed. Speeches of welcome were made by Lieutenant-Colonels M'Cay, Aitken and Templeton, who congratulated the returned warrior on having fought and bled for his Queen and Empire. Private M'Cance, in returning thanks for the kind reception accorded him, said he could not find words to thank them sufficiently for their splendid welcome. As they all knew, he had been wounded, and still carried the Boer bullet in one of his lungs, where it was firmly embedded. Much had been said of Boer cruelty, but he must say he had experienced nothing but good treatment, and was attended as well in the Boer hospital as he could possibly have been in a British institution.
....Accompanied by the officers of the Fourth Battalion, M'Cance was driven to Chewton, his native place, where the mayor and councillors and residents generally accorded him a most enthusiastic reception, and warmly welcomed him home.
The Bendigo Advertiser, Monday 10th September 1900

Jack died at Alexandria, Egypt, on the 9th of August 1915, aged 36, after being wounded at Gallipoli.

....Mrs W. Weir, of Vincent street, isin receipt of the sad news that her brother, Corporal J. E. McCance, died on the 9th inst. from wounds received at the Dardanelles. From the "Mt. Alexander Mail," of the 19th inst., we cull the following extract relative to the deceased soldier :—
....''Corporal McCance received a bullet wound in the spine, which had the result of paralysing the lower limbs. Word came through yesterday to the Defence Department that he died on the 9th inst. from the wound. He was a brave soldier, and a splendid type of man. He was one of the first to volunteer for service in South Africa, and, as is well known, was wounded at Rensburg. The bullet lodged in the liver, and could not be removed. It was necessary for him to give up hard work, but otherwise the bullet caused him no inconvenience. He was also taken prisoner by the Boers, but was released when the British entered Pretoria. When the present war broke out, and Australian aid was accepted, "Jack" McCance, despite his South African experiences, was one of the first to enlist in this district, and was on the Town Hall platform at the great send-off given by the citizens. On leaving here as a member of the Light Horse, Private McCance was soon promoted to the rank of Corporal. He was the eldest son of Mrs McCance, of Chewton, his father, Mr F. E. McCance, the well-known cab proprietor, dying just before Corporal McCance sailed for the front. He was 34 years of age, and a native of Chewton, and was respected and admired by all, being of a bright disposition and gentlemanly demeanor, and if ever a young man led a blameless life Corporal McCance was that man. He was popular with all, and was ever ready to lend a helping hand to those in trouble. He was a member of the Chewton Rechabite Tent, and took a warm interest in the advancement of Chewton and the district generally. Public sympathy will go out to the sorrowing mother, who, it may be stated, has another son with the colors."
....Corporal McCance was a brother of Mrs Weir, wife of Mr W. Weir, the Vincent street tailor.
The Daylesford Advocate, Saturday 21st August 1915

McCANCE.—In loving memory of our dearly beloved son and brother, Corporal John Elmer (Jack) McCance, who was killed in action at Lone Pine, 9th August, 1915.
Far, far from the home of his childhood,
....Away o'er the ocean deep;
In a hero's grave, our loved one
....Is sleeping his last long sleep.

Greater love hath no man than this,
That he lay down his life for his friends.
—Inserted by his mother, brothers and sisters.

McCANCE.—In fond memory of Corporal John Elmer McCance, who died of wounds received in Gallipoli, August 9th, 1915.
He lies neath the sands of the desert.
....A Light Horseman so good, true and brave;
Far from the land of the wattle he loved,
....But—he lies in a hero's grave.
—Inserted by his loving cousins, Theo, Sadie, Maud, and Beryl, of Sydney, N.S.W.
Mount Alexander Mail, Thursday 9th August 1917