TOPIC:

Dundee, in northern Natal was the site of the battle of Talana , fought just outside the town.



A view from Talana Hill looking over Dundee

The Anglican church



The grave of General Penn Symons

The Swedish Mission Church.

The church was used for the wounded after the battle. Major Daly, RAMC, reported how:

When I arrived at this mission station the sight was an appalling one. All the wounded were lying shoulder to shoulder on the floor of the building, some delirious. All were wet from exposure from the rain, which was falling all day, and their uniforms were marked with mud and dirt off the battlefield. Up to my arrival apparently nothing whatever had been done, and those there told me that before doing anything they considered it best to wait until my arrival. Now the first thing I did was to interview the sixteen men who had been sent to me as orderlies, and I gave them separate orders, four of the King's Rifles to make a field kitchen in the open ground of our enclosure, and to dig a pit for rubbish. Camp kettles had been sent, so hot water was provided for four men whom I told to use it for the wounded, and clean some of the mud and dirt off their clothes and faces.

Mr M A Rayfield, a miner in Dundee, provided a statement after his escape from Dundee. he said: 'Thirty one of the wounded soldiers died, and of these twenty six were buried in the Swedish Missionaries' ground and five on Smith's Hill, where the rest of the killed were buried'.



Fifteen British and four Boer solders lie in the small cemetery by the Swedish Mission Church. The central monument records the names of the British and Boer casualties. The three individual graves belong to 2nd Lieutenant Genge, Captain Connor and Trooper R A Cunningham, Bethune's Mounted Infantry, who was not involved at Talana but who died on 20th May 1900 during the British advance into northern Natal.

Watering artillery horses at Dundee

View of the camp just outside Dundee in the days before the engagement on Talana Hill

Dulling sword sheaths