Loading Horses on the SS Cornwall in 1899

Three days earlier, Wills and Mobsby shot footage of the 2nd\14th Queensland Mounted Infantry parading through Brisbane before departing to serve in the Boer War (see Boer War Transvaal Contingent, 1899). Queensland was the first colony to offer troops to help Great Britain fight the Boers in South Africa. Queensland soldiers were not the first to leave for South Africa or engage in fighting, but two members of the 2nd\14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry) were the first Australians to die in the Boer War. The steam ship Cornwall departed Brisbane on 1 November 1899.

Loading Horses on the SS Cornwall synopsis

Officers of the Queensland Mounted Infantry lead horses down a ramp to board the SS Cornwall on 31 October 1899, prior to their departure for the Boer War.

Curator’s notes

This actuality footage was taken by the official photographer of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Frederick Charles Wills, and his assistant, Henry William Mobsby. Wills and Mobsby recorded agricultural processes (Wheat Harvesting with Reaper and Binder, 1899), modes of transport (North Shore Steam Ferry, 1899) and historical events (Opening of Queensland Parliament, 1899) using a Lumière Cinematographe camera. They produced over 30 films in 1899, but most of them were never screened publicly in Australia. Instead, they accompanied lectures in Britain promoting migration to Queensland.

For further information, see 'Australia’s First Films’ by Chris Long and Pat Laughren, Cinema Papers, 1993, No. 96, p 37.

Notes by Elizabeth Taggert - Speers