In 1851, a Presbyterian Denominational School was operating at Redbank: the schoolmaster was William Small.1 Robert, one of his sons, was born in 1859. As a young man Robert was said to have trained as a blacksmith at Wingham but life was to present another opportunity.2
Early in 1885, the renowned British soldier Charles Gordon was killed at Khartoum in Sudan. The NSW government then recruited volunteers to assist the British forces there. One inducement was the possibility of a government job upon their return. Only a few hundred men were chosen and, amidst much fanfare, they embarked from Sydney on 3 March 1885.3 Robert Small was among them.4
However, apart from a few skirmishes, they saw little action and returned to Australia in June 1885.
Undeterred, Robert later enlisted in the Boer War serving as Orderly to Captain Bennett, another Sudan veteran.5 Extracts from his letters written to relatives in the Manning region were printed in local newspapers.6
Safely back in Australia, Robert married Emma Hoddle in 1901 and was employed by the Railways Department until his retirement in 1922. He died, aged 71, at his residence “Brookong” Khartoum Avenue, Gordon (on Sydney’s Upper North Shore) a short distance from the Railway Station where he had been the Stationmaster.7
Author: Penny Teerman
References:
1 Manning Valley Historical Society Journal No. 29 dated November 2006.
2 Wingham Chronicle Friday 15 November 1929 P5
3 The Rehearsal: Australians at war in the Sudan 1885 by KS Inglis published by Kevin Weldon & Assoc. 1985
4 Australian War Memorial: Sudan Nominal Roll – R Small Service No. 88
5 Australians in the Boer War: Oz-Boer War Database Project – Robert Small Regimental No. 439
6 Manning River Times – April and May 1900
7 Northern Champion Wednesday 27 November 1929 P1 and HLRV: Primary Application 39973; “Brookong” was also the name of the pastoral holding owned by William Halliday, a generous supporter of the Sudan contingent.
