Coo-ee: Victoria Cross races

Despite its absurdity, this Russia scare led to defences being erected to protect Melbourne and Sydney. Heavy breech-loading Armstrong guns were installed.

These guns emerged from a concrete bunker, fired and then disappeared back into their concrete shelters.

Traces of the guns and their bunkers still exist on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula.

In Victoria that year, the Russia scare also led to the establishment of a 2000-man Volunteer Corps.

When British troops finally left the Australian colonies in 1870 after more than 80 years of service, all six colonies established much larger volunteer military forces.

In the meantime, in the wider world, the British determined to destroy the Zulu kingdom in Southern Africa.

After a series of ferocious battles in 1879, the British finally prevailed.

During the battle of Ulundi, then Captain Lord William Beresford won the Victoria Cross by rescuing Sergeant Fitzmaurice in the face of an oncoming impi of Zulus.

Fitzmaurice’s horse had fallen and rolled on the sergeant. Lord Beresford, with the help of a non-commissioned officer from the Frontier Light Horse, got the dazed and injured Fitzmaurice up behind him and rode the two of them to safety.

In 1884, another absurd Russia scare was fuelled by the repeated appearance of Russian warships off the coast of the Australian colonies.

This time, the unpaid volunteer forces were disbanded in Victoria and replaced by the paid, part-time Victorian Militia Force.

In Victoria, with the introduction of the Militia Force, military competitions and sports days became popular.

These competitions featured events that were, at least marginally, relevant to military readiness.

Events like sprints, tug-of-war, tent-pegging and shooting competitions were common. They also enabled the young men of the militia to strut about in their colourful brocaded and befrogged uniforms.

There was no trace of khaki. That would come with the Boer War of 1899 to 1902.

The Victoria Cross race also began to appear at these competitions. Hugely popular, the race closely mimicked Beresford’s rescue of Fitzmaurice in the Zulu War.

The Victoria Cross race required mounted soldiers in two-man teams to ride over several jumps towards other soldiers who were laying down heavy rifle fire using blank cartridges.

Near these soldiers lay a man-sized dummy for each team. The task of one member of each team was to dismount and hand the reins of his horse to his team member.

Sometimes, the dismounted soldier had to fire six blank cartridges at the massed ‘enemy’.

He had then to pick up the uniformed dummy and place it on his comrade’s horse.

He was required to remount, and the two team members had to gallop back over the jumps to their starting point, steadying the dummy so that it did not fall.

All the while, the rifle fire, apparently aimed at them, continued unabated.

The race was spectacular, but accidents and falls were common.

On February 8, 1901, at the Thoona sports ground, a Victoria Cross race was run.

Private Joseph, known as Murray, Lawford was taking part in the second heat.

Right at the finish, Lawford’s horse kicked the crossbar of the last hurdle. The horse’s resulting stumble unseated Lawford. He fell.

The horse galloped on. As it did so, one of its hind feet struck its rider’s head.

Unconscious with a fracture to the base of his skull, Lawford was immediately removed to Benalla. Dr Nicholson operated but the operation was unsuccessful.

Murray Lawford, 20, died the same day. Although his family operated a nursery in Winton, a hamlet with its own cemetery, Lawford is buried in Benalla Cemetery.

Victoria Cross races remained popular until the outbreak of the Great War. Winners were often offered prize money that amounted to more than a week’s wages for a skilled tradesman.

After 1914, the race grew less common. Perhaps this was caused by the gradual replacement of the horse by the motorcar. The fading away might also have occurred when the colonies’ Militia Forces were replaced by the Australian army.

Most likely, however, the glamour of war and of the Victoria Cross race was lost amid the slaughter in the trenches of the Great War.