This monument was erected in July 1902 by friends of two young soldiers, Sergeant Robert Edwin Berry (aged 23 years) and Acting Corporal John MacFarlane (aged 21 years), who were killed in action at Onverwacht in the Republic of Transvaal on 4 January 1902 [REF].
Both young men were members of the 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen and, like all Australian troops participating in the South African War (Boer War) of 1899-1902, were volunteers.