Ernest Alfred Roberts (21 February 1868 – 2 December 1913) was an Australian politician and
soldier who was a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1896 to 1902 and
1905 to 1908 and then the Australian House of Representatives from 1908 to 1913. Roberts also
served as an officer in South Africa during the Second Boer War, with South Australian colonial
forces in 1900 and Commonwealth forces in 1902. From 1904 to 1908 he was the editor of The
Herald, a left-wing newspaper published by the United Labor Party (ULP).
Born in London and schooled on the island of Guernsey, Roberts initially followed his father into
the merchant marine, and after briefly living in Queensland he moved to Port Pirie, South Australia.
There he worked on the wharves, was active in the labour movement, and was a member of
the town council. In 1893 he ran unsuccessfully for the seat of Gladstone in the House of Assembly
as an independent Labour candidate. On his second attempt in 1896 he was elected as a ULP
candidate, and was the youngest member of the assembly. He cemented his position at the 1899
election. In late 1899, he crossed the floor and contributed to the defeat of the ministry of Charles
Kingston, attracting sharp criticism from some parts of the ULP.
In 1900, Roberts served in the Second Boer War in South Africa as a lieutenant with the 4th Imperial
Bushmen's Contingent raised from South Australia. After its arrival in June his unit was involved in
several engagements, including the relief of the garrison at Elands River. In December, Roberts,
considering the fighting almost over, asked for and received permission to return home, and
resumed his seat in the assembly. Post-Federation, Roberts helped raise a unit of the Australian
Commonwealth Horse and served with it as a captain in South Africa in 1902. The main operation of
his unit was as part of a large-scale concerted "drive" to push the remaining Boers to surrender, and
Roberts personally accepted the surrender of more than 190 Boers, along with the capture of a
similar number of horses. Roberts' term in the assembly expired while he was absent in South
Africa, and he did not contest any seat at the 1902 South Australian state election. From 1904 to
1908 Roberts edited The Herald, and he successfully ran for the seat of Adelaide in the 1905 state
election. He was re-elected in the state election of 3 November 1906. He was vice-president and
then president of the ULP in 1907–1908, and was also a member of the council of the South
Australian School of Mines and a board member of the Adelaide Co-operative Society.
When a by-election was called for 13 June 1908 in the federal division of Adelaide following
Kingston's death, Roberts ran as the Australian Labour (Labor from 1912) Party candidate and won
the seat, then retained it in the 1910 federal election. Roberts represented the minister for defence,
Senator George Pearce, in the House of Representatives, and also while Pearce was overseas in
1911, and was appointed as an honorary minister later that year. He retained his seat at the 1913
federal election, but soon after a fierce parliamentary debate on 2 December 1913 he collapsed and
died from a heart condition. He received a state funeral attended by 6,000 people. The loss of
Roberts – considered a highly capable and up-and-coming member of the ULP – was felt intensely
by his political comrades, along with his fire, energy and enthusiasm. In 1917 a monument was
erected over his grave at West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide, which The Advertiser newspaper
described as "emblematic of the untimely end to [his] brilliant career".
Early life[edit]
Ernest Alfred Roberts was born in London on 21 February 1868, the son of John Henry Roberts and
his wife Sarah Ann née Woodford. His father was an officer in the merchant marine. Ernest attended
school on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. He followed in
his father's footsteps and became a sailor before settling in Queensland in 1886. Two years later he
moved to Port Pirie, South Australia, where he obtained work as a wharf labourer. Described in his
entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography as "[a] radical with exceptional abilities as an orator
and organi[s]er",[1] Roberts was closely involved in the formation of a local workingmen's association,
becoming its inaugural secretary. He also assisted in the establishment and management of a
local cooperative bakery in Port Pirie, and was a member of the town council in the early 1890s. On
27 August 1892, Roberts married Bridget Marie Collins, with whom he had a son and three
daughters.[1]
Early political career[edit]
In the 1893 South Australian colonial election, Roberts contested the two-member seat
of Gladstone in the South Australian House of Assembly – the lower house of the South Australian
parliament – as an independent Labor candidate, losing narrowly but gaining 30.0 per cent of the
votes.[1][2] Undeterred, Roberts contested the same seat in the 1896 election as a United Labor
Party (ULP) candidate, and was successful, coming second with 30.8 per cent of the votes, after the
incumbent independent Alfred Catt.[3][4]
At 28, Roberts was the youngest member of the assembly, but he quickly became well-known for his
advocacy for the early closing of factories to reduce working hours, and for improved working
conditions for sailors. A local weekly magazine, The Critic, described him as a "swollen-headed
young man" who was "as caustic as he is clever".[1] In 1897 Roberts was a member of the state royal
commission into the waterworks proposed at Bundaleer near Jamestown in the mid-north of the
state.[5] He strengthened his position at the 1899 election, and was returned first with 40.2 per cent of
the votes, relegating Catt to the second seat.[6] The premier of South Australia, Charles Kingston,
had been obsessed for a long period with reducing the ability of the South Australian Legislative
Council – the colony's upper house – to amend or reject legislation, but his reforms[7] – aimed at
widening the franchise to all households rather than a set amount of property value[8] – were
repeatedly voted down by its members. Kingston governed with the support of the ULP, and his
supporters became concerned that his preoccupation with the issue would lead to him seeking a
fresh election, with an uncertain outcome. When liberal faction leader Thomas Burgoyne sponsored
a motion against Kingston in November 1899,[7] Roberts, along with his ULP colleague Alexander
Poynton and others,[1] crossed the floor of the assembly, causing Kingston's ministry to fall by one
vote.[7]
Roberts was sharply criticised for his part in bringing down the Kingston ministry, including at a
meeting of the Labor Regulation League, which almost unanimously passed a motion stating that the
action of Roberts and Poynton in crossing the floor was "an act of political treachery".[9] The attacks
on Roberts continued, the editor of The Herald, the trade union–run weekly magazine, joining the
trenchant criticism and rejecting Roberts' explanations that he had not been a member of the
Parliamentary Labor Party at the time of the vote and had not attended the relevant caucus meeting,
and was not pledged to maintain solidarity with Labor.[10] Roberts later justified his actions on the
basis that the Kingston government was insincere and not likely to carry out the reforms it had
promised.[11][12]
Soldier and journalist[edit]
Although Roberts initially opposed the sending of South Australian colonial troops to the Second
Boer War in 1899 on the grounds of cost and necessity,[13] combined with his impression that it was
based on sentiment and not a true spirit of loyalty,[12] his position altered in response to British
defeats, and in early 1900 he volunteered for the 4th Imperial Bushmen's Contingent raised from
South Australia, and was commissioned as a lieutenant.[1] At his farewell, he stated that he had
volunteered to show solidarity with the mainly British uitlander migrant workers in the Boer republics,
to broaden his experience and strengthen himself for political battles to come. He was criticised at
the event for leaving his electoral district and for breaking away from the Labor Party during the fall
of the Kingston ministry. He vigorously defended himself, and his explanation was met with loud
cheers from the crowd.[11] He also stated that colonial troops were now needed to maintain the
solidarity of the British Empire.[12] The contingent, which consisted of two
mounted squadrons commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Rowell, embarked on
the transport Manhattan at Port Adelaide on 1 May 1900. After picking up a squadron of Western
Australian troops at Fremantle, the ship stopped at Beira in Portuguese Mozambique, and Durban in
the Colony of Natal, before disembarking the troops at Port Elizabeth in the Cape Colony on 19
June. Upon arrival, the South Australian and Western Australian contingents were joined with
a Tasmanian squadron to form an Australian mounted regiment of about 400 troops, under Rowell's
command.[14]
Group portrait of members of the 4th Imperial
Bushmen's Contingent from South Australia prior to embarking for South Africa
Soon after its arrival, the regiment escorted a convoy from Kroonstad to Lindley in the Orange Free
State.[15] Attached to a battalion of imperial yeomanry commanded by British Colonel Arthur Montagu
Brookfield supported by some artillery, the regiment escorted a convoy drawn by steam tractors,
leaving Lindley on 23 June. The convoy was regularly sniped at by Boers, but the troops, supported
by the guns, drove them off each time. On 2 July Brookfield's column joined the command of Major
General Arthur Paget for operations against the Boer commandoes led by Christiaan de
Wet between Lindley and Bethlehem, also located in the Orange Free State.[15][16] This larger force
was also subjected to frequent sniping by the Boers. As the force approached Bakenkop hill on 3
July, the Boers held their ground instead of withdrawing, and Brookfield used the guns to disperse
them. To conserve ammunition, Brookfield ordered the guns to cease fire, but about 100 Boers took
advantage of the situation, crept through a cornfield and rushed some guns. In response, an artillery
officer called upon the commander of the South Australian squadron to charge the guns and
recapture them. Without waiting for the rest of the squadron, a dozen men led by Lieutenant Edwin
Leane responded immediately, charged and the Boers fled, the guns being recaptured by the
squadron. On 4 July Brookfield's force captured a ridge that dominated Bethlehem.[15][17]
Bethlehem was captured on 7 July, in which 300 South Australians and Western Australians of the
regiment participated,[15] the Tasmanians having been detached to Pretoria. De Wet and 2,000 of his
troops escaped north,[17] and the regiment pursued them to the Reitzburg hills as part of a force
under Brigadier General Robert George Broadwood. Engagements followed at Palmietfontein on 16
July and Stinkhoutboom on 24 July.[15] In the latter action, the regiment and some irregulars caught
up with some flour-laden wagons of de Wet's rearguard and the Boers struck back to protect the
precious supplies, killing four Australians. The Boers were able to break contact and continue their
retreat. Under Broadwood's command the regiment continued to pursue de Wet into the Transvaal,
but by that point half of the South Australians were on foot, as their horses had died. The pursuit was
called off.[18] This period included operations through Oliphant's Nek and the Magaliesberg Range, as
well as the involvement of the regiment in the relief of the garrison at Elands River.[15][19]
On 29 November, the regiment was involved in fighting at Rhenoster Kop under Paget, and was
then attached to the command of Colonel Herbert Plumer. In December, given his view that the
fighting was almost over, Roberts obtained permission from the British commander-in-chief to return
home to his parliamentary and civic duties.[20] He embarked on the cargo liner Aberdeen at Cape
Town on 7 December,[21] and arrived in Adelaide via Melbourne on 5 January 1901.[20] The rest of the
contingent embarked on 5 July 1901, came ashore at Port Adelaide on 27 July, and was disbanded
shortly thereafter. For his service with the 4th Imperial Bushmen's Contingent, Roberts was issued
with the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps.[15]
Roberts returned to his seat in the assembly, but then helped organise a further South Australian
contingent for the Second Boer War, a company of the 2nd Battalion, Australian Commonwealth
Horse (ACH),[1] which was authorised on 6 January 1902.[22] Roberts was appointed as a lieutenant
and as the battalion adjutant, and embarked at Melbourne on the transport St. Andrew on 12
January, disembarking at Durban on 10 March. While at sea on 26 January, Roberts was promoted
to captain.[23] Upon arrival, the Victorian contingent of the battalion joined with the company Roberts
had helped raise from South Australia, and a smaller contingent from Western Australia, to form the
battalion,[24] which was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Duncan McLeish.[25]
The battalion was sent by rail to a camp at Newcastle in Natal.[26] After training and inspections,
between 6 and 10 April the battalion continued on to camp near Klerksdorp where it was allocated to
a brigade commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Beauvoir De Lisle, itself part of a column commanded
by Colonel Alexander Thorneycroft, and under the overall command of Lieutenant General Sir Ian
Hamilton.[27] Hamilton's force, numbering 20,000 mostly mounted troops, was tasked to destroy the
Boer forces commanded by Koos de la Rey.[28] De Lisle was particularly impressed by the 2nd
Battalion ACH. On 23 April, the brigade was part of a general move through
Paardeplaats, Hartebeesfontein, Palmfontein and Boschpoort,[23] during which they mostly burned
crops.[29] This was followed by a "drive" by the entire force departing from Noitverwacht towards the
Hartz River commencing on 7 May,[23] on a frontage 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide.[29] The battalion
advanced through Joubert's Rust on 8 May, Rapoli and Boesman's Pan on 9 May, and Bodenstein,
Wonderfontein and Kaal Platts on 10 May. This brought the drive to the border between British
Bechuanaland and the Transvaal. Significant numbers of Boer troops were observed ahead of the
advancing battalion, but no fighting took place. On the night of 10 May the Boers unsuccessfully
attempted to break through the line of advancing troops. On the following day, a Boer commando
approached under a white flag, and Roberts rode out, bringing in 191 prisoners and over 200
horses. Another 52 Boers surrendered to other elements of the battalion. The drive was called to a
halt at 15:00 on 11 May, when it reached the Kimberley to Mafeking railway line, and the
commander-in-chief of British forces, Lord Kitchener, telegraphed his appreciation to Hamilton for
the efforts of his troops.[23] Across the five days of the drive, only one Boer was killed, and no
Australians were even wounded.[30]
The battalion returned to Klerksdorp on 21 May, and after peace was concluded on 31 May,
remained there until 20 June.[25] Hamilton congratulated the Australians for playing a "distinguished
part in the closing act of the war".[31] The battalion then rode to Elandsfontein, arrived there on 25
June, handed over their weapons and equipment, and entrained for Newcastle on 29 June, arriving
there the following day. On 5 July, the battalion entrained for Durban, and embarked on the
transport Norfolk the next day. The ship departe