Who said shoot straight you bastards

It was something much deeper than that and it is doubtful, all things considered, whether Australia had a particular role to play militarily even before the nation of Australia had been officially formed. Most biographies end with the death of the subject, but given the turbulent nature of Morant's personal life and military career, there were always going to be loose ends, unresolved issues and many questions.

Indeed, the mystery and secrecy that still shrouds the circumstances of his death has sustained public interest for a century. Amid rumours of lies, cover-ups and conspiracies, the dubious threads of this tale lead back to the highest echelons of the British military and top government figures of the day. Morant keeps appearing like Banquo's blood-spattered ghost - refusing to die until justice is done.

Shoot Straight, You Bastards! It did not mention that Morant was not Australian -- being in fact an Englishman -- or that on the night before his execution he met with the Reverend Canon Scott and signed a note in which he confessed his guilt of shooting Boer prisoners -- contrary to the movie's premise that he was an innocent scapegoat.

One particular dramatic scene in the film depicts Morant shouting defiantly at the firing-squad: "Shoot straight, you bastards! Here is an eye-witness account of his real last words and the calm manner of his dying, published soon afterwards in an Australian newspaper.

Aldridge, who was a member of the Second South Australian Contingent, has received a sad letter from Mr. Morrow, warder of the Pretoria Gaol, with reference to the shooting of Lieutenants Morant and Handcock.

Aldridge was a friend of Morant's. The letter was dated March 1, , and is as follows Morant, who was shot here on February 27, two days ago, by order of court-martial. His last word was that I should write and tell you that there were four officers- one South Australian, one Victorian, one New South Welshman, and one New Zealander, all Australians - concerned.

It is quite a mystery here regarding the deed. All I know is that they shot 38 Boers, and there are rumours circulating that these Boers surrendered to them. Morant told me that he was guilty of shooting the Boers because they shot his captain. I was the warder who was in charge of the officers the last week they had on earth, and they faced their doom as brave as men could do. Everyone said it was a pity to shoot two such brave men. Morant got a commission with the Bushveldt Carbineers, and I went on the railway duty here, and I was only transferred to this prison about six weeks ago.

I was not here when they came here. Of course, there is a difference between taking no prisoners and taking them and then shooting them under Rule. During the court-martial proceedings, Boer Commandos raided Pietersburg and Morant, Handcock and Witton were turned loose to participate in the defense. They did so in lively fashion — and under British military precedent established by the Duke of Wellington, their actions probably should have earned them clemency under a policy known as condonation.

Australian lawyer James Unkles, who has been working for the past several years to secure a pardon for Breaker Morant and his compatriots, noted in a 60 Minutes UK interview that:. That was never going to happen either. The defendants were transferred to Pretoria, where the rest of the court martial went forward apace.

All three were found guilty of killing the Boer prisoners, though not of murdering Reverend Heese. A detachment of Cameron Highlanders blew them to kingdom come.

Either way, The Breaker went out a badass. But was he a murderer, or a scapegoat of empire? The court martial certainly evokes the long, lonesome whistle of a train. But was this railroad job a case of framing a guilty man? The case still stirs passions a century and more on.