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Date	Original Topic
27th January 2005	Oh no! Not someone else who was at rorke's Drift! By Julian Whybra I came across this memorial in Bendigo, Victoria , Australia by chance purporting to commemorate 'F.R. Bowrey, Awarded V.C. at Rorke's Drift 1879' - there's a photo of it on www.skp.com.au/memorials/pages/30315.htm Of course there was no such award made to this person but it is just one of many instances demonstrating the extent to which something once said in haste can be regretted at leisure for evermore - I'm thinking of one or two 'hearsay' comments presented as fact that were recently aired on this forum. Do the words 'idols' and feet of clay' come to mind?
Date	Replies
27th January 2005	Peter Ewart Julian Someone flagged this one up a few months ago (was it perhaps Graham Mason or Steve? - now lost in the server crash) & was duly submitted for the lengthening list of "those who weren't ..." which we all hope either you or Lee & Alan will compile one day!!! Because it is clearly spurious & has no known connection with Bendigo, I wondered at the time whether it may have been, perhaps, constructed as a prop for a play or film, discarded, and found years later when its provenance was unknown. On the other hand, some of the other names appear genuine according to the notes accompanying the snapshot. A bit of research required here, perhaps, by one of our Aussie contributors to see if the claimaint ever existed? If it is a genuine board, then yes, we do have two more feet of clay at the top! Peter
27th January 2005	Peter Ewart A further thought. Will the day soon arrive when the total number of "who weren't theres" exceeds the "who were theres"? Or have we reached that stage already? Peter
27th January 2005	Martin Everett Peter, There were of course the balance of the men from 2/24th who were at Rorke's Drift on 23 January but not on 22 January.
28th January 2005	Graham Mason Dear Julian , Yes i had picked on this " Ausralian VC winner at Rorke`s drift earlier , i wonder where it came from and how whoever put that name on the board was convinced it was a genuine entry ! , of course no such person won the VC by that name and i open this up to the ZULU war experts and lets try and scotch this one and put the record straight , just how many more are there who were at Kwajimu that we don`t know about !!!
28th January 2005	Phil Pearce Hi Peter , you ask when the day comes when thoses who were not there exeedes those who were. Well If this number os the same as the privete E. mails I get from people claiming to be decendents of Robert Jones, relatives of mine & asking for info ...photos...private documents etc then the number has been exeeded three fold ! I have no idea if my genuine relatives on this site have had similar experiences but I for one put up the defences a long time ago. Lots of wolves in this here forest I think !
28th January 2005	Lee Stevenson Well surely Penn Symons has already given us a clue about one Rorke's Drift VC winner who was heading for Australia......or not?
30th January 2005	Julian whybra Sorry, Graham, I hadn't seen your earlier now 'disappeared' entry.