After two weeks in the saddle as part of Colonel Plumer's Column, Australian mounted soldiers rode into an undefended Pietersburg and seized railway wagons and commenced destroying the printing press, flour mills and ammunition stores.
Some Australians believed that the capture of Pietersburg had been the most successful march they had been involved in as it had cost few Australian lives and isolated the Boer General, Beyers, from other Boer Forces.
In the consolidation of the area, 500 5th Qld Imperial Bushmen arrived to release their state's Citizen Bushmen contingent for home.
Australian Contingents and Part Aust Irregular Regts in Brig Plumer's Column Apr-May 1901:
NSW Citizen Bushmen Maj Thomas
Qld Citizen Bushmen Maj Tunbridge
3rd (WA and Vic.) Citizen Bushmen Maj Vialls
4th (SA, WA and Tas.) Imperial Bushmen Lt Col Rowell
Qld Imperial Bushmen Maj Deacon
5th Qld Imperial Bushmen Lt Col Flewell Smith
Bushveldt Carboniers Maj Lenehan
Reference: Wilcox, Craig. Australia's Boer War. The War In South Africa 1899-1902. Oxford University Press in conjunction with AWM, Australia, 2002, ISBN 0 19 551637 0 p197-199
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Major John Baines
