Australian bushmen (1900)

A simple Australian children's roll-and-move game produced around the time of the Second Anglo-Boer War (October 1899 - May 1902). Probably published just after Federation in 1900, the game celebrates Australia's new nationhood as well as its participation in the South African conflict, in which the various Australian Bushmen's Contingents played a major part. It follows the path of a typical Bushman, proceeding from his enlistment to training, embarkation, arrival in South Africa, and engagements with the enemy.

The game is basically a re-implementation of the traditional Game of goose, with players rolling dice and moving around a 60-space track. Most spaces have a themed text: Riding test, promoted to lieutenant, ordered to the front, taken prisoner, etc. Some of these spaces also incur bonuses or penalties (moving forward or back a number of spaces, to a particular space, or miss a turn).

The board includes coloured illustrations of bushmen rounding up cattle in the Australian outback prior to enlistment, a street parade of a Bushmen's Contingents, transport ship, field hospital, field prison, troop ship S.S. Medic, and battle scenes showing Australian prisoners guarded by Boers, and Australian troops attacking a Boer position.