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Airdate: Breaker Morant: The Retrial

The History channel will screen a new documentary which promises to reveal new evidence on Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant.

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Breaker Morant-To commemorate Remembrance Day 2013, the History channel will screen a new documentary, Breaker Morant: The Retrial, which promises to reveal new evidence on Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant.

This is produced by Film Projects Pty Ltd and presented by actor Neil Pigot.

Breaker Morant: The Retrial follows its host, Australian actor/writer Neil Pigot, as he travels across the globe from Australia to South Africa and the United Kingdom, on a quest to reveal the true story behind Aussie bush legend and soldier Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant.

The compelling two-hour special uncovers who The Breaker really was and finally answers the question: should he be celebrated as a hero – or condemned as a war criminal?

Morant, along with fellow Australian soldier Peter Handcock, was tried and executed by the British Imperial Army in 1902, for shooting Boer prisoners while serving during the Boer War in 1901.

But new evidence examining the way the trial was conducted reveals serious errors in the legal process, including evidence that Morant and Handcock were in fact acting on orders from the British Army and had been made scapegoats.

The film explores the relentless four year campaign of military lawyer Jim Unkles and the descendants of Morant and Handcock, as they fight to have the soldiers pardoned, with plans to launch appeals in the High Courts of both Australia and the United Kingdom.

Also appearing in the film is renowned legal expert Geoffrey Robertson QC, who delivers a damning indictment of the way Morant’s court martial was conducted. His position is reinforced by interviews with some of Australia’s leading legal experts, including Sir Lawrence Street QC and political figures including Tim Fischer.

Breaker Morant: The Retrial explores the origins and the character of Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant, the Englishman who became an Australian legend. From his origins in England where he claimed to be the illegitimate offspring of a titled admiral, through to his exile in Australia where he established The Breaker legend as a hard-living larrakin bushman, to his work as a famed poet alongside Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson and finally as an Australian soldier serving in the Boer War.

Featuring Australian actor Ben Wall as Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant and using cinematically filmed dramatic re-enactments shot on location in Australia and South Africa, Breaker Morant: The Retrial finally uncovers what really happened over a century ago – and why.

November 11 at 8.30pm AEDT on History.

2 Responses

  1. I beg to differ. Remembrance day is very much about respecting sacrifices of our troops, but it is also about recognising all the aspects of war, its brutality and its injustices. The passing of time and that these men are deceased does not diminish errors in the administration of justice. Injustices in times of war are inexcusable and it takes vigilance to right wrongs, to honour those unfairly treated and to demonstrate respect for the rule of law. The appeal will continue to be the focus of those who understand that a gross injustice was done to these three veterans. There has been no reliance on modern day law to clear their names, the focus is on the laws of 1902, not technicalities and a search for the truth.

  2. They were treated unfairly and used as scapegoats. They were war criminals and following illegal orders is not a defense
    That has all been known for over a century.

    They have a new criticism of the court martial on technicalities. But how many 100 year old battle field courts martial would stand up to modern human rights attack by a QC?

    And you don’t commemorate Remembrance Day, especially not with light entertainment. You remember with poppies and a minutes silence.

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