Skip to main content
Advanced Search
The NSW Contingent in the Soudan - Sketches on board the troopship IBERIA
The NSW Contingent in the Soudan - Sketches on board the troopship IBERIA

The NSW Contingent in the Soudan - Sketches on board the troopship IBERIA

Maker
Date9 May 1885
Object number00027236
NameEngraving
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsImage: 305 x 203 mm
Sheet: 393 x 268 mm
Overall: 393 x 268 mm, 0.005 kg
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection
HistoryWhen the Egyptians were expelled from the Soudan (now commonly spelt Sudan) by a national uprising in 1883, Major General Charles George Gordon, Governor of Soudan, went to settle the crisis. Khartoum was beseiged and Gordon killed in January 1885. There was public resentment throughout the British world and New South Wales sent a force of 800 infantry and artillerymen on the Iberia and Australasian troopships to join the British troops. In the streets of Sydney 200,000 people turned out to watch their departure on 3 March 1885. They arrived at the Red Sea port of Suakin on 29 March. 794 survivors (six died of fever) left for Australia on 17 May 1885. They had seen very little action but Australia gained world prestige for sending the contingent. Nine Australian commemorative medals were minted to mark the occasion and two Egyptian medals were awarded to each man.