Commemorative medalet : Return of New South Wales Contingent from Sudan, 1885

Circular bronze medalet commemorating the return of the New South Wales Contingent from Sudan in June 1885. The obverse shows a profile of General Charles Gordon and the words 'GENERAL GORDON C.B.'. The reverse shows a reclining figure and a ship sailing through Sydney heads with the words 'WELCOME RETURN N.S.W. CONTINGENT'. A small hole has been made at the top of the medalet.

This medalet commemorates the return of the New South Wales Contingent from Sudan in June 1885. It is one of several medalets produced in various designs and metals to commemorate this occasion. The New South Wales Contingent, consisting of an infantry battalion of 522 men, 24 officers and an artillery battery of 212 men, sailed from Sydney on 3 March 1885 amid much public fanfare. They anchored at Suakin, Sudan's Red Sea port, on 29 March 1885 and were attached to a brigade composed of Scots, Grenadiers and Coldstream Guards. Shortly after their arrival they marched as part of a large 'square' formation – on this occasion made up of 10,000 men – for Tamai, a village some 30 kilometres inland. Although the march was marked only by minor skirmishing, the men saw something of the reality of war as they halted among the dead from a battle which had taken place eleven days before. Further minor skirmishing took place on the next day's march, but the Australians, now at the rear of the square, sustained only three casualties, none fatal. The infantry reached Tamai, burned whatever huts were standing and returned to Suakin. After Tamai, the greater part of the NSW contingent worked on the railway line which was being laid across the desert towards the inland town of Berber on the Nile, half-way between Suakin and Khartoum. Far from the excitement they had imagined, the Australians suffered mostly from the enforced idleness of guard duties. When a camel corps was raised, fifty men volunteered immediately. On 6 May they rode on a reconnaissance to Takdul, 28 kilometres from Suakin, again hoping for an encounter with the Sudanese, but the only action that day involved two newspaper correspondents who had accompanied the patrol before leaving the cameleers to file their stories in Suakin. They soon found themselves surrounded by enemy forces, and one was wounded as they fled. The camel corps made only one more sortie – on 15 May, to bury the bodies of men killed in fighting the previous March. The artillery saw even less action than the infantry. They were posted to Handoub where, having no enemy close enough to engage, they drilled for a month. On 15 May they rejoined the camp at Suakin. Not having participated in any battles, Australian casualties were few: those who died fell to disease rather than enemy action. By May 1885 the British government had decided to abandon the campaign and left only a garrison in Suakin. The Australian contingent sailed for home on 17 May 1885.