It’s straightforward, isn’t it?

Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant and fellow soldiers Peter Handcock and George Witton were tried and convicted by British military courts martial for executing Boer prisoners of war in South Africa.

They were sentenced to death by firing squad; Morant and Handcock went to their deaths in 1902.

History is not straightforward and that’s why now, more than 100 years later, Morant is in the news again.

Commander James Unkles, who has petitioned the Governor-General to grant a royal pardon for Morant, Handcock and Witton, says the passing of time since their convictions is irrelevant.

This week he has told a parliamentary committee that a court martial finding that led to the execution of Morant and Handcock was a cruel and calculating conspiracy of the British military command.

Commander Unkles said it was a “furphy” for people such as Craig Wilcox, author of Australia’s Boer War, to suggest the laws of 2010 were being applied to the case.

He also challenged critics who believed the pardon was “pointless”, saying it did not make a difference if someone was alive or dead.

History is a discipline that relies on evidence and although Commander Unkles rejects historian Craig Wilcox’s views, has he actually provided evidence to back his claims?

Dr Wilcox maintains his stance.

He identified three factors that had pushed the Morant case on through the past century, one of which was the Bruce Beresford film Breaker Morant.

“But the families are being misled by a myth, in my view,” Dr Wilcox said yesterday.

“The real reason we remember the Bushveldt Carbineers case, the reason Jim Unkles has crafted his petition, is because a folk tale emerged from Morant’s life and execution, a myth that made Morant into a Ned Kelly in khaki.

“But the folk tale is exactly that, comforting and colourful nonsense. “Morant wasn’t a victim of military injustice.

“In a sense he wasn’t even Australian.

“He was an English conman and killer.

“It’s embarrassing that he continues to con Australians today.

“It’ll be a national embarrassment if the Parliament concludes Morant and his accomplices should be pardoned.

“It’ll be an international embarrassment if our Government asks Britain for that pardon.”

The parliamentary hearing should be a reminder to people that when dealing with history, they need to look at the sources, not the myth that springs up, the one that’s what we’d like to believe.

It is pertinent to ask what kind of Australian soldier we want to produce and send to overseas theatres of battle - surely no one could argue that Breaker Morant is an example to follow.

It is also an opportunity to think about where the Boer War sits in our history.

When we gather in Victoria Park during the year, I’m sure that the Boer War is not prominent in people’s minds, yet local studies officer Sandra Smith says quite a number of men and horses from the Dubbo district fought in that war.

To know more about Dubbo and Australia’s involvement in the Boer War would help us not to be sidetracked by myths like Breaker Morant.