Jacqui Buckley

There is a Green Hill Jacqui Buckley

Whose skeleton is lying on the hilltop on Dooringrand? In the nineteenth century, a series of events took place in Port Natal and Zululand, which culminated in the downfall of the powerful Zulu nation. This is the story of three different cultures set against the turbulent backdrop of the Anglo-Zulu wars. Many questions are asked: Why were more Victoria Crosses awarded in a single encounter than ever before or since for bravery during the defense of Rorke's Drift? Why were the English so totally defeated the day before at Isandlwana? Why did the Zulus attack so unexpectedly? What caused the Boer farmers to align with the British, the very people whose oppressive rule they had escaped to Port Natal to get away from? And who is really the enemy? Journey with the little cattle boy who befriends a queen as he grows and becomes a warrior. Experience the ritual of the cleansing ceremonies and others that used to take place before battle. Witness his struggle in understanding the morality of warfare and killing. Experience the brutality and hardships that the Boer pioneers endured that sowed the seeds of the bitterness that gave birth to the hatred and cruel apartheid system of the future. Colonialism was at its height, and with it came an arrogance that ignored the needs and cultures of the inhabitants of any new acquisition. Learn how this attitude gave Britain one of its biggest and unnecessary defeats. It was also, by contrast, the stage for the most Victoria Crosses awarded for bravery for any single action in Britain's military history. All of this went into the melting pot of the rich tapestry that is the South Africa of today.