Soudan Contingent Commemorative Plaques, Circular Quay

Top plaque

Soudan Contingent

The New South Wales

contingent for the Soudan War

(consisting of some 750 men and 225 horses)

embarked on the troopships

"Australasian" and "Iberia"

at the wharves on the

North East side of the Circular Quay

on March 3 1885

The contingent returned to Sydney

in the troopship "Arab"

on June 23 1885.

This memorial donated by Thomas Gunning Esq.

R.A.H.S.

Bottom plaque

To commemorate

the centenary of the departure of

the New South Wales contingent

for the Soudan on 3rd March 1885

His Excellency Air Marshall Sir James Rowland, K.B.E. D.F.C. A.F.C.,

Governor of New South Wales

unveiled this plaque on 3rd March 1985

following a parade at Victoria Barracks Paddington

and then leading a march through Sydney

of units of the Royal Australian Navy,

the Australian Regular Army and the Army Reserve,

successors of the original contingent.