The grandson of the nation's first Victoria Cross winner is campaigning for a Boer War memorial to be built in Canberra to honour Australians who fought in South Africa.
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Charles Howse of Barton says time is running out for the ageing descendants of Boer War soldiers to see the memorial built to honour their fathers' war experience.
''If they don't get a monument to their fathers' battle in the Boer War, the impetus will be lost so I think the time is now to let people know about the Boer War, and certainly for the remaining direct descendants - give them something to remember their fathers because some of them didn't come home,'' he said.
Dr Howse said many people appeared to have forgotten that Australians took part in the Boer War, fought before Federation.
''It was our first armed conflict and there were a significant number of casualties,'' he said.
Dr Howse's grandfather was Major-General Sir Neville Howse, who emigrated from Britain and established a medical practice in Newcastle.
During action in South Africa in 1900, Sir Neville went through heavy crossfire to rescue an injured soldier.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross and, on his return to Australia, he entered federal Parliament.
The design for the memorial was unveiled last year, with the final cost of the project estimated to be about $4 million.
Work has already begun on sculpting the first of four bronze statues of Australian mounted troops in action, but without further government and corporate funding the memorial cannot be completed.
The campaign for the memorial to be built on Anzac Parade steps up on Tuesday when a petition with 10,200 signatures will be delivered to Parliament House by a horse rider dressed in a Boer War uniform.
The petition will be handed to Liberal MP Jane Prentice, a descendant of a Boer War veteran.
Another Boer War veteran descendant, and Vietnam veteran, Lieutenant-Colonel Miles Farmer will be wearing the hat of the 2nd/14th Light Horse regiment with its emu plumes. This regiment's forebears fought in the Boer War and its current members have served in Afghanistan.
Organisers hope Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will also attend the event.
The petition says members and friends of the National Boer War Memorial Association are dismayed by the lack of a memorial to honour the 23,000 men and women who served Australia in the war.
''These same men and women laid down the foundations for the Australian Defence Force, which has served our country so well these past 110 years,'' it says.
Association spokesman Keith Smith said the lack of a memorial was a national embarrassment.
''Somehow the federal government was recently able to find $4 million to build a memorial in Canberra to remember those men and women who lost their lives in workplace accidents,'' he said.
''Is it fair that our Boer veterans can be overlooked by the same government?''
