The "Aussies" did not execute him. While Australia had federated as a single nation in 1901, and the Australian Army had been established by the date of Lieutenant Morant's execution, he, along with Handcock and Witten were still in the British Army. Their Court Martial was therefore carried out by the British Army, and the Australian Army and government had no influence on the case at all.
Australian independence was a gradual affair - it wasn't until 1942 that Australia took primary responsibility for its own defence policy - prior to that London still had at least a technical power of veto - and even into the 1970s, there were still remnants of that (Australian ships began the Vietnam War sailing under the British White Ensign and only changed to avoid the risk of Britain as a non-combatant nation being attacked, and all through Vietnam Australian decorations had to be approved in London - and in the 1950s when General Sir Thomas Blamey of the Australian Army was promoted to Field Marshall, he found himself suddenly holding the rank in the British Army as well).
During World War I, the Australian government successfully took the stance that the British Army could not try Australian soldiers at Court Martial partly because the fact that they had been powerless in the Morant case.
Why did he have an aussie accent in the film when he should have had a devonian one? Mind you, my dad is from Devon and he does say ‘strewth’ alot, so maybe they’re pretty kindred...
Right then - shot in Pretoria SA. Death sentence signed by Kitchener.