There is a folk story in Bathurst that General Kitchener refused to unveil the monument in 1910 until the name of Lieutenant Peter Handcock, a local man, was removed.

Handcock had been executed along with "Breaker" Morant in the Boer War after being found guilty of murder. The two claimed they were following orders - Kitchener's orders.

Kitchener did indeed unveil the monument on the occasion of a brief visit to Bathurst, part of an extended tour to investigate and report on Australia's defence needs. He did not, however, insist on the removal of Handcock's name - for his name was not on the Memorial. What Kitchener did insist on, however, was not attending a social gathering of Bathurst's leading gentlemen and their wives. He hated such functions.

The resulting gap in the programme may have encouraged the spread of the rumour that something was amiss. What might it be? Why, Handcock, of course. They have gone and put his name on the Memorial. And so a folk story was born.

Handcock's name was added in the 1960s, along with other names mistakenly left off the Memorial. The original oversight of Handcock's name was probably not accidental.