​Anzac day 25th April 2020. A day in the year 2020, where it was difficult to share the spirit  of the Anzacs, due to social distancing of Covid 19
Gone but never forgotten.
At dawn there were candles lit in driveways and simple, solitary ceremonies in place. 
We remembered them in our hearts  and memories.
Never forgotten for the sacrifices they made :
WW1,  WW2 , VIETNAM , The Cold War, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Our tribute page to our local heroes from families that remember them
 "Lest We Forget"

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WW2 Soldier Tom Harley LEST WE FORGET

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A Tribute to Tom Harley. WW2

Tom Harley enlisted in BCOF 66th Battalion and spent two years in Japan after Hiroshima was bombed. Main job was disarming civilians of guns and swords. Searching mountain caves looking for ammunition and they found a lot.

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Carly Rose Pays Tribute to her father Malcom John Rose and her grandfather 
​George Charles Thomas Adams

Malcolm John Rose joined the 24th Light horse Brigade in Bingara WW2.

Malcolm John Rose - spent most of his life in Bingara especially in retirement fishing in the Gwydir River

Malcolm John Rose who served in                           WW2

Malcolm John Rose joined the 24th Light horse Brigade in Bingara at the beginning of WW11 and spent most of his life in Bingara especially in retirement fishing in the Gwydir River and gold fossicking up Borah Creek!
               Lest we Forget!
A great tribute by Carly Rose to her father.

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George Charles Thomas Adams WW1

WW1 Service Medals: George Charles Thomas Adams

 
Our grandfather, George Charles Thomas Adams, who served in WW1 and stayed behind in France after the war to sell off and care for the horses for 12 months!  Lest We Forget. Another great tribute by Carly Rose. George Charles Thomas Adams
​LEST WE FORGET

A Tribute to Brian Hughes - Our Bingara Boy.

Brian Hughes - Hong Kong Leave

Brian Hughes - Bingara Boys

Brian Hughes 'Lest We Forget"

Brian Hughes - In Camp

​A Tribute to the Light Horse Brigade and the horse we came to call "The Waler".  by Marlene Brewer
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Double and single sand sledges towed by horses and used for moving wounded soldiers across the desert. (Donor Mr Withers) 1916 Egypt, Frontier, Sinai

A Tribute to the War Horse We call the Waler by Marlene Brewer.


Countless lives were lost at Gallipoli, human and equine.
Allambie Stables Stock Horse Stud, here at Bingara, would like to pay tribute to the Australian Light Horse Brigade and the breed they came to call the “Waler”, with deepest respect. To those that fought and gave the greatest price for our freedom in this country that we enjoy today, we remember.
We acknowledge the role the service horse played in war so as not to be forgotten as they fell alongside their comrades, mates.
That from the “Waler” with his intelligence, courage, strength and tenacity that they were sought for in war, their prized qualities have continued to shape and develop the Australian Stock Horse Foundations of the future.
The 4 August 1914 saw the outbreak of the WW1:
Australia offered 20,000 troops to Britain. Four Lighthorse Regiments of 600 men were raised and one of the requirements to join was to provide your own horse which, if deemed suitable, was purchased from you by the army. The army now had a dilemma. Draught and pack animals were needed to make up the requirements for the new field artillery, engineer, signal and transport units. These draught and pack animals were now purchased from the same sources as they had in previous years been hired from (Livery stables, Farmers and Coaching services).
The Walers :
By the 1860’s to 1870’s approximately 40,000 horses a year from Australia were being sold to the British Army in India. A little know fact is that there were very few mares amongst them. By the 1880’s this figure had risen to 50,000. The large majority of these would have been draught animals for pulling guns and supply wagons as well as pack animals. Cobb and Co. bred
what were called coachers, a cross between a standard bred or trotter and a draught horse with possibly some thoroughbred in the strain as well. These horses were between 14.5 and 16 hands tall, wide chested strong and muscular, well known for their speed and stamina. These horses proved so successful that they were in great demand by the British Army in India and thousand upon thousands of surplus Cobb and Co. horses were exported to the Indian remount service. The British Army in India considered these New South Wales horses (it did not matter from which state they came from and Australia was pre federation at this time) the best they could get and always demanded “Walers” for their best Troops. Riding horses, gun horses, light draught, heavy draught, packhorses and polo ponies were all known as Walers.
The Most Well Known Battle:
The charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse at Beersheba late in the afternoon of 31 October 1917, is remembered as the last great cavalry charge. The assault on Beersheba began at dawn with the infantry divisions of the British Corps and the Australian Light Horse Brigade, attacking from the South and South-West. Despite artillery and air support, neither the infantry attacks from the South, or the Anzac Mounted Division’s attack from the East had succeeded in capturing Beersheba by mid-afternoon.
“With time running out for the Australians to capture Beersheba and its wells before dark, Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel, the Australian commander of the Desert Mounted Corps, ordered Brigadier General William Grant, commanding the 4th Light Horse Brigade, to make a mounted attack directly towards the town. Chauvel knew, from aerial photographs, that the Turkish trenches in front of the town were not protected by barbed wire. However, German bombing had forced the 4th Brigade into a scattered formation and
it was not until 4.50 pm that they were in position. The Brigade assembled behind rising ground 6 kilometres south-east of Beersheba with the 4th Light
Horse Regiment on the right, the 12th Light Horse Regiment on the left and the 11th Light Horse Regiment in reserve.
The Australian Light Horse was to be used purely as cavalry for the first time. Although they were not equipped with cavalry sabres, the Turks who faced the long bayonets held by the Australians did not consider there was much difference between a charge by cavalry and a charge by mounted infantry.
The Light Horse moved off at the trot, and almost at once quickened to a
gallop ( I see them driven by thirst at the smell of water). As they came over the top of the ridge and looked down the long, gentle open slope to Beersheba, they were seen by the Turkish gunners, who opened fire with shrapnel. But the pace was too fast for the gunners. After three kilometres Turkish machine-guns opened fire from the flank, but they were detected and silenced by British artillery. The rifle fire from the Turkish trenches was wild and high as the Light Horse approached. The front trench and the main trench were jumped and some men dismounted and then attacked the Turks with rifle and bayonet from the rear. Some galloped ahead to seize the rear trenches, while other squadrons galloped straight into Beersheba.
Nearly all the wells of Beersheba were intact and further water was available from a storm that had filled the pools. The 4th and 12th Light Horse casualties were thirty-one killed and thirty-six wounded; they captured over 700 men. The capture of Beersheba meant that the Gaza-Beersheba line
was turned. Gaza fell a week later and on 9 December 1917, the British
troops entered Jerusalem. “
Source © 2020 AWM London http://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/bersheba
Casualties and upkeep:
Battle losses of horses were approximately 25 percent of all war-related equine deaths between 1914 and 1916. Disease and exhaustion accounted for the remainder and the Germans specifically targeted horses with gunfire. During some periods of the war, 1,000 horses per day were arriving in
Europe as remounts for Allied troops, to replace horses lost. Some horses, having collapsed from exhaustion, drowned in ankle-deep mud, too tired to lift their heads high enough to breathe.
Feeding horses was a major issue, and horse fodder was the single largest commodity shipped to the front by some countries, including Britain. Horses ate around ten times as much food by weight as a human, and hay and oats further burdened already overloaded transport services.
In one year, 120,000 horses were treated for wounds or disease by British veterinary hospitals alone.
Ambulances and field veterinary hospitals were required to care for the horses, and horse trailers were first developed for use on the Western Front as equine ambulances.
When the war ended, many horses were killed due to age or illness, while younger ones were sold to slaughterhouses or to locals, often upsetting the soldiers who had to give up their beloved mounts.
There were 13,000 Australian horses remaining at the end of World War I, but due to quarantine restrictions, they could not be shipped back to Australia. Two thousand were designated to be killed, and the remaining 11,000 were sold, most going to India as remounts for the British Army.
Of the 136,000 horses shipped from Australia to fighting fronts in the war, only one, Sandy, was returned to Australia. New Zealand horses were also left behind; those not required by the British or Egyptian armies were shot to prevent maltreatment by other purchasers.
The horses left behind did not always have good lives – the Brooke Trust was established in 1930 when a young British woman arrived in Cairo, only to find hundreds of previously Allied-owned horses living in poor conditions, having been sold to Egyptians after the cessation of the war.
What a tragedy this outcome was for these galant, brave horses. What respect they have earned and deserve.
                                                                           “Lest we Forget” 

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GALLIPOLI, 1915. Dugouts used as stables showing horses standing inside the sand-bag entrances with their attendants. (Collection A. D. Hood, Donor J Borstel)

Artillery horses in their compartments aboard the transport ship Mashobra.in 1915

Transport-With several horses in his charge a digger waiting for orders to embark., Port Melbourne

Sergeant Spencer Gwynne of the 10th Light Horse Regiment sitting on his horse as it lies on the ground. Many soldiers from the light horse regiments taught their horses to lie down, a very useful form of protection if caught in the open under fire from an enemy. (Donor R. Gwyyne)

Jan Nay and Kylie Johnson pay tribute to their family members.
Priv. George Edward Bruce and Medical Corp Nurse Doreen Bruce (Nee Heil), parents and grandparents to Jan Nay and Kylie Johnson respectively.  Served in WW2. Met and married in Wartime . Both George and Doreen lived into their 90's.
A Beautiful tribute.                 " Lest We Forget "

Doreen and George Bruce, met and Married in War time. This Tribute is from their Daughter Jan Nay and Granddaughter Kylie Johnson.

Leopold Strudolph Harry Heil, Doreen's father fought in WW1 &WW2.

Medical Corp Nurse Doreen Bruce and Private George Edward Bruce served in WW2: 22/03/1943 - 27/11/1945

Doreen Bruce (nee Heil). Medical Corps WW2

George Edward Bruce (grandad) born 13th April 1918 Enlisted 31st July 1941 Service dates for WWII - 22nd March 1943 to 27th November 1945 (discharged)
Rank: Private - 25 Australian Infantry Battalion Served in New Guinea Several close shaves with death - his helmet saved a bullet to his head, his water bottle saved a bullet to the side, a bullet to the boot and he was next to his mate when his mate was injured and died. Doreen Bruce nee Heil (Grandma) born 23rd January 1925. Served in the medical Corp. George and Doreen met whilst she was nursing him and married 19th January 1944 and had seven children.
Her father served in both world wars and lied about his age to enlist. He also changed his surname from Heil (heal) as it was a spelt the same as ‘Heil Hitler’.

Mrs Chris East pays tribute to her Mother, Corporal Phyllis Kennedy.  Lest We Forget.

Mrs Chris East (Kennedy) posted a special tribute and photo of her mother, Corporal Phyllis Kennedy.


“Not to forget my mum who served in the Royal Australian Air Force - Corporal Phyllis Kennedy - Air Defence Headquarters Townsville Lest we Forget”
She is on the left in the Photo 


Chris also paid tribute to her father and her husband Roy’s father.


“Tomorrow, Anzac Day we will remember our fathers - Alfred Ivan East and Allan Ralph Kennedy -
Lest we forget” (on the left) “Alfred Ivan East 2/10 Transport Platoon - Balikpapan landing Borneo- drove transport vehicles” (on the right) 

Corporal Phyllis Kennedy

Allan Ralph Kennedy

Alfred Ivan East