Anzac legend born of SW toil
The Australian Light Horse rode into legend one century ago and on Anzac Day, a group dedicated to keeping the memory alive will ride into Greenbushes and Bridgetown.
Five members of Bunbury's 10th Light Horse Memorial Troop will lead a dawn parade at Greenbushes and another parade mid-morning in Bridgetown.
At 1pm they will be at Bridgetown cemetery for a ceremony in which a headstone will be placed on the grave of Thomas Edward 'Ted' Bolton, an original member of the 10th Light Horse Regiment.
At 1pm on Anzac Day, a gravestone will be unveiled in Bridgetown to mark the resting place of Thomas Edward ‘Ted’ Bolton, right, who enlisted with Herbert Jackson, Jack Rollo and Henry Price in April 1916.
A flyover and special exhibition of memorabilia have also been organised to mark the centenary of Anzac Day, said Returned and Services League Bridgetown- Greenbushes sub-branch president Terry Linz.
Among those riding to honour the shire's servicemen are Donnybrook couple Sandy and Norman Hall, who is descendant of Ted Bolton.
They are among about 20 members of the re-enactment troop, set up by Australind man Harry Ball about five years ago to keep Light Horse memories alive.
After World War I broke out in 1914, mounted troops from WA were to be part of the 7th Light Horse Regiment, with the balance from Queensland and NSW, Mr Ball said.
But so eager were men from WA to serve that a complete State regiment, the 10th, was established - with about one-quarter of its 600 men recruited from the South West.
"They only expected us to raise two squadrons but we raised a full regiment," Mr Ball said.
"That was raised by Lt-Col Noel Brazier, from Capel.
"Every town would have had a troop of 30 part-time troopers - you did your farm work and once a month you went on weekend training.
"There were troops at Donnybrook, Manjimup, Bunbury, Brunswick, Harvey - each town had a troop.
"WA paid a higher price per head of population.
"Per head of population, we raised the most men in the Light Horse and the infantry as well."
The men of the 10th first saw action at Gallipoli - without their horses - famously at The Nek and Hill 60 and then in the Middle East advance that ended in Damascus.
If WA men paid a high price in WWI, so did their horses.
The story of more than 130,000 warhorses that left Australian shores never to return will be told on ABC television on Sunday in the documentary, Australia's Great War Horse.
Mr Ball and the Halls - who breed walers descended from the original warhorses - were part of a group filming scenes for the documentary at Lancelin in 2013.
"It was crazy, it was great fun," Mrs Hall said.
"We were filming the re-enactment of Beersheba."
The famous charge on October 31 in 1917 is known as one of the last successful cavalry charges.
"The Light Horse formed up two regiments and charged the trenches and they came in so quickly, they jumped the trenches and the next minute, they were in the town," Mr Ball said.
Light Horse men are still venerated in Gaza, where a statue immortalises their courage in the attack that defeated the Turks and paved the way to establish an Israeli state. One year after Beersheba, the Light Horse entered Damascus ahead of Lawrence of Arabia - originally claimed as the first - in the final weeks of the war and leading the Australian advance to Damascus on October 1 in 1918 was the 10th.
"A reporter embedded with the troops said half of them were reeling in their saddles from influenza and cholera, they were that sick," Mr Ball said.
"(But) they drew swords and galloped in and because they came in so quickly, there were few casualties because of the shock and awe of the whole thing."
Major Arthur Olden, a dentist from Narrogin, accepted the surrender of the Governor of Damascus in the town hall.
Mr Ball said the ABC documentary cleared any remaining doubts on the competing claims of Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse.
"The family of Arthur Olden have still got that surrender document," he said.
"In this film, you'll see his grandson showing you the document."
