20/04/2026
The 10th Australian Light Horse The Esperance RSL are so very grateful to the 10th Light Horse and the very special role they play in our ANZAC Day Services. We cant thank them enough.
Here's a bit of interesting info on the 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment. They were the only AIF light horse regiment recruited in Western Australia during the First World War. The regiment was raised in October 1914 when it became apparent that Western Australia could provide more than a single squadron of mounted soldiers.
The Australian Light Horse was a skilled formation of mounted infantry of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The men fought at Gallipoli (without their horses) and mostly served in Egypt and the Middle East.
This is an extract taken from the Australian Light Horse Association.
The Mounted Soldiers of Australia
Horses have played a special role in the story of Australia. For the first hundred years of European settlement they were the only means of transport across most of our huge country. Outside the few cities, ability to ride a horse was almost as basic as the ability to walk.
The value of the mounted soldier in Australia was first shown in 1804 when redcoats of the New South Wales Corps set out in pursuit of a large force of rebel convicts who had broken out of the Castle Hill Prison Farm.
Riding with the commanding officer of the Corps was a trooper called Thomas Ainsworth Anlezark, a member of Governor King’s mounted convict bodyguard. Anlezark scouted the rebels’ movements, helped capture their leaders and was slightly wounded in the Battle of Vinegar Hill that followed. He won a pardon and a land grant.
After this, men of the “bodyguard”, already described as “light horsemen”, played an increasingly important role and were fore-runners of a semi-military mounted police force..
Some of the British infantry regiments stationed in Australia found the need to create special mounted units. One of these units took part in the attack on the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in 1854.
That same year, three colonial governments created their own small cavalry forces, partly from fear of Russian invasion. This began the tradition of Australia’s mounted citizen soldiers – men who rode their own horses and trained in their spare time.
When war broke out in 1899 between Britain and the Boers of South Africa (“Boer” was Dutch for “farmer”) the Australian colonies sent troops to fight in the Imperial cause.
At first Britain was wary of using untried, unprofessional colonial cavalrymen. But she quickly saw that the slouch-hatted Australian “bushmen” were a match for the fast-moving and unconventional mounted commandoes of the Boers. Soon even Australian infantry were put on horseback.
The Australians proved themselves to be expert rough-riding horsemen and good shots. Bush life had hardened them to go for long periods with little food and water. They also showed remarkable ability to find their way in strange country and use its features for cover, in both attack and defence.
When a squadron of England’s famous 17th Lancers was wiped out by Boers, this was seen as part of a noble “death or glory” tradition. When a few hundred Australians and some Rhodesians held out successfully against several thousand encircling Boers at Elands River, they were helping create a new and better tradition.
Lord Kitchener who commanded the relieving troops commented, “Only colonials could have held out and survived in such impossible circumstances.”
Australia became a Commonwealth in 1901 and the foundations were soon laid for the Commonwealth military forces.
Recruiting the Light Horse
By 1914, when Australia joined the war against Germany, there were 23 Light Horse regiments of militia volunteers. Many men from these units joined the Light Horse regiments of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).
To learn more https://www.lighthorse.org.au/the-mounted-soldiers-of.../
Shire of Esperance
RSL WA
