Albany RSL hosts combined Boer War and Light Horse commemorative service despite weather dampening plans

The Albany RSL sub-branch hosted a combined service on Saturday afternoon to honour Australian service in both the Boer wars and in the Light Horse charge of Beersheba during World War I.

The service was originally slated to be held at the Desert Mounted Corps memorial atop Mt Clarence, but wet weather on Saturday morning and a grim outlook for the afternoon forced a change of plans, and the service was held in the Albany RSL clubrooms on Stirling Terrace.

The event was the second edition of a new service honouring Australian service in both the Boer wars in South Africa, and in the Australian Light Horse Brigade in WWI during the charge of Beersheba in 1917.

RSL services director Michael Tugwell wrote in the lead-up to the service that most fighting elements of Australian forces in the Boer wars served as mounted infantry, making it appropriate to recognise both conflicts together.

He wrote some Australian soldiers served in the Boer wars and later served in the Light Horse during WWI.

The Charge of Beersheba involved the 4th Battalion of the Australian Light Horse in a last-ditch effort to recapture the town of Beersheba on October 31, 1917, after preceding air, infantry and mounted attacks had failed.

The 4th Battalion mounted a charge just before dark and managed to take the town, capturing more than 700 Turkish soldiers and gaining critical access to water wells.

The action that would be remembered as the last great cavalry charge in military history, and turned the tide for the Allies’ fight in the Middle East in WWI.

Members of the 10th Light Horse Regiment in Perth, and their Albany counterparts, attended the service in full uniform, but had to leave their horses behind.