Desert Mounted Corps MemorialPrint Page

The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial commemorates Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died in service or were killed in action in Egypt, Palestine and Syria during World War One.  More commonly known as the Light Horse Memorial, it commemorates the men of the Australian Light Horse Brigade as well as the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, the Imperial Camel Corps and the Australian Flying Corps who served in Egypt, Palestine and Syria between 1916 and 1918.

This memorial has been declared a “Military Memorial of National Significance” under the Military Memorials of National Significance Act 2008.

The statue is a copy of one originally forming part of a memorial erected at Port Said in 1932, and which was destroyed during the Suez War of 1956, salvaged and re-erected in Albany in 1964. (There is also a copy of this monument on ANZAC Parade, Canberra).

It shows a mounted Australian Light-Horseman defending a New Zealand Mounted Rifleman standing beside his wounded horse. It is said to be based on an incident in the charge at El Arish in 1917.

On 23 November 1932 it was unveiled on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Governments by the Australia`s war time Prime Minister W. M Hughes who was on his way back from a League of Nations meeting in Europe. The proceedings were broadcast by radio telephone over the 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometres) between Egypt and Australia, the first such direct broadcast between those two countries.

On the night of 26 December, 1956, during the Suez conflict, an Egyptian crowd attacked the Anzac monument, smashing it with hammers and large stones. Egyptian newspaper Al Akhbar reported the memorial would be blown up with dynamite. Police were posted beside the memorial to protect it and forbade the use of explosives but took no steps to prevent youths defacing it. It was pulled from its base and smashed beyond repair. The mob tore off the legs and tail of the New Zealander`s horse, smashed away the legs, tail and half the head of the Australian`s horse and sawed off the head, arms and legs of the New Zealander. The figure of the Australian light horseman disappeared. When peace returned to the area the United Arab Republic agreed to the request of the Australian and New Zealand Governments to release the damaged memorial and its polished Gabo Island granite plinth which were then shipped to Australia.

The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, will officially unveil the ANZAC Memorial at Albany, W.A., on October 11. The 12ft. high memorial, featuring a mounted Australian light horseman defending a New Zealander standing beside his wounded horse, is a replica of the ANZAC Memorial which was damaged at Port Said in the Suez crisis in 1956. In 1960, the Australian and New Zealand Governments successfully negotiated to have the damaged memorial shipped to Albany to be restored. It was found on arrival to be too badly damaged. It was then decided to make a replica of the memorial.
Canberra Times (ACT), 28 July 1964. 

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