by Janine Hill

THE memory of the Light Horse lives on at Woombye where a parade on Sunday, October 29 will commemorate the 106th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba.

Run by the 2nd Light Horse Woombye troop for about 20 years, the annual event is one of the largest of its kind.

Members of other Light Horse living history groups at Maleny and Plainlands, near Gatton, are expected to join in the parade.

A significant proportion of members of the local troop have connections to the defence force or emergency services and president Ian Malcolm said they made a committed group.

“We’re told that it’s the biggest that’s around. There are other groups that do small parades. Ours has grown since we started,” he said.

“What I like about it is that it’s all community-based people doing it. People make it their business to do something about it. It’s something entirely voluntary.”

The parade marks the anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October, 1917, when the 4th and 12th Light Horse regiments charged to take control of the town and nearby water sources for the sake of the advancing Commonwealth forces.

Regarded as the last great cavalry-style charge in history, it involved the Lighthorsemen storming across the Turkish trenches using their bayonets as swords to take the Turks by surprise and slip under shelling range. 

Thirty-one Australians were killed and 36 injured and at least 70 horses died in the brave and unconventional move.

The Light Horse regiments were disbanded after World War One but Light Horse troops were raised again in the 1920s and a North Coast squadron was headquartered at Woombye.

The Woombye Light Horse living history troop was formed about 25 years ago by locals interested in preserving the memory and history of the Light Horse.

The annual Beersheba Day parade attracts about 20 Light Horse riders and horses, many of whom assemble the night before at the Woombye Pony Club grounds.

The parade starts at 10am outside Custom Paints in Woombye and proceeds down the main street to Memorial Park for a service. People are welcome to attend the troop’s drill hall in the CWA afterwards.

The Salvation Army Band marches in the parade, which also includes representation by the Red Cross nurses.

Guest speaker at this year’s parade will be Lieutenant Colonel Craig Malcolm, commanding officer of the 2/14th Light Horse regiment, now Light Horse only in name.