1st Australian Horse and the Australian Light Horse War Memorial, Harden

About

Local artist and stone mason, Carl Valerius, designed and created this imaginative memorial consisting of a large granite block with bronze statue and reliefs, together with a wall of remembrance and an allegorical garden. A bronze 1st Australian Horse hat badge embellishes the rock face and a full sized statue of Corporal William Bradford of the 1st Australian Horse stands along side. The western face features a sculptured relief depicting hand-to-hand fighting for the Wells of Beersheba, on 31 October 1917. A nearby stone wall has bronze plaques listing the names of original recruits to the 1st Australian Horse, 1897. At the centre of the wall is a horse trough-shaped fountain created from black granite which is reflective, and from which water overflows at each side, representing a renewal of life. Below the wall is an allegorical water garden symbolic of the coming together of people from the cities, the farms and the bush to go to war, the futility and violence of war and the eventual peace. Planting throughout the space consists of Australian plant species, together with plants native to South Africa and the Middle East. Note: The list of names below is a compilation of 1897 volunteers for the 1st Australian Horse, many of whom were later to fight in the Boer War, 1899-1902.