This Bronze sculpture located in Maribyrnong Victoria commemorates the 128,000 horses that left Australian shores for multiple fronts across Europe. Most importantly, The War Horse “Sandy”, the only horse to return from WW1.
With Australia’s involvement in WW1 beginning in August 1914, it was the naval and military regiments seeing action first at The German-occupied New Guinea. However, it was not until 1915, when Australia sent a light horse brigade to Egypt did horses start playing a part in the war effort on the European front. And it was on the 25th of February 1916 when The Light Horse Brigade took part in its first battle of the war, the Battle of Romani.
“Sandy” was described as a well-mannered horse with a gentle personality and was donated to the war effort by Francis O’Donnell from Tallangatta in northeast Victoria. He was trained as a light horse on the Maribyrnong Remount Depot before being shipped out from Australia with 6100 other horses, To land in Egypt in preparation for the Gallipoli Landings of February 1915.
The Favourite Horse Of Sir Major General William Bridges.
William Bridges was Australia’s first chief of the general staff in 1909 and was assigned to found Australia’s first military college at the Royal Military College at Duntroon in 1910.
With the outbreak of the war and attaining the rank of brigadier general, he was tasked with raising an Australian contingent before being reassigned to Egypt with a new position of Major General and commander-general of the Australian Imperial Force in 1915
While in Egypt, he met with commanders and generals while planning for the raid on (Anzac Cove) Gallipoli was in motion.
William Bridges and his brigade was first to land on Gallipoli’s shoreline with Sandy right by his side on the conflict-stricken beach. William demanded immediate evacuation from the shoreline, which was refused in a situation he described as “hopeless”.
Nevertheless, he pushed forward to the trenches, securing a foothold for the Australians.
Out of the 6,100 horses allocated for Gallipoli, only a handful of horses were brought to the shoreline of Gallipoli.
William Bridges took a liking to Sandy and rode him along the front line every morning for three weeks after the initial raid on the beach.
On the 15th of May 1915, Major William Bridges got struck by a Turkish sniper, severing a main artery in his leg.
Three days later, William Bridges died of his injury with Sandy being sent back to Egypt under the care of Australian Veterinary Corps Officer Captain Leslie Whitfield.
Journey Back To Australia
After the battle of Gallipoli, the Australian military decided it was better to sell the horses to the Egyptian Government as the quarantine rules for pests and parasites was too much of a logistical problem.
An exception was made for Sandy being the horse of Sir William Bridges. As his dying wish, he asked that Sandy be returned to Australia at “wars end” to live out the rest of his days.
After spending a year in Egypt, Sandy was moved to an Australian Veterinarian hospital located in Calais France, with Captain Whitfield in March 1916.
Where the horse spent a further year before being transferred to England under the orders of Minister of Defence, Senator George Pearce.
On his trip to England, Sandy was accompanied by Private Archibald Jordon.
Private Archibald Jordan had spent five months at the Veterinarian Corps of France after being officially classed as unfit for service from injuries sustained through brutal trench warfare.
After months of observation and officially classed as “free of disease and sickness”, Sandy was boarded on the freighter “Booral” in September 1918 bound for Melbourne by November.
When arriving back in Melbourne, a decision was made for Sandy to remain at the Central Remount Depot in Maribyrnong.
Sandy grazed the fields of the remount depot for the next five years before sadly being put down from old age.
Sandy being the only horse to have returned from WW1, saw his neck and head taxidermied for display at the Australian Memorials collection.
His body is supposedly resting somewhere in the Remount Depot, with a statue being erected near the fields he once grazed in 2011.
About The Statue
The statue was designed and built by the Footscray Art Design Company “BiGfiSh”, a group of Architectural designers who worked with small and large instalments of private and public art and pays tribute to not only the courageous warhorse Sandy, but also the countless other horses that served in the light horse brigade across all of the battlefronts of the First World War.
For now, this statue marks where Sandy not only trained, but spent his last days. plans to move the figure into the Fisher Stables will commence once The Maribyrnong defence site is decontaminated.
Sandy is also no longer on display at the memorials collection museum to slow down deterioration and conserve an animal that is a part of Australia’s history
Sandy is facing south, so as the afternoon sun shines behind him, it will create a silhouette of the horse that Australia should never forget. “The Only One That Made It Back”
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Location
Further Reading
BigFish Footscray Artist Group
Australian War Memorial: Major General William Throsby Bridges
Australian War Memorial: Sandy
Major General William Throsby Bridges Full Credential‘s Including Photos