Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is the right statue in the right place, and here is my acrostic accolade:

Light horsemen and their mighty steeds will this Saturday morning be given their due recognition in the city of Wagga Wagga, Riverina's capital.

It is appropriate the life-sized bronze statue will be officially unveiled and dedicated in the Victory Memorial Gardens.

Gardens have a sense of commemoration and remembrance, and this tranquil place will now forevermore be home not just to this mighty monument but, more importantly, to the memory it evokes.

Honour, service and sacrifice are hallmarks of what Light Horsemen and their trusty mounts carried into their difficult and often deadly daily duties.

The charge of the dismounted 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek at dawn on 7 August 1915 was considered by famous war historian Charles Bean as one of the bravest acts in the history of Australians at war.

Heroes all, these Anzacs did not stand a chance against the Turkish bullets that fateful day.

Ottoman forces won at Gallipoli, yet our mounted Light Horsemen proved superior in the desert Battles of Ramani (1916) and Beersheba (1917)—decisive cavalry actions in World War I.

Respecting the remarkable deeds of our Light Horsemen and their commitment to 'never leave a mate behind' is the apt theme of this significant shrine.

Sandy, belonging to Major General Sir William Bridges, was the only Great War horse from the 136,000 sent abroad to make it back to Australia, and, as we pause to pay tribute to the fallen Light Horsemen, let us spare a thought also for those equine wonders we sent to serve our nation and Empire's interests.

Every time our city and region gathers around this everlasting memorial in future, it will remind those present of the hard-working volunteers who made it all possible, the Wagga Wagga City Council, Federal Government (via the Saluting Their Service programme) and the generous benefactors who funded it and, most of all, the brave troopers and their gallant horses as we, who will mark this auspicious occasion, collectively say: Lest We Forget.

May the statue be a constant spur to all who will pass by in the future, who may stop and pause to admire and wonder: who were these men and their gallant mounts? Everlasting fame has been earned by the Light Horse Regiments, which carried Australia's name and banner in desert campaigns. Now Wagga Wagga has its monument to this greatness, and may all those who helped bring this about, particularly Pat Leary, John Ploenges, Maria Flinn and Dr Anne Flood, be thanked and may this monument serve as a constant reminder to all who look at it and say what great people we had in the past who made our future possible.