Our community | ANZAC Day

Small country towns in both New Zealand and Australia lost a large percentage of men during World War I and it affected generations to come. One sobering statistic was, that of the 10,000 New Zealand horses sent to WWI, only four returned. It was important that this was recognised in this centenary year with a memorial ride during ANZAC Day commemorations.

This year, 100 horses with riders dressed in ‘Mounted Rifles’ uniforms, rode from Hawarden to Waikari in North Canterbury, leaving at dawn on ANZAC day.

Mark Appleton of Frobisher Interiors in Christchurch was responsible for replicating the 100 year-old Canterbury Yeomany Cavalry (CYC) saddle blanket found in a woolshed outside Timaru.

Mark also rode with the Mounted Rifles alongside serving soldiers from both New Zealand and Australia on the day.

Nick Dunlop, Sales Director at James Dunlop Textiles, was happy to donate the woollen fabric required to replicate the saddle blankets choosing Cocoon by James Dunlop in Jet Black and Inca Gold, for this special ANZAC memory. 

Theo Brookman Workroom applied her expertise in making the saddle blankets beautifully. 

Nick was enthusiastic about the project as his Great Grandfather took his horse to war with the First Mounted Rifles, surviving the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns but his horse did not. 

This community project gave Nick's children, James and Millie, a good opportunity to learn about the brave feats of their Great Grandfather and appreciate the great number of ANZAC families with similar legends to recount. 

Lest we forget.

Along the same theme, our Australian Sales Manager, Dan Moir, recently visited Mount Clarence in Port Albany, Western Australia. This was where many war horses completed training and Albany was the last place in Australia that the ANZACs saw.

The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial on top of Mount Clarence is in memory of the lives lost in the Australian Light Horse Brigade, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the Imperial Camel Corps from 1916 to 1918. The memorial consists of a statue of an Australian mounted soldier assisting a New Zealand soldier whose horse has been wounded and a wall bearing the words "Lest We Forget".

The first recorded Dawn Service was conducted by Anglican Chaplain Padre Arthur Earnest White (44th Battalion AIF) on 25 April 1923 atop Mount Clarence, and has been held ever since with several thousand people participating each year.

(Source: Wikipedia)