Early this month saw the passing of one of our most esteemed grand “Old Diggers”.  When I say “grand Old Digger”, it signifies a very dear term of endearment.  Jock Davidson,  so well known to us all, and especially so popular amongst the whole community of Cowra and the District,  served and fought with much distinction and pride with the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment in World War 1 on Gallipoli, in Palestine, Egypt and where ever the Anzac Mounted Division served.  Besides being a grand soldier in war time, Jock was just as grand a gentleman in civilian life.  He was one those soldiers who always carried out the spirit of Anzac to the letter, always wanting to help his mate and always wanting to do the right thing by everybody.  To his dear family I do wish to extend our very sincere sympathy, and to Jock we all bow our heads and say “Vale Jock Davidson”.  (W E Agland, MBE, Past President, City of Orange Sub-Branch, RSL of Australia)

John Davidson, known as Jock, was born on 7 February 1883 at “Westside”, Tillyfour,  Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the third of eight children of John Davidson and Anne Williams and one of four to survive. 

On 15 February 1919 at Killara in Sydney he married Christina Norrie, the sixth of twelve children of William Norrie and Margaret Jane Ledingham of “Cairnhill”, Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where the Norrie Family had been farming for six generations since the late 1600s.  Jock and Chris made their home at “Mooroonbin” (an Aboriginal name Jock chose which means “meeting of friends”), Forbes Road, Cowra, and raised a family of six children:  Ian Davidson, Duncan Davidson (killed aged 21 in World War 2), Jim Davidson, Meg Reynolds, Effie Langfield and Tom Davidson, who in turn produced nineteen grandchildren, five of whom presently live in Cowra:  Rowena Casey, John Davidson (who presently lives at Mooroonbin with his wife Heather), Peter Davidson, Rob Davidson and Warwick Reynolds.   Various of Jock’s grandchildren have researched and compiled the family history and the following is Jock’s story, particularly pertaining to the four years he served with the Australian forces in World War 1.

Jock’s Father established a business in Whitehouse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, about 1896, “John Davidson, General Merchant” which included the village Post Office.   This business, under that name, existed for about 100 years into the 1990s.  Jock attended the local school until about the age of 12 when he most likely started working for his Father.

Jock had a school mate whose family ran another nearby village Post Office.  They both learnt Morse Code and would send messages to each other on the Post Office telegraph.  They developed a special code to each other which meant:  “I’ll meet you down at the bridge on the Don River”, and through use they became very fast.  One day after school a Post Office Inspector was at the shop when Jock ran into the telegraph room and at lightning speed sent the aforementioned message to his friend.  The Inspector was astonished and said, “Good grief, that’s the fastest Morse Code I’ve ever heard!  What did you say?”  Jock told him, omitting to say that he had used his abbreviated code, then ran off to meet his friend leaving behind an Inspector who believed he had just seen a child master of Morse Code!

Morse Code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer with special equipment. An experienced operator can transmit and receive information at 20-30 words per minute.  The Code was developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse who, along with other others, invented the telegraph which revolutionised long-distance communication.  It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations.  The information was sent as a series of electrical signals.  Short signals are referred to as dits (represented by dots).  Long signals are referred to as dahs (represented by dashes).   Before the Electric Telegraph most messages that travelled long distances were entrusted to messengers who memorised them or carried them in writing.  These messages could be delivered no faster than the fastest horse.  Although the Electric Telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the 21st century, replaced by the telephone, fax machine, and the internet, it was the start of the telecommunications revolution which laid the groundwork for those later inventions.

Jock’s Mother died in childbirth in 1898 when he was 15 .  His Father remarried when Jock was 17 and soon after Jock left home.  With the continuing war in South Africa between the Boers and the British there was a great need for more men and recruiting campaigns were very active throughout the country.  The Gordon Highlanders’ traditional recruiting area was in that part of Aberdeenshire in which Jock was living and from the age of about 16 he was in the Gordons Fourth Volunteer Battalion. 

He told a story of when he was at school and playing with other lads they jumped a fence and slashed with their swords a stand of new pine trees which they pretended was the enemy.  In his words, “Oh gee yes.  What a terrible thing to do.  It was a time you see when young fellows took off to the war.  We all had swords, you know.”  This type of behaviour was almost encouraged at that time.  Throughout the 1890s school boys were bombarded by popular magazines written specially for them with thrilling adventure yarns full of patriotism and reminders of imperial duty.

In January 1901 Jock enlisted as a militiaman in the 3rd Gordon Highlanders.  He was 17 years and eleven months.  On joining he gave his occupation as postman. 

Two months later he was recruited into the frontline regiment and following training left with 245 other men of the Gordon Highlanders from Portsmouth on the Dilwara in April 1902 for South Africa to join the First Battalion in the Second Boer War.

In 1866 diamonds were discovered at Kimberly in southern Africa , prompting a diamond rush and a massive influx of foreigners to the borders of the Orange Free State.  Then in 1886 an Australian discovered gold in the Witwatersrand area of the South African Republic.  Gold made the Transvaal the richest and potentially the most powerful nation in southern Africa.  However, the country had neither the manpower nor the industrial base to develop the resource on its own.  As a result the Transvaal reluctantly agreed to the immigration of foreigners, mainly from Great Britain, who came to the Boer (Africaans speaking, mostly of Dutch descent) region in search of fortune and employment.  This resulted in the number of foreigners in the Transvaal potentially exceeding the number of Boers, and precipitated confrontations between the earlier-arrived Boers and the newer, non-Boer arrivals.

Following the end of the First Boer War (December 1880 to March 1881) between the Boers, and the British Empire, and which the British lost, the independence of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal) was restored, subject to certain conditions, however relations remained uneasy. 

As tensions escalated, political manoeuvrings and negotiations attempted to reach compromise on the issues of the rights of the foreigners within the South African Republic, control of the mining industry, and the British desire to incorporate the Transvaal and the Orange Free State into a federation under British control.  Given the British origins of the majority of foreigners and the ongoing influx of new settlers into Johannesburg, the Boers recognised that granting full voting rights to the foreigners would eventually result in the loss of ethnic Boer control in the South African Republic.

When the British rejected an ultimatum from the President of the South African Republic to withdraw its troops from the borders of both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, war was declared on Great Britain. 

The Second Boer War was fought from October 1899 until May 1902.  The British war effort was supported by troops from several regions in the British Empire including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India and New Zealand.  The war ended in victory for Britain and the annexation of both republics.  Both would eventually be incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910.

Jock disembarked in Capetown on 6 May, barely a month before the end of the conflict, and spent his time defending railway lines from blockhouses along the lines.  He said that the Boers ploughed all day and tried to blow up the railway lines at night.  With a Peace Agreement reached on 31 May an immediate and grateful duty of the troops was to demolish the blockhouses which relieved 400 men of the Gordons to come in to Headquarters by the middle of June.  Jock’s next assignment was to the house guard of Lord Kitchener, followed by Lt. General Hon. N C Lyttelton,  in Pretoria, an obvious duty to assign to a young and inexperienced soldier.  On 21 June the new Crown Colony Government of the Transvaal was inaugurated and the country was divided into military districts, the Gordons being allotted to Pretoria.

King Edward VII’s coronation took place on 9 August 1902 with celebrations throughout the Empire.  In Pretoria it was the occasion of a ceremonial parade with feu de joie (a salute by rifle fire when each man in succession, along a rank, fires a single shot), cheers and a march past.  King Edward had been the Colonel-in-Chief of the Gordon Highlanders since 1898.

Finally on 22 September the battalion was warned for home, however Jock “had a row with the Sergeant-Major and he had the power that day to go and change me and send me to India!  And I was a three year’s man only, you know.”  At that time men signed on to do three years with the colours (ie in an active battalion).  However, if a man was overseas when his three years was up, he could be made to do an extra year.  This is apparently what happened to Jock, and he obviously resented it then and still did when he told this story at age 90!

For his service in South Africa Jock received the Queens South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal, just scaping in because he had physically been in each State!   On 12 November 1902 at Capetown Jock embarked on the SS Aurania for India.

Arriving in Bombay, India, on 28 November he travelled to the Punjab where on 9 December he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders at Seilkot.  Jock was 19 years and 11 months.

From 1858 until 1947 the British Raj (Rule) controlled roughly two thirds of India, the other third consisting of 562 nominally independent princely states.  The Raj consisted of 14 provinces, each subdivided into districts. In 1947 the British Indian Empire was partitioned into five dominion sovereign states:  The Union of India (later The Republic of India), The Dominion of Pakistan (later The Islamic Republic of Pakistan), The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Sikkim and Darjeeling of Nepal (now part of India).  Later Burma was added and it gained its independence in 1948 as British Mayanmar Burma.

Throughout the British Raj there were always two armies in India, the British Army and the Indian Army, with one British regiment to two Indian in every brigade.  The imbalance was corrected by putting all the artillery into British hands.  About one third of the British Army’s infantry was always stationed in India, about 50 battalions.  A battalion was about 1,000 men and there were two battalions to a regiment.  Normally, one battalion of a regiment would be overseas and one in Britain.  Battalions served tours in India of up to 16 years, and were kept up to strength by drafts from their linked battalions in Britain, or in Jock’s case, from the 1st Regiment then still in South Africa.  In the Punjab alone at this time there were 13 infantry battalions, 3 cavalry regiments (Hussars and Lancers), 22 batteries and companies of artillery (horse, field, garrison and mountain) and ordnance and medical corps etc. – a total of about 19,000 men in the Punjab out of about 73,000 in the country. 

Except for the last few months in the NW Frontier, Jock spent all his time in India in the Punjab.  At Sialkot the Gordons were the only British Infantry but closeby were the 9th Lancers, two regiments of Indian cavalry, one battalion of Indian infantry, one battery and one ammunition column, one company of sappers and miners, and a Mounted Infantry school.  This large military cantonment and the population of Sialkot was about 58,000 in 1901 and was on the borders of Jammu and Kashmir, close to the outer Himalayas, 90 miles from Lahore and close enough to the frontier to require precautions against the “loose wallahs” or trans-frontier rifle thieves.  The frontier tribes lived in the mountains between India and Afghanistan.  War was their occupation and killing their favourite pastime.  Fortunately they possessed insufficient rifles, however this led to some of the most accomplished thieving the world has ever known.  Rifles, 303 longs, a very heavy rifle, were kept on chains in special stores and in camp every man had to sleep with his rifle chained to his body with the chain through the trigger guard and round his waist, and with bolts and bayonets kept under pillows.  If a man didn’t have a chain he had to dig a pit, put the rifle in it and sleep on top of it.  The loss of a rifle was regarded as the most heinous crime and generally meant a Court of Inquiry or Court Martial.

Jock was in India for nearly three years (2 years and 300 days according to army records) and arrived back in Great Britain in February 1905, aged 22.  He was then placed on the reserve and was probably required to do up to 12 days training per year.  For this he was paid a retaining fee of 4 pence a day, a trifling sum even in those days. The Gordons remained close to his heart and the refrain of a favourite song, “A Gordon for Me”, is as follows:             

A Gordon for me, a Gordon for me,

If ye’re no a Gordon,

Ye’re no use to me.

The Black Watch are braw,

The Seaforths and a’,

But the cocky wee Gordon’s the pride o’ them a’.                

The next five years Jock spent in Scotland, probably working for his Father in the general store and post office and working on the estate of the local Earl/Lord where it is likely he worked with horses and learnt to break them in and work with them.  He also established a successful shop with his sister, Eek, however she became engaged to an engineer, Jim Morris, who had obtained a position in Victoria, Australia, and thus it came to pass that Jock left Scotland on 23 December 1910 to escort his sister to Australia to marry her betrothed.  However, before this could happen he had had to obtain the permission of the army to immigrate.  Permission was granted and he was directed to proceed to NSW which he did with his life savings and a reference from his local Minister which stated that he had “an excellent character, in full communion with the Church of Scotland.”

By 1911 two thirds of the population of Great Britain were within the working age group of 15 to 64.  Many of this great labour force chose to immigrate, the Irish, Scots and Welsh being proportionately the greatest number of immigrants.  The first decade of the century was a period of recession and 1.8 million people left Britain in this period, half settling in the white dominions.  In the last three years before the First World War an average of over 460,000 per year immigrated, Jock, Eek and their cousin Bill Ogg being among this wave of immigrants.

Jock celebrated his 28th birthday en route, deposited his sister with an Aunt in Bendigo, and then sailed on up to Sydney arriving on 19 February 1911.  The population of Australia was nearly 4.5 million with over 1.5 million in NSW.  Although 83% of the population was born in Australia, 98% of Australians were either British born or of British descent.  Australians were fervently British in a year of elaborate imperial ceremony which included the coronation of King George V, an Imperial Conference and a grand naval review at Spithead.  The census of that year also showed that over 60% of the population lived outside the capital cities.

On arriving in Sydney, Jock and Bill were advised that there were jobs for them in Cowra with Jock going to Glen Echo to work for Levi Wright and Bill to Coota Park to work for Levi’s Father, George.  Jock recalled that Mr Wright was very good to him and taught him a great deal.  Jock was keen to learn and anxious for a variety of farm experiences.  There was plenty of work and Jock worked for many families whose descendants are still in the Cowra district:  Battyes, the Farrars at Valley of the Springs, Whittackers, Jimmy Wright at Wattamondara, and Jim Smith of Reid Smiths, a general store in Cowra, for whom he built hay stacks.  Later Jock acquired his own team of 4 horses which he bought at sales and broke in and a Clyde lorry which could carry 40 bags.  With this team he carted wheat from Iandra to Greenethorpe.  Iandra, about 6 miles south of Greenethorpe, was at the time about 26,000 acres extending from the Young Road to Tyagong Creek and covering the area where Greenethorpe now stands. 

Jock also joined the Militia of the Australian Military Forces, enrolling in the 9th Light Horse Regiment (formerly the 2nd) NSW Mounted Rifles of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade.  In 1910 Field Marshal Kitchener had visited Australia to reorganise the defence forces.  He introduced a National Citizen Force, with annual training for adults of 16 days, 8 of which were to be in camp.  The camp of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade in 1913 was at Canberra in order to have the brigade present at the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of the Commencement Column by the Governor General, and the naming of the city, on 12 March.  The ceremony took place between the sites of the Capital and Parliament House, with the four regiments  (7th, 9th, 11th and 28th) drawn up to form three sides of a hollow square. 

In February 1914 the brigade encamped at Tirranna, about 5 miles south of Goulburn, the four regiments and detachments of army corps and army medical corps being present.  This camp was perhaps the best thought out and organised and the most fruitful of any in which the regiment had participated.  The men throughout the brigade had absorbed their previous training and they now put it into full effect.  Jock was an instructor and held the rank of Sergeant.  Family records note that Jock won the wrestling in the Light Horse Brigade at Goulburn.

From the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 there had been nearly 100 years of peace in Europe, however, there was a growth of opposing and secret alliances, Germany was displaying expansionist tendencies, and there were between nations,  economic, colonial and naval rivalries.

On 28 June 1914 the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian student in Sarajevo, Bosnia.  On 30 July Austria declared war on Serbia.  Germany was Austria’s ally by treaty.  Russia was Serbia’s ally, while France was allied with Russia, and Britain loosely with France. 

Russia mobilised in support of Serbia, and Germany declared war on Russia and, de facto, France on 2 August.  Two days later, after the Germans had begun their move against France, Britain declared war on Germany to support Belgian neutrality.  Andrew Fisher, soon to be Prime Minister of Australia, had already pledged Australia’s “last man and last shilling” and on 5 August Australia was at war.

A force of 20,000 was offered by the Australian Government.  Recruiting began on 10 August with the aim of the force sailing on 12 September.  The force was recruited, officered, organised, armed, clothed, equipped, put through early stages of training and shipped within 6 weeks!  In that time the Navy had requisitioned, refitted and provisioned the transports.

When war broke out Jock was share farming Redlands near Billimari with Dr Bartlett’s son and so he left all his gear and his horses at Redlands and, on 21 August, 16 days after Australia was at war, departed Cowra by train with the Light Horse, along with 17 other men and their horses. 

The following article appeared in the Cowra Free Press on Wednesday 19 August 1914:  “....it is to be hoped that there will be a large gathering of townfolk at the railway station on the occasion to bid the men bon voyage and Godspeed.  Our gallant young warriors are a fine type of men who we feel sure will reflect credit on their town and district and will also prove a most acceptable addition to the Australian Expeditionary Force.  That they will render a good account of themselves in active service there is no room for doubt and we earnestly trust that every man will be spared to return to his home crowned with glory.  The ambition  to be an instrument in repelling the incursion of insolent and turbulent foes and at the same time endeavour to preserve the prestige of our race and the integrity of the British Empire is one which should find a place in the breast of every Britisher, amongst whom are included the people of Australia.  We Australians owe very much indeed to the Motherland, and it behoves us in her hour of need to prove our loyalty to her by sending troops to her assistance and doing all in our power to lighten her burden in every possible way.  The Cadet Band, under its conductor (Mr Cecil Bergin,) will be at the railway station in the evening to join in any demonstration of the citizens that may take place and possibly Mr McLeish’s schoolboy drum and fife band will also be present.  Following are the names of the members of the Light Horse of Cowra who have volunteered for service (and indeed their names should be inscribed in letters of gold):  Lieut Harley Wordsworth, Sergt-Major T Alford, Sergt H Bernie, Sergt Davidson, Sergt Farrier W Simeon, Troopers H Chivers, P Treasure, R Matheson, Harris, Jas McInerney, J J Bryant, D Wilson, W H Peters, E Roffe, C E Gwilliam, Barrow, C Strachan and another.”

Jock enlisted in the 1st Light Horse (NSW) Regiment, Australian Imperial Force, on 22 August 1914 at Rosebery Racecourse, 4 miles south of Sydney with the regimental number 391.  He was appointed to C Squadron and immediately given the rank of Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant, no doubt because of his previously military experience.  His Attestation Paper notes his age as 32 years and 6 months, height 5 feet 7 inches and weight 9 stone 9 pounds.  Jock’s pay was 11 shillings and 6 pence per day.  A private or trooper received 6 shillings per day which was intended to equal the pay of the average Australian worker.  Though not overly generous by Australian standards, the private in the AIF was the highest paid soldier of any Army in the war – hence the nickname “six bob a day tourist”!

Jock allotted some of his pay to Miss C Norrie, his future wife, who was then residing with her brother John Norrie at Koorawatha. Chris had immigrated in 1912 aged 21 to help her brother John and his wife May with their young family:  Margaret (later married Arthur Jones of Grenfell) and Jess (later married Ray Langfield of Cowra).  Two more girls were born to John and May, Katherine and Joan.  Later Joan and her husband Joe Campbell bought John Norrie’s farm at Koorawatha, Melrose.  Jock and Chris, whilst both coming from Aberdeenshire in Scotland, first met at a Caledonian Society gathering in Cowra, probably in the Lyric Hall which stood opposite St Raphael’s Church on the site of the current Church Hall.  With so many immigrants from Scotland, the Caledonian Society was established as a social gathering and to uphold and honour the traditions and culture of the country of their birth. 

The AIF uniform, designed strictly for serviceability, was of dull khaki wool cloth, loosely fitting at the waist, neck and sleeve, with roomy pockets and oxidised buttons.  Headgear was the famous wide-brimmed fur felt hat, the slouch hat, turned up on the left side and affixed with a rising sun badge.  The Light Horsemen wore riding breeches with leather leggings and a distinctive bandolier that carried 90 rounds of ammunition.  Many men, including Jock, brought their own horses with them.  If the horse met army standards they were purchased by the Remount Officer for about 30 pounds and issued back to the previous owner after being branded with the Government broad arrow and an army number.

Black Bess was Jock’s horse and in his words, “Ahh, she was a beautiful beast was Black Bess.”  As his Grandchildren we heard stories of Black Bess and knew how much our Grandfather loved that horse.  Apparently he had seen this horse at Cudgelo on the Campbell property.  It was owned by Mrs Campbell’s Father, Mr xxxxxxx and was known to be pretty headstrong.  In fact Mr xxxxxx said to Jock that if he could catch the horse he could have it.  Catch it he did and it was Black Bess who boarded the train in Cowra on 21 August and went to war with Jock.

At this stage there was very little equipment available for active service.  Every effort was made to train the men in mounted work but saddlery was short, especially stirrup irons.  At the start of each day, the men watered, fed and groomed their horses and cleaned the horses lines before breakfast.  Training and field firing were carried on until embarkation, with regular rifle drills at the Malabar Rifle Range, south of the camp.  They trained in the neighbouring sandhills and across the ground now forming part of Kingsford Smith Airport.  The sandhills offered similar conditions to those encountered later in Egypt and Palestine.

The 1st Light Horse Regiment was one of three regiments of the 1st Light Horse Brigade.  A light horse regiment was divided into three squadrons (commanded by a Major), each squadron of approximately 150 men consisting of four troops (commanded by a Lieutenant).  It had a Headquarters Staff and a Machine Gun Section and at full establishment was made up of 25 officers and 497 men.

The Light Horse was not a cavalry force.  Its members were not armed with sword or lance.  They were mounted infantry and their horses were intended merely to give them the greatest range of activity as a mobile body.  They would ride to battle but would fight on foot.  In action, every fourth man was a horse holder whose task was to keep his section’s horses under cover ready for the next move.  Light Horse also had the duties of reconnaissance and screening and protection from surprise for all bodies of troops.

Everything the Light Horse trooper needed for living and fighting had to be carried by him and his horse.  Extra clothing, food and personal possessions were carried in a canvas haversack carried over the shoulder.  Across the other shoulder hung a water bottle.  The bandolier contained 90 rounds of ammunition.  There were 10 rounds in the .303 rifle slung over his shoulder and another 50 rounds in pouches on his belt which also supported the bayonet and scabbard.

The military saddle was designed to carry a remarkable array of equipment.   Across the front was strapped a rolled greatcoat and waterproof groundsheet.  Mess tin, canvas water bucket and nosebag with a day’s grain were slung at the back of the saddle.  There was also a heel rope, removable length of picket line and a leather case with two horse shoes and nails.  The trooper’s blanket was often spread under the saddle on top of the saddle rug.  Most men then added to this collection of equipment.  When fully loaded, the horses often carried between 280-330 pounds (130-150 kg) for long distances, in searing heat and sometimes without water for a number of days.

Barely two months after arriving in Sydney, on 19 October 1914 the 1st Light Horse Regiment numbering 24 officers, 484 other ranks and 461 horses embarked at Wooloomooloo on the A16 Star of Victoria. Early the next morning they sailed through Sydney Heads, the men not to return for over 4 years and, sadly, the magnificent horses never to return.

The horses were placed in narrow boxes on the top deck and between decks with a steep ramp down.  Everyday the horses were walked around the deck.  On 26 October the ship reached King Georges Sound, Albany, Western Australia, joining 18 ships already there and others  arriving daily.  On 1 November they departed Australia in a convoy of 36 transports, including 10 from New Zealand, and 3 escorting cruisers.  They were joined two days later by the Ibuki, a Japanese cruiser, and 2 transports from Fremantle, making a total of 38 transports carrying an expeditionary force of 28,000 troops, 12,000 horses and all the guns, wagons and equipment necessary for the Light Horse, Artillery, Engineers and Infantry, and 4 escorts:  cruiser HMS Minotaur (the flagship of the escort), light cruisers HMAS Sydney and Melbourne, and battle cruiser Ibuki.

The convoy sailed in three parallel lines about one mile apart, with Jock’s ship, the Star of Victoria, sailing in the third division of the convoy, the 7th ship in a line of ten.  Life aboard was very strenuous.  After the morning parade, drill and exercises were conducted between duties as well as rifle exercises and lectures.  Stables were carried out as usual, with the addition of half an hour’s massage of the horses’ legs as they were unable to lie down during the voyage.  It was very hot below decks and the men lived and slept on deck. 

On 5 November they passed the Osterley and received two important pieces of information.  Kingsborough had won the Melbourne Cup and Turkey had declared war.  There was then much speculation about their final destination.

On 9 November disaster almost struck when the German ship the Emden nearly caught the convoy.  The Sydney was dispatched to the Cocos Islands and there was much excitement when the wireless message came through, “Sydney doing battle with the Emden near Cocos”.  Next message was “Emden driven ashore.  Sydney victorious.”  Jock’s ship seemed to rock with the cheers of the men and the troops struck up Rule Brittania.  There was enormous pride that an Australian ship had sunk the Emden and enormous relief that the path to Egypt was now relatively clear. 

Colombo was the first port of call, then Aden and through the Suez Canal to Port Said, then on to Alexandria arriving on 4 December.  The regiment disembarked on 8 December, the horses being led along the streets to the troop train bound for Cairo where they all came together at Maadi Camp, an oasis about 8 miles south of Cairo, on the east bank of the Nile on the edge of the desert. 

The Egyptian Gazette of 15 December 1914 described the Light Horse camp as follows:  “Although the camp is not quite yet fixed, the men seem cheerful and at home.  Large wood fires burn beneath and around oval iron pots of tea; toast, too, seems a great favourite, baked and sadly burned in the wood ashes.  The many lines of beautiful and much-loved horses strike the onlooker immediately; they have practically constant attention night and day.  Being packed on the boats as they were the whole time from Australia, standing for seven or eight weeks, has for the time being weakened and stiffened their legs and joints and at present not one of them is being ridden.  They are exercised daily, at first gently, increasing to ten mile exercises and training they are now undergoing.  There are wild and almost-wild horses among them, many of which were presented to the regiments before they left.........Mascots of the regiments are, of course, a chief and interesting sight, and a motley crew they are.  One regiment is the proud possessor of two great birds of the kind called laughing jackasses whose shrieked mirth can be heard by the inhabitants of Mahdi, half a mile away.  There was also a rock kangaroo or wallaby.”

The regiments trained for 8 hours every day except for Sunday, with limited leave in Cairo allowed.  Colonel Chauvel who had taken command of the brigade insisted from the beginning on strict discipline of dress and bearing, and the 1st Light Horse Brigade showed throughout the war the results of this early training.  After about two weeks the horses had recovered from the voyage and mounted training was carried out daily. 

The men took advantage of leave passes to do all the normal tourist rounds, many visiting Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom and the site of the Step Pyramid, the oldest of its kind, and the Pyramids of Gizah and Sphinx.

At the end of January the 1st Light Horse Brigade was transferred to Heliopolis (City of the Sun) about 6 miles NE of Cairo to join the New Zealand and Australian Division.  This Division, along with the 1st Australian Division and the British 29th Division, made up the A & NZ Army Corps (ANZAC).  The camp contained 10,000 Colonials and 10,000 Territorials (Terriors).  Jock recalled that straightaway they went into hard training, digging trenches and things like that.

The men loathed Heliopolis as it was on the fringe of the desert and the place seemed to be in a perpetual dust storm.  Field days were held and field firing carried out at the Abbassia range.  The training areas allotted were very suitable for mounted work and despite the weather few days were lost through adverse conditions.  All ranks were very keen and took the utmost interest in the work. 

A large exercise on 9 March ended early for the 1st Light Horse.  They rode straight into an artillery battery, were “annihilated” and sent back to camp!  These absences from camp came at a cost as boots and personal item were often pilfered by Bedouins, an Arab ethnocultural group descended from nomads   and who have historically inhabited the Arabian and Syrian deserts.  On 22 March the Australian and New Zealand Division was reviewed by the High Commissioner for Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon.  It was a grand sight and the second march past was at the gallop.    On Good Friday, 2 April, the regiment marched through Cairo to the Delta Barrage and the next day they swam their horses over the Nile on an endless rope and boat.

 On their return to Heliopolis, the regiment passed two trains of Australian soldiers going to Alexandria.  The Light Horse and Mounted Rifles watched forlornly as they were left behind.  To counter the natural restlessness the brigades held inter-brigade manoeuvres and trekked for days at a time, often to places of interest like Memphis.  During April the regiment received about 100 reinforcements, but no horses.  Allied troops from France, Britain, India New Zealand, Australia and Ghurkhas continued to build up in Egypt.  On 21 April the regiment packed up and left on manoeuvres spending a week away in the desert.

By late 1914 the armies in France were at a stalemate, and the Russians were in difficulties.  It was thought that a third front in the south might break the deadlock, knock Turkey out of the war, open the Black Sea for supplies to Russia, and divert the Germans to another front.  On 18 March a British and French fleet attempted to force the Dardanelles with the loss of three battleships.  After this failure it was decided to take the peninsula with a military force.  However the peninsula, which had been poorly defended before 18 March, was now prepared and fortified.  The Turks had been given over five weeks to prepare.

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, consisting of the 1st Australian Division and the New Zealand and Australian Division, went ashore at Gallipoli on the morning of Sunday 25 April 1915.  The British 29th Division landed the same morning at Cape Helles.  Gaba Tepe, a rugged and difficult part of the coast had been selected for the landing, but the actual point of disembarkation was about  a mile north, commonly attributed to the tow boats failing to maintain direction, but possibly due to last minutes changes to the plan or even the shifting of marker flags by the Turks.  Here it was even more closely overhung by steeper cliffs which increased the initial difficulty of attacking the enemy but also proved to be a blessing in that the actual base of the force of occupation was much better protected.   The beach on which the landing was made, now known as Anzac Cove, was a very narrow strip of sand, about 1000 yards in length, bounded on the north and south by two small promontories, Ari Burnu and Hell Spit which are the two arms of Plugge’s Plateau. 

If the landing had been successful, the plan was to use the Light Horse in the advance on Constantinople, now Istanbul, capital of the Turkish Empire.  However, by early evening on 25 April it had become clear that the landing had failed and the possibility of evacuating the entire force was discussed.  This was not to occur for another nine months.

 Arriving back at Heliopolis on 27 April,  the news of the Gallipoli landing burst upon the Light Horse.   During the following weeks hundreds of wounded men began to pour into Egypt.  Serious cases were held in Alexandria, and slightly wounded were sent to military hospitals around Cairo.  The men soon found old friends among the first wounded who were crowded into the Australian General Hospital in Heliopolis.  This gave them a realistic understanding of the heavy casualties being suffered, however among the men the excitement about being committed to the fighting continued to run high.

Reinforcements were now required for the exhausted troops at Gallipoli and it was decided to send the Light Horse as infantry. 

Jock Davidson's adventures will be continued in later editions of the Cowra Guardian.