PRE-PRODUCTION

With a Feather in Their Hat

(Working title only)

The story of the Australian Light Horse

 

 

CONCEPT:

 

It is our aim to produce a definitive 90 minute television dramatised documentary of the history, heritage and ongoing legacy of the Australian Light Horse, suitable for free-to-air television transmission, cable and education resources.

 

The documentary will not only present the proud history of sacrifice and valour of the gallant men that served, but to explore the legacy they’ve left behind; with the ongoing commitment to their memory throughout the decades, of their proud descendants and admirers in the Association , current army formations and in the public domain

who support and uphold the legend and tradition that is the Australian Light Horse.

 

By the use of stories and memories, including family anecdotes gathered from ordinary Australians nationwide of the actions, deeds and experiences of their forefathers and long lost relatives. There is a giant font of stories, memorabilia, myths and legends, waiting to be brought to light, including the broad canvas of recorded history and regimental diaries of the Light Horse units.

 

The documentary will be presented by Don Hampton, a former Army officer and keen historian of the Light Horse, whose grandfather and great uncle charged in the front rank with the 12th at Beersheba. An interview with Cathy Freeman will also be recorded as her great-grandfather rode with the 12th at Beersheba also.

 

Voices of actors will recreate the individual stories derived from the material shared by contributors, interspersed with interviews of modern day Light Horsemen (men and women) who carry on the traditions as keepers of this military heritage.

 

Dramatized recreations of incidents will also be included along with the insertion of the myriad of memorabilia and historical evidence from the Australian War Memorial, individual collections and the Association itself.

 

As outlined, it is envisaged that the support and contributions of present members of the Australian Light Horse Association will be critical to the telling of the largely unrecorded stories and history of those who served. It is anticipated that involvement may include, where possible:

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• Being filmed in modern day parades, displays, competitions and mounted games, 

• In recreations and re-enactments, as well as being featured in interviews.

• To demonstrate the traditional talents and techniques, carried on today, abilities that made the Light Horse the exceptional horsemen and legends that we celebrate.

 

In addition to the above, the documentary will be assisted through the Association’s members providing expertise on evaluating the envisaged contributed stories. 

 

TREATMENT OUTLINE:

 

Visual:

The Light Horse Regiment, tired, worn and weary lines-up for their last parade.

The horses, worse for wear, stand stoically under their riders, bearing their load as they have done for years. The camera pans along the line focused mainly on the horses, with the occasional reassuring pat from their rider as the poem is recited.

 

Audio: Poet’s Voice

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With never a sound of trumpet, 
With never a flag displayed, 
The last of the old campaigners 
Lined up for the last parade. 

Weary they were and battered, 
Shoeless, and knocked about; 
From under their ragged forelocks 
Their hungry eyes looked out. 

And they watched as the old commander 
Read out to the cheering men 
The Nation's thanks, and the orders 
To carry them home again. 
 

Narrator:

In 1919 the Great War had come to an end the Australian Light Horse Brigade; stationed in the Middle East; heroes and survivors of the amphibious marine landing at Gallipoli Campaign –also the victors of the world’s last great cavalry charge at Beersheba, in what is now Israel, where 800 Light Horsemen charged more than 1,100 Turkish riflemen, nine field pieces and a machine gun unit, with bayonets in their hands, their only weapon for a mounted attack, as their rifles were slung across their backs, to take the Turkish held garrison town. Light Horse casualties were thirty-one killed and thirty-six wounded; whilst they captured over 700 Turkish soldiers. A victory that stands today as the benchmark of courage and determination in the Australian Army.

 

The soldiers wounded, exhausted and homesick after 4 years of constant frontline service, were given the welcome news that they were going home. Sadly for all concerned their trusted mounts and constant companions were not going home as well. Australia’s greatest bard, Banjo Patterson, Major, commanding the Australian Remount Squadron, was so moved he penned this poem.

 

Poet’s Voice:

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And the last of the old campaigners, 
Sinewy, lean, and spare 
He spoke for his hungry comrades: 
"Have we not done our share?”

"Starving and tired and thirsty 
We limped on the blazing plain; 
And after a long night's picket 
You saddled us up again.” 

Visual:

The Light Horsemen pat and cuddle their mounts and start to unsaddle them. Many men hold back tears as they lead their horses off to the picket line and walk away.

One young Light Horseman (actor) reiterates his story taken from a letter, of his reliance, trust and love for his closest companion and his heartbreak at having to desert his loyal comrade. Many troopers made sure their mounts were passed-on to other Commonwealth units.

 

Narrator:

This heartbreaking action of the army was thought to be the end of the Australian Light Horse, they were to be disbanded. But quite to the contrary this was the start of an ongoing and endearing legacy that has blossomed through the ages and has perpetuated a history of all that Australians holds dear: Service, loyalty, mateship and honour of the fallen. The legend of the Australian Light Horse was born and lives on today.

 

Most of the troopers were young, fit men from country regions of Australia, some mere youths, born to hard work and brought-up in the saddle of a sturdy working horse. The cream of Australia’s youth, as were their horses, the Whalers, bred in New South Wales as the perfect horse for the challenges that lay ahead for the Light Horse. 

 

Visual:

The same young man (actor) describes how the light horse soldiers operated: deploying fast, dismounting with one man holding three of his fellow soldiers mounts while they engaged in light infantry combat and the remount and evasion of intense fighting against numerically superior forces. Virtually a fast moving infantry, designed for hit and run assignments.

 

Quotes from relatives of Light Horsemen, overlaid with archive footage: Qualification, training and service and the relevance of the emu feathers or the farcical myth of ‘Kangaroo Feathers’. Their deployment to the Middle East, then Gallipoli, a strange decision in itself to send the world’s best horse soldiers ashore as infantry to support a maritime landing. In their first action, out of the two hundred Light Horsemen involved, there was 147 casualties. 

 

A great deal of effort and expense will be invested in the research and writing of the script, as much of the content of the film will be based on the comments and stories garnered from the Light Horse members and material invited from the wider public, through media and public relations outreach. 

There are many Australians, who though not active in their support of the Light Horse Association, embrace proudly their distant ties of long lost relatives that served. Many retain mementos, diaries and letters, that they would be keen to share with the wider public and perhaps motivated to become active supporters of the Association.

 

It is envisaged that some members of the Light Horse Association will become involved with the appraisal of submitted material and will liaise with the script writers on the stories selected. 

 

The Association is welcome to keep on record all the information garnered and be given full access to all material recorded (where copyright permits) for their own use.

 

A great deal of the visual material to be shot, will be of the close intimate style, showing every bead of sweat, with some Association riders wearing High Definition body-cameras during action scenes; to give life and passion to the otherwise staid, but poignant historical images. For instance we will take a War Museum photo of a trooper on horseback and bring it to life with sepia images of a matching rider drawing his bayonet and pacing forward. 

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Dissolve from this War Museum archive shot to live action close-up of Andy Clarke (similar build)on horseback, wearing his feather and rifle, drawing bayonet and moving his horse forward into a canter.

 

The film will end with the horses on parade, interspersed with action images over the final lines of the poem:

 

Poet’s Voice:

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"We knew when the rifles rattled 
From the hillside bare and brown, 
And over our weary shoulders 
We felt warm blood run down, 

"As we turned for the stretching gallop, 
Crushed to the earth with weight; 
But we carried our riders through it 
Sometimes, perhaps, too late. 

"Steel! We were steel to stand it 
We that have lasted through, 
We that are old campaigners 
Pitiful, poor, and few. 

"Over the sea you brought us, 
Over the leagues of foam: 
Now we have served you fairly 
Will you not take us home? 

"Home to the Hunter River, 
To the flats where the Lucerne grows; 
Home where the Murrumbidgee 
Runs white with the melted snows. 

"This is a small thing, surely! 
Will not you give command 
That the last of the old campaigners 
Go back to their native land?" 

They looked at the grim commander, 
But never a sign he made. 
"Dismiss!" and the old campaigners 
Moved off from their last parade.

 

Visual:

Ghostly images of the parade of troopers passing by, fades out.

 

Narrator:

At the going down of the sun

And in the morning.

We will remember them…