THE GREAT WAR: The story of a horse that was one in a million!

Bill the Bastard had a steely look in his eyes as if he were waiting for somebody. When, suddenly, a trainee trooper ‘bit’ the dust. He waggled his head and walked away. 

This is the story of a lifetime. It concerns a horse. The bravest horse you’ll ever know. Bill was his name. He was ear-marked with a name for which he became famous: Bill the Bastard. The name stuck with him forever.

To make matters worse, horses like Bill, were often called mongrels; and it’s easy to see why. Bill the Bastard was a solid horse, weighing 730-kilograms; and he was a chestnut, standing about 17 hands high. He stood his ground.

Bill was built for power.

There was no other horse who could match him for performance and character.

Like 136,000-odd Walers, he was sent from Australia to the Great War; he was, alas, a strange horse indeed.

At the corral where he was housed, Bill had a serious problem. No one could ride him. A riderless nag, said one trooper. He tried and failed. Some troopers thought that Bill had a steely look in his eyes when a trooper ‘bit’ the dust.

“Bill the Bastard”, they would yell. Bill lived up to his name.

The is the first time Bill has looked into the eye of Major Shanahan. The horse had a deep-seated feeling about the Major.

Until one day, Bill had discovered a mate. He was a rather tall looking figure and his name Major Michael Shanahan, of the Australia’s Light Horse. Bill had the intelligence to know if anybody could ride him it would be Shanahan.

The Major strode around the corral, taking a careful look at the chestnut. The chestnut stared back him.

The corral medical orderly came over to the Major. Bill edger closer. Bill nuzzled his hand.
“That’s Bill the Bastard you’re looking at,” said the orderly. “Nothing unusual except no one can ride him. That’s why we had a bet on him. You guessed it. Old Bill let go, hammer and tongs.”

The upshot, however, was that Bill sent many troopers sky-high. It seemed to take ages for them to fall to earth. Now, not a single trooper would have a go.

Bill the Bastard edged closer to the Major. This was the first time Bill had looked into the eye of Major Shanahan. The Major sensed this was a horse who had caught the glint in his eye. Bill had a deep-seated feeling about the Major.

He was gentle when he touched Bill. It made him shiver. The medical orderly watched closely. He then said: “Bill’s made a damned good packhorse. He never complains. When Bill is in a mood it’s best to steer clear!”

The Major patted Bill. “You’re a real mate, aren’t you Bill.”

Bill’s own superior demigod qualities saved The Major and a section of his troops from death.

The Major, unlike an executioner or victor, more simply a friend, stroked his face. He had an uneasy feeling as he looked at Bill. The Major was destined to this ride horse: he a determined Major and it a quarrelsome mount.

It’s a crazy name to give a horse, but it’s honest. Bill the Bastard. The Major dug deep into the book of prayer.

He was satisfied.

These two misfits, Bill and the Major, would join up and fight together.

They depended on each for their survival. And when men and horses were falling all around them, Bill’s own superior demigod qualities saved The Major and a section of his men from death. Bill had an unbreakable will, it was said.

He became known far and wide by members of the Desert Mounted Corps. He had become a legend. He had become a true Anzac.

Major Michael Shanahan died on October 12, 1964, at the age 94. Bill the Bastard was buried in Gallipoli.

There’s much more to this horse that you realise …

<< Bill the Bastard by Roland Perry, Allen & Unwin, 2012, supplies the background.

Frank Morris comments: Bill the Bastard was known as a legend! Australia’s great war horse, an Anzac legend, was enshrined as a life-size bronze statue. Bill the Bastard stands in the south-western town of Murrumburrah-Harden, NSW. He is considered Australia’s first equine export of World War 1. Bill has many credits to his name. He was 17-hands-high stallion. He was notorious and brave. He was known for his unrelenting stubbornness, endurance and courage. He knew every trick in the book.

The war in Beersheba

Diggers with their guns primed! Yes, Beersheba was important. And so was the end of the Turkish line. 

The Anzac Light Horse and the Imperial Camel Brigade was made up mainly of Australians.

Having been left behind in Egypt, the Light Horse, as part of a combined force under British command to prevent the Turks controlling the Suez Canal, and to defeat them in the Sinai Peninsula and Palestine, was now occupied by Israel, Jordon and Lebanon.

In the spring of 1916, the Australian commander, Sir Henry George Chauvel, led the mounted attack against the Turks across the Suez Canal. The first Australian victory was at Romani.

The Australians suffered several hundred casualties in the action. Chauvel then moved on and occupied El Arish in December, making it a base from which to clear the Sinai Peninsula of the enemy.

When this was accomplished early in 1917, the mounted soldiers, supported by infantry, moved into Palestine.

A city had been in Muslim hands for over 600 years, and its fall was celebrated in London as a great victory.   

General Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, a British officer, assumed command. At Beersheba, in the Judean hills, the Anzacs mounted their famous cavalry charge.

Beersheba was important because it was the inland end of the Turkish line, and because it had wells to supply water for the men, horses and camels.

The Light Horse charged through machine-gun and rifle fire, jumped the Turkish trenches and dismounted to fight with rifles and bayonets.

Surprisingly, few riders or their horses were lost.

Allenby, a popular leader, then moved 32 kilometres west to take Gaza – the other end of the enemy line. After that, his troops moved north to occupy Jerusalem.

The city had been in Muslim hands for 600 years, and its fall was celebrated in London as a great victory. Afterwards, the fighting continued north of Jerusalem, and across the Jordan.

<< Australian History, Macmillan’s Series, 1988. Author: Ron W. Laidlaw.

Top: Bill the Bastard … he was built for power; he knew every trick in the book. Below: Bill carried five to safety. Centre. Here we come: A regiment of Australian Light Horse on their way to Beersheba.