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Post 1945 , Australia, Western Australia, Albany, Desert Mounted Corps Memorial, 1960

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1960

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Overview

View of Desert Mounted Corps monument being lifted into place atop Mount Clarence, Albany

Historical information

The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial stands on Corndarup, Mount Clarence, overlooking Albany and King George’s Sound. It features a a mounted Australian Light-Horseman defending a New Zealand Mounted Rifleman standing beside his wounded horse. This poignant statue is based on an incident during the charge at El Arish in 1917.
The original statue was part of a memorial erected in Port Said, Egypt, in 1932. which was destroyed during the Suez War of 1956.
On November 23, 1932, the original memorial was unveiled by Australia’s wartime Prime Minister W. M. Hughes. The broadcast of the ceremony marked the first direct radio communication between Egypt and Australia, spanning over 24,000 kilometers.Tragically, during the Suez conflict on December 26, 1956, an Egyptian crowd attacked the memorial, causing irreparable damage.The mob tore off limbs and heads from the statues and left the monument in ruins.
Eventually, after considerable negotiation the damaged memorial was released by the United Arab Republic and shipped back to Australia.in 1960. A replica of the statue was cast based on the original and re-erected in Albany in 1964 on the salvaged base,. A smaller scale version is locatedon ANZAC Parade in Canberra.
In October 1964, the restored memorial was officially unveiled in Albany by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies. Albany was unhesitently chosen as the Australian location for the Memorial because for many on the First Convoy which sailed from King george’s Sound on 1 November 1914, it was their last view of Australia.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-P1985.114.1a

Item type

Photographs

Themes

War and Conflict

Year

1960

Geotag

-35.025151154931, 117.89553025209

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