Trooper Bluegum at the Dardanelles

N HAMILTON-MOUNTED PARADE-BUSHMEN AND

luegum, yo

from Victoria Barracks, Sydney, and were undergoing the ridi

ide," said t

nted waiting for the signal. One was a Sydney "bushman" and was obviously nervous. The

eant; "leap the bog, jump the sod wal

I had not ridden bare-backed for some time. The bog offered no resistance and we leaped the sod wall neck and neck

hers grinned expansively. "That's dead easy," said

ed the obstacle with hardly a splash, but disaster was in store for the City bushman. Right on the brink the horse stopped dead and the hapless rider was shot with catapultic force head first into the bog, amid roars

e for the most part, lean and wiry, with muscles rippling over their naked shoulders. Splendid specimens-strong but not too he

um for

ht, 5 feet ten; chest, 37, expanded 41; age 34; beauty spots and ident

s a jumble of letters of various sizes set before me, and finally, with a score of others satisfactory in wind and limb, I was sent on to

fame and glory was precipitated into the bog the crowd roared with delight, and when he emerged, mud-bespattered and crestfallen, the hilarity of

other hundred rough-riders were drawn up, passed and enlisted ready for

he First Light Horse Regiment-in fine fettle, ready at a moment's notice to sail for Europe-cantering gaily back to camp, reminded us that the nation was in a state of war, that the empir

r 1914 until the end of the war, and a further period of four months thereafter, unless sooner lawfully discharged, dismissed, or removed therefrom; and that I will resist His Majesty's

oldier of

f blankets, a knife, fork, spoon, tin plate, and pannikin. We were to form part of the Second Light Horse Brigade

cted to supply the wastage-that was all. If we could not be the first in the firing-line, it was something to know that we would take the place of the men who were killed or wounded-all o

soon as we could walk. Also, we were pretty good shots. Many were Rifle Club men. All had done a bit of shooting in the bush, for dingoes and kangaroos and wallabies are not ye

ulsory trainees much more amenable to discipline than he expected. But the militia are caught young. We of the Expeditionary Force were a little bit t

ion of the Australian Infantry, and I wish very much I could transplant 10,000 of these young soldiers to Salisbury Plain. They would do the croakers good and make them less frightened of other nations, who have no overseas children getting ready to lend them a hand. The majority of the non-commissioned off

ut a few short months afterwards: "They have created fo

t ready. We mastered the mysteries of sections right, form troop, form squadron column; then day after day we engaged in rifle drill-"stand at ease,

orses came that we really

r tell of the

waves' rippl

er sing of th

urels of g

lody in the

the battl

han those the

d of a good

cDonald of Barrington, Whiteley of Wellington, Bullock of Melbourne, Sievewright of Gunnedah, Kennedy of Gloucester, Rex Moffatt of Goulburn, Harry Heath of Moree, and a score of others. Nearly every man in the regiment could sit a buck, or puff nonchalantly at his pipe while his mount pigrooted merrily. So when the wild horses were led forth there were hundreds volunteering for the honour of riding the rebels. One after another the horses were saddl

dancing all over the shop, but-well, somebody said that these troops would compare favourably with any body of mounted infantry in the world. Certain it is that when, one fine day, the officer commanding, Colonel Cox, accompanied

good old b

ng anoth

with a

send the t

as we'll

twenty thou

arching thro

ah! We're of

rah! the A.

ng up the bu

g to t

marching th

bushme

eard the jo

harlie's' go

the word

wants an

men to

iser Bill o