This Light Horseman has been relieved, and is at last able to rest for a short while in a dugout and sandbag posse on the steep hillside above Anzac Cove. Incredibly weary from the trench fighting and constant hail of shrapnel he has had to endure, he is homesick and lonely. His thoughts turn to home and he pens a letter before he lays down to sleep. He knows that news of the Gallipoli disasters will have reached home, and wishes to reassure his loved ones that he is coping just fine.
On display in Miles Historical Museum is an open diary, of a soldier who wrote from Anzac Cove, his words inspired this painting:-
” …It’s no good saying I wasn’t afraid after the first intoxication had died down, for I was; at first the shrapnel had me shivering & the hail of bullets made me duck, but I’m over all that now; I think I hugged the earth closer than I’d ever hugged a girl, Mother… “
The Australian Light Horse regiments were sent as reinforcements to Gallipoli in May 1915, after the disastrous news of the landing and subsequent grim situation for the infantry battalions was realized by the Allied Forces. They faced some of the fiercest battles , endured some of the most atrocious conditions, and suffered some of the largest number of casualties in this area of conflict. Nevertheless they were admired for their courage, and typically displayed a cheerful, resourceful, compassionate though sometimes colourful disposition.
