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PROJECTS

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Sandy The War Horse

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Light Horse Statue,
A dream becomes reality

An article about Sandy was published in the Border Morning Mail in 2015. The subject in this article was the story of Sandy told by Mrs Jean Merbach niece of Francis (Bonner) O’Donnell and Anna O’Donnell (nee Campbell). Francis (Bonner) and his brother Jack O’Donnell were the original owners of Sandy, and they donated him to the War Effort. Little did they know of the magnitude on Australian history, their decision would have. Sandy the only horse to return to Australia from WW1.Jean also spent time visiting the Friends of Sandy in Melbourne who are a group of historians that raised funds to install a stone monument in memory of Sandy at Maribynong where the remount depot was during the First World War. This is where Sandy spent the last days of his life and where his body is now buried. Ross Smith a member of the Upper Murray Horseman’s Association was very keen to take on the task of building a statue of Sandy as he could see that this was a very significant part of the history of Tallangatta and the value it would bring to our Town. A committee was formed and a location for the statue was decided upon, with the support of the Towong Shire the site chosen was in front of the Town Information Centre. A plan of the design where the statue would stand included bricks from the old brick works owned by the O’Donnell family at Old Tallangatta. These would be placed in the centre of the circle and the statue would stand on those bricks. We then needed to find a sculptor to do the statue. The committee sought quotes from various sculptors and decided to engage Mr Brett (Mon) Garling the sculptor who did the Man from Snowy River statue. Ross and Bryan Smith made a trip to Dubbo in NSW to visit Brett and on seeing his work decided he should be the person to construct the life size bronze statue of Sandy. The contract at that time was done with a handshake. A formal contract was later drawn up. The funding required to complete this project would be very close to $200,000.00. It was very difficult obtaining grants for this project, but we finally received a Local History Grant to fund the story. The Towong Shire supported the project with funding of $80,000.00. We received funding from the Bendigo Bank of $18,000.00. This was applied for later in the project when the statue had been started. This was to complete the payment of the statue and to run the unveiling event. Local historian Robyn Wood was approached to undertake the task of researching and writing the story to be put in the Information Centre. Fundraising began and with the help of the community we raised enough money to place a deposit so the statue could be started. After many fundraisings and donations from the community and organizations we reached our goal. The unveiling event was held on the 18 th May 2023, 100 years since the death of Sandy. This event attracted some 5000 people and was celebrated with 200 horse men and women forming a guard of honour in memory of the horses that did not come home. Representatives of a number of Light Horse Groups led the procession followed by many of the horse-riding clubs in the community. We are now preparing to have the story and the Digital TVs placed in the Information Centre. The story with photos will be placed on the wall of inside the Centre and two TV’s will be placed outside the venue and one inside will have voice over so people can listen to the story and other historical information about Tallangatta.

In 2017 Maria Flinn had a dream of a Light Horse Statue to remember the men that fought and died as Light Horsemen from the Riverina and Southwest Slopes. On the 16th September 2023 the $300,000 statue became a reality. To achieve the reality of our memorial there was a lot of hard work and a lot of roadblocks and obstacles. We first approached the NSA about supporting our idea. They agreed that what we were doing was a worthy cause and took our committee on as a sub-committee of the NSA. This gave us a sense of authority and started opening doors for us. We were then given the approval by the Wagga Wagga City council along with a generous donation to kick off our fundraising. Next step was getting the RSL Sub-Branch on board and their approval of the location for the statue within the Victory Memorial Gardens Once this was approved and support from the RSL was forthcoming it was onto the fund raising. Enter the federal Liberal National government with another substantial grant and the support of Michael McCormack MP we were well on the way to achieving our goal but we were still $100.000 short so the committee were back to work. Other fundraising events were Coolamon Stockmans Challenges, Team Penning events, our 130km ride through the Riverina as Light Horsemen to commemorate 130yrs of the Emu Plumes as part of the Australian Light Horse Slouch hat. Grants from the local member for Wagga and the NSW Government. Backing from the Wagga Wagga swap meet. I feel the one thing that not only started us on our way but gave us a sense of importance was the backing and support of the NSA. Without this support I feel we would not have gotten off the ground. The aim of TALHS will be to continue the type of support and backing that we received from the National Servicemen Association.

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PROJECT 3

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TBA - Please contact the TALHS (Email: admin@talhs.org) to discuss possible projects and funding opportunities

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PROJECT 4

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TBA - Please contact the TALHS (Email: admin@talhs.org) to discuss possible projects and funding opportunities

digging Trenches.jfif

PROJECT 5

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TBA - Please contact the TALHS (Email: admin@talhs.org) to discuss possible projects and funding opportunities

digging Trenches.jfif

PROJECT 6

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TBA - Please contact the TALHS (Email: admin@talhs.org) to discuss possible projects and funding opportunities

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