Riders depart on 750km journey

By Bree Harding

Mar 10, 2025

Nigel Morris stands with his horse at Shepparton RSL’s service ahead of the Chauvel Anniversary Light Horse Memorial Ride that departed from Shepparton on Tuesday. Photo by Megan Fisher

It’s not every day you see a herd of horses traipsing through a Shepparton intersection on a green traffic light.

Yet it happened on Tuesday, March 4.

The 11 horses and their full military-uniformed riders set off from the Sir Murray Bourchier memorial statue after a service by the Shepparton RSL that marked the beginning of an ambitious 750km ride.

John Boyce speaks at Shepparton RSL’s service before riders and horses hit the trail on the six-week Chauvel Anniversary Light Horse Memorial Ride. Photo by Megan Fisher

The Chauvel Anniversary Lighthorse Memorial Ride pays tribute to the courage and sacrifice of those who served in the Australian Light Horse regiments.

March 4 marked the 80th anniversary since the death of one of Australia’s most decorated army generals, Sir Harry Chauvel.

A crowd of around 100 people turned out for the service. Photo by Megan Fisher

A crowd of around 100 onlookers gathered in the Queens’ Gardens on the warm and windy day to hear speakers, including Chauvel’s great-granddaughter, Honor Auchinleck, and Bourchier’s great nephew, John Bourchier, and farewell the riders and horses on their journey.

Eleanore Bourchier, 6, a descendant of Sir Murray Bourchier, whose statue is in Shepparton’s Queen’s Gardens. Photo by Megan Fisher

Ewen McLean of the 8th Indi Light Horse Regiment told the crowd the ride would be “a celebration of history, community and the spirit of remembrance” of the 60,000 Australians killed in World War I and the 136,000 horses that never received awards.

RSL president Bob Wilkie speaks at the service. Photo by Megan Fisher

The audience reflected during The Last Post and a minute’s silence before Chauvel and Bourchier’s descendants told the troop to “enjoy the ride”, wishing them “Godspeed, good luck and a safe ride”.

Renowned endurance rider Pat Leary, who will lead the ride, thanked everyone for coming and presented Shepparton RSL president Bob Wilkie with a copy of the book The Art of Humanity.

There were 11 horses at Shepparton’s Queen’s Gardens during the service. Photo by Megan Fisher

All going to plan, the ride will take six weeks to complete.

From Shepparton, the troop will make its way through the high country, up to Wagga Wagga and Harden in NSW, before pivoting south to Gundagai and Tumut and ending in Tallangatta.

The Chauvel Anniversary Light Horse Memorial Ride is a 750km trek that follows the trail of Light Horse statues in Victoria and NSW. Photo by Megan Fisher

The ride itinerary will take in all the Light Horse statues, silo art sites, schools and RSLs along the way.

It will end on the 160th anniversary of Chauvel’s birth, April 16, at Tallangatta’s memorial statue of Sandy the warhorse, the only horse to return home from World War I.