One hundred years to the minute, 100 horsemen and women from Australia and New Zealand last week rode themselves into history when they took part in the re-enactment of the charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba.
Tuesday’s historic event took place before the Prime Ministers of Israel and Australia, New Zealand’s Governor-General, and an internet audience of millions.
As the Australians, members of the Australian Light Horse Association paid homage to the bravery of their forefathers, tears flowed from both the Anzacs in the audience and their Jewish brethren.
“It was an historic day,” said In the Steps of the Light Horse tour leader, Barry Rodgers.
“You got into the souls of the Jewish people. They are realising their modern history didn’t start in 1948, but in 1917. Our forefathers wrote their names in the deserts of Palestine, and now we have as well.”
The October 31, 1917 charge by the Australian Light Horse not only won the city for the Allied forces and ended the 400-year rule of the Ottoman empire, it helped pave the way for the modern state of Israel.