The Railway at Semakh
In the land of Israel
On the shore of Lake Galilee
There ran a vital railway track
From Damascus to the sea.
The year was 1918
The war was moving north.
The railway was the target
for the horsemen of the 4th
They rode on in the moonlight
The attack was planned for dawn
The Turks had seen them coming
So a new plan was born
Guided by the stars
And while it was still dark
The 11th and the 12th
charged the railway at Semakh
the 11th had some stockman,
from NT and Queensland's north.
They were the Queensland Black Watch
a formidable fighting force.
At
Semakh they fought with valour
and won a bitter fight
Semakh had become a Light Horse town
As dawn replaced the night.
And so the desert column
rode through the Holy land.
Horsemen from the nations
of the Southern lands.
They came from many backgrounds
great riders white and black
Australian Light Horsemen
united by a brown slouch hat.
With emu feathers flowing
and moonlight on their backs
The 11th and the 12th charged
the railway at Semakh
Johnny and his German mates
fought to the last man
They tried a fake surrender
Which nearly went to plan
The Light Horse fought with bayonets,
lost 17 of their own.
And 60 brave horses,
that were never coming home.
And so the desert column
rode through the Holy land.
Horsemen from the nations
of the Southern lands.
They came from many backgrounds
great riders white and black
Australian Light Horsemen
united by a brown slouch hat.
With emu feathers flowing
and moonlight on their backs
The 11th and the 12th charged
the railway at Semakh
THE NEK
The day dawned bright and sunny,
on Sat’day August seven
We gathered in our trenches,
the eighth and the tenth,
We watched the navy shell the ridge,
they went for it hell for leather,
We said goodbye to all our mates,
we were all in this together,
We didn’t have our horses,
but we had our pride,
Australian Lighthorsemen,
with our mates at our side,
The whistle blast was shrill and clear,
at 4.30 am,
Some could be heard praying,
there was a chorus of Amen,
We hopped the bag and went to charge,
as Johnny opened fire,
We’d scarcely gone a dozen yards,
till the body count piled higher,
The Turks called out for us to stop,
but they were ignored,
All the while we stood and fell,
Turkish machine guns roared,
The place was called The Nek,
as famous as Lone Pine,
They sent four waves across that day,
the Turks still held the Line,
300 dead for four years laid,
in 27 yards of scrub and heather,
And though their lives were short ……… their legend lives forever
The Charge of Beersheba
On an Autumn evening, a hundred years ago,
A bunch of weary horsemen, gave a crazy plan a go.
Men and horses thirsty, and
dusty from the ride,
Rode around the Gaza line, to take them from behind,
The desert sun and endless sand,
and multitudes of flies,
The Wells of Beersheba, became a glittering prize,
A secret plan of trickery, had put the Turks off guard,
They didn't think the Light Horse, would get to their back yard.
And so the desert column, will charge the
evening gloom,
The Wells of Beersheba - to victory or
doom,
"Put Grant straight at
it," the boss was heard to say,
units of the 4th and 12th responded
straight away,
Silhouetted on the ridge line, the Walers began to move,
The desert sky was filled with dust, from the pounding of their hooves,
From walk to trot to canter, the line of squadrons came,
They broke into a gallop as the Turkish guns took aim,
They waited for the dismount, but the order never came,
The horses galloped onward, as bullets brushed their manes,
The Turkish troops then overshot as close the horses came,
And on that night the Light Horse, in the desert wrote their names,
Eight hundred men and horses, charged the desert town,
The wells had to be captured, before the sun went down,
No enemy could stop them, and then the job was done,
The town of Beersheba, had fallen with the sun.