Sandy is the name of the horse from my historical fiction novel, The Last Light Horse.

Historical fiction blends known history with imaginative leaps. Australian WWI military record-keeping was thorough – for humans. Less is known about individual animals that served over one hundred years ago, even iconic animals like Sandy.

Sandy’s early years

Sandy hauled bricks in (old) Tallangatta for the O’Donnell family brickworks. In 1956 the original town of Tallangatta was moved 8 km west before the town was flooded to expand the Hume Dam. The place where Sandy carted bricks is now under up to six metres of water. During dry years you can still see ghostly infrastructure of the old town. More.

Details about Sandy’s early years were supplied by Richard Crispin, now deceased. Richard was my sister’s friend and we met several times. He was passionate about horses and history. Richard’s uncle Ray ran the Tallangatta Museum and he was related to Jean Merbach, a descendent of the O’Donnell family. Sadly, Richard did not live to see the publication of Sandy’s story. The Last Light Horse is dedicated to his memory. When I began researching, Richard sent the following information via email (May 2020):

‘My understanding is that Bonner (Francis) donated the horses to Bridges. It was most likely that Sandy caught Bridges’ eye. Sandy has been described as ‘ not a noble-looking horse’, and that is great to me, because Walers were not ascetic horses, most were Roman-nosed and large-boned animals. South Australia led the way with a government breed program in the 1880s in response to British army officers noting our ‘weedy horses’. Many station horses were consequently cross-bred to build bone with the likes of Suffolk mares. 

‘It was Bonner’s idea to donate Sandy. Francis (Bonner, sometimes spelt Bonnar) and Jack were chalk and cheese … everyone spoke highly of Francis ( see Jean Merbach in Albury for more information). Ray is my uncle and runs the museum in Tallangatta. He has photos of the brick kiln and can tell you more about that. Good luck!’ Richard.

Richard explained that there were several highly-regarded horse breeders in the Upper Murray area, and that Sandy could have been born on one of those properties.

‘Two stations on the Upper Murray bred horses for the remount market through Wodonga. It was not only for remounts though. Sydney Watson had Tintaldra Run (and Walwa Run), and Mitchell’s, later Chisholms, had Khancoban Station. Racehorses and thoroughbreds were a feature of Khancoban.’

Richard had also heard talk that Sandy may have come from a farm further away in NSW. What is known, is that horses from this region were prized and were transported for sale to Wodonga.

There are often many versions of historical events. Here’s part of another recollection from Robyn Wood, a member of Tallangatta’s Sandy the Warhorse Committee:

When war was declared on 4 July 1914, there was a national call for troops to enlist into the newly formed Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) and a campaign also began for horses to be sent overseas with the troops. The locals responded enthusiastically with 150 horses brought to the Tallangatta saleyards on 19 August 1914. Among them was a fine bay gelding called ‘Sandy’ that belonged to the O’Donnell brothers. Evidently, he was one of the 47 horses chosen as he became Major General William Throsby Bridges’ favourite mount.

Sandy meets Major General Bridges

As you may imagine, deciding on this meeting scene was challenging! No one knows for sure where or when Sandy and the major general met. According to Richard,

‘Sandy more than likely WAS bred in the Upper Murray, from good TB (thoroughbred) lines, as Khancoban Station did use good TB. Looking at Sandy, he had a big boof head and quite powerful body, and I think could easily be classified as a ‘Waler’. It was said he was ‘well-bred’. His temperament endeared him to Bridges…

So, Sandy was a donation, he was not a remount, or classified as such by a remount officer… I would love to find out where he came from.’

I’d love to know too, but feel this information may be lost to history.

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Click for more details about Sandy from Sandy the War Horse Group, Tallangatta.

Read an article about the ‘Light’ series on the Chauvel Foundation website.