These images from the photograph album of Captain James Lawrence Oliphant-Rowe show Canterbury Mounted Rifles horses being transported and ridden on Gallipoli in late 1918/ early 1919.
The regiment left Egypt on HMT Huntscastle on 28 November 1918 and landed on Gallipoli on 6 December. The duties of the CMR and the 7th Australian Light Horse Regiment were to tend graves at Anzac Cove and monitor Ottoman compliance with the terms of the armistice.
The CMR took with them around 80 ‘animals’ for riding and transport purposes. It is unclear how many of these had originally come from New Zealand, but many ‘original’ horses had survived the campaigns in the Middle East in which the CMR had served.
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