They Fought for Our Freedom – Now We Fight for Their Freedom

Brumby Wild Horse History

Did you know the Brumby Wild Horse has run freely in the Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) for 220 years, since 1804. The first ‘Brumbies’ belonged to James Brumby, a soldier, pastoralist and farrier he was born at Scotton, Lincolnshire, England, the son of William and Rebecca Brumby. He was a private in the New South Wales Corps at least as early as 1794, when he held 25 acres (10 ha) at Hunter’s Hillwhose where horses roamed freely in the bush around his property in New South Wales after he left for Tasmania in 1804. Brumby populations followed Australia’s explorers and farmers across the land as horses escaped, as they were lost and abandoned, and even as their riders died. This gave the breed a huge range of influences, from Clydesdale to Thoroughbred to Timor Pony to Arabian to stock horses. Left to fend for themselves, natural selection took over and the Brumbies became well-adapted to their environment: agile, hardy and intelligent, with highly-attuned senses. Circumstance also gave rise to some Brumby types so different that they are classified as separate breeds: the Coffin Bay Pony and the Pangaré Pony.

The many physical ‘types’ that developed made them popular as War Horses in World War I and World War II and the Boer War, as police mounts, and as working horses during the gold rush.

Horses used in the First World War from NSW, the Walers

During World War I, many of the remounts sent over for the Australian Light Horse troops came from the Snowy Mountains region. Brumby Walers (NSWales) were the type of horse used by light horsemen in the campaign in the Middle East during the First World War. The light horse combined the mobility of cavalry with the fighting skills of infantry. They fought dismounted, with rifles and bayonets. However, sometimes they charged on horseback, notably at Magdhaba and Beersheba. The smallest unit of a light horse regiment was the four-man section: one holding the horses while the other three fought.
The horses were called Walers because, although they came from all parts of Australia, they were originally sold through New South Wales. They were sturdy, hardy horses, able to travel long distances in hot weather with little water.
Horses usually need to drink about 30 litres of water a day. However, during the campaign they often went for up to 60 hours without water, while carrying a load of almost 130 kilograms, comprising rider, saddle, equipment, food, and water. They are famous for the Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse in the Battle of Beersheba. On the 31st October 1917 as the days light faded the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country towards the artillery, rifles an machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. 
Theirs was a war fought in an ancient land with modern weapons; where the men of the Light Horse were trained in the sight of the Pyramids, drank in the brothels of Cairo and fought through lands known to them only as names in the Bible. 

The Modern Day Brumby

While most Brumbies remain wild, those that are domesticated are put to many uses. They make fantastic stock horses, especially in arid environments where other horses may not thrive. This has led to the inclusion of Brumbies at breed-specific competitions and more widespread recognition of their unique qualities. Brumbies excel as therapy horses, pony club mounts, show horses and trail horses.
There has not been any detailed scientific studies done to show how the Brumby horse impacts endangered species or the flora in KNP. In fact the Brumby horses have been running freely in KNP for 220 years and are an important part of the environment and eco system.

Did you know the Heritage Brumby Wild Horse, with bloodlines dating back to the Waler Brumby, as I write this article are being cruelly, unjustly killed through aerial and ground shooting and left to slowly die and bleed out and their carcass left to poison water ways and wild dogs to feast on in KNP. 

A comprehensive, peer reviewed, environmental impact study has not been done at KNP. This should be undertaken so that the government can manage the Brumbies in KNP appropriately. Penny Sharpe MP the NSW Climate Change and Environmental Minister and Labor Premier Chris Minns are determined to kill every Brumby in the KNP. They are ignoring the Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act which became law in June 2018. The Legislation in place is to protect a minimum 3000 Brumbies in KNP but MP Penny Sharpe is determined to kill every Brumby by overestimating the number of Brumbies in the park.

Last month 500 horses including 260 Brumbies were found dead on a private property at Wagga Wagga. The horses were being illegally slaughtered, cut up, and sold to Greyhound owners. This demonstrates severe mismanagement and damage by MP Penny Sharpe and her staff at the KNP rangers office.   

State governments management throughout Australia of the wild horses falls far below community standards and they have demonstrated they are incapable of managing wild horses in a humane way. Therefore, it is appropriate to have a Federal, Royal Commission into the mismanagement of the Brumby horses in KNP, parks and forests throughout Australia which will investigate and shine a light upon the NPWS, the RSPCA, knackeries and re-homers. This Federal Royal Commission should include community input, only then can a proper program be put in place to manage the Brumbies in a humane way at times when there is excess Brumbies. Many countries including New Zealand have a good program to adopt a wild horse, along with America in which the Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) pays people $1,000 to adopt a wild, unhandled horse. An individual can adopt up to four horses at one time. The incentive comes in two payments: $500 when the horse is adopted, and $500 after the title is transferred a year later. The program was launched in March 2019. 

The Character of Nation is Judged by the way it treats its animals.
Lets make Australia recognized as a worldwide leader in managing and preserving our majestic wild horses, the heritage Brumby! 

Editorial: Tanya Hargraves, independent investigative journalist.