Remount Complex is a heritage-listed former military installation at Wynter Road, Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera, Queensland, Australia. The former Remount Complex is an important group of early twentieth century Australian Government defence buildings at the former Enoggera Army Camp, now known as Gallipoli Barracks. A group of five buildings, the Remount Section is a significant link to a famous, almost legendary, tradition of the Australian military: mounted units such as the Light Horse. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.

History

Enoggera army camp

The Enoggera Army Camp, renamed Gallipoli Barracks in 1990, was synonymous with Army training in Queensland for many years. It was responsible for the training of thousands of Queenslanders for service in both World War I and World War II, and subsequent conflicts. The broader defence area at Enoggera has a considerable history of association with military activities, dating back to 1855. It is believed that British Imperial troops, based at Bulimba on the southern bank of the river, used the area for training exercises from as early as 1855. Rifle and training ranges, including the old Toowong Rifle Range, were established there and subsequently used by civilian groups such as the Queensland Rifle Association and the Queensland defence forces, including volunteer militia. Many Queensland troops sent to the Boer War in South Africa in the 1890s also trained here.

After Federation in 1901 the Australian Government became responsible for defence matters, although a fully coordinated national defence force did not arise for a number of years. Once Commonwealth military units began to be established in earnest, the government began to acquire property on a large-scale to facilitate training and accommodation of its forces. The land at Enoggera was acquired by the Commonwealth as part of this process in 1908. The acquisition amalgamated four separate properties: Thompson's Paddock, Rifle Paddock, Fraser's Paddock and Bell Paddock, comprising a total of 1235 acres. The first major improvement made by the Commonwealth was the development of a new rifle range, with mounds targets and shelter sheds.

The initial rifle range development at the site was followed by a prolonged period of initial development of the site, dating into the 1920s. The School of Musketry, Small Arms Magazine Store and two Cordite Magazines were erected in 1910 as part of a functional complex associated with the rifle range. These were followed by the explosives laboratory and the expense magazine in 1912. The cavalry remount section was built in 1913. Four more explosives magazines were built in 1913, and an additional magazine in 1915. The 1917–1920s period saw a number of hospital buildings and mobilisation stores also established.

Nearly all of these 1910–1913 buildings are believed to have been designed by Thomas Pye, then Deputy Government Architect of the Queensland Public Works Department, under the supervision of A. B. Brady. From the early 1890s until the end of World War I the Queensland Government Architect's office was prolific in its output of new public buildings for both the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments. In the early post-Federation years the Queensland Public Works Department often constructed new buildings on behalf of the Commonwealth, which had insufficient resources to undertake many new projects. The time during which Brady was Government Architect coincided with an almost golden age of public construction in Queensland. A talented team of architects was on hand at various stages during this time, including Brady, Pye and John Smith Murdoch. During his tenure as Chief Architect, Southern Division, and then Deputy Government Architect, Pye designed or supervised plans for a number of Queensland's more prominent public buildings of the Federation period, including the Rockhampton Customs House, the Stanthorpe Post Office, the Woolloongabba Post Office and the Naval Offices in Brisbane.

Since World War I, the Enoggera site has been constantly developed and expanded in line with the Army's changing requirements, although many of the earliest buildings have survived with their authenticity and integrity largely intact.

The Gallipoli Barracks site has had a long association with a civilian organisation, the Queensland Rifle Association. The site was used by the Association in the 1850s and 1860s, but another site at Toowong was favoured by the club by the time the Commonwealth acquired the Enoggera properties. As soon as 1908 the rifle association had returned to Enoggera, seemingly sharing the facilities with the military for a number of years.

Enoggera and horses in the Australian military Australia's rugged terrain and open spaces, and early pastoral industries were all key factors in the development of horsemanship, and the concept of the "drover" and the "bushman" in the early colonial periods. By natural extension, and because of the skill many Australians developed in horsemanship, mounted military units figured prominently in the colonies' plans to defend themselves and the Empire. Defended primarily by Imperial troops and ships in the first seventy years or so of European settlement, by the 1860s most Australian colonies had begun to develop fledgling navies and volunteer militia, in the context of perceived vulnerability to an invasion or annexation from Russia or other antagonistic world powers. By the 1880s, increased coordination and cooperation between the colonies led to a more focused effort in Australia to prepare for the continent's defence. One effect of this was the development, in each colony, of professional militia, to be supplemented by volunteers in times of emergency. From these earliest periods of home-grown defence, the horse has been a significant figure in Australia's military identity, borne on the reputation of the Australian bushman.

Queensland's first colonial militia were raised in 1859, the year of its separation from New South Wales as an independent colony. Among those first units were the Mounted Rifles and the Mounted Infantry. From 1866 to 1885, however, as more formal military units were developed by the Queensland government, there were no equestrian forces. In the 1890s new mounted battalions were formed and in 1897 these were combined to form the Queensland Mounted Infantry.

At the outbreak of the Boer War, Queensland was the first of the Australian colonies to offer troops, the first contingent of which left for South Africa in November 1899. This first group was entirely mounted, featuring 124 officers, 2041 troops and 2471 horses. Many of these troops would have trained at the Enoggera training ground and rifle range. Queensland units later fought in South Africa under the banner of the Commonwealth, following Federation in 1901. The first Commonwealth-raised units did not set sail until 1902, as the war reached its final stages.

By 1903 the Queensland Mounted Infantry was restructured into the Commonwealth Light Horse, but remained stationed in Queensland. By 1913 the Commonwealth had established a remount complex at Enoggera to service the Queensland contingent of the Light Horse, similar to remount areas built simultaneously in other states, such as Maribyrnong (Victoria), Glenthorne (South Australia) and Holsworthy, New South Wales. By 1914, the eve of Australia's involvement in World War I, the Light Horse had 23 regiments.

Two of the units based at Enoggera, the 3rd Infantry Battalion AIF and the 2nd Light Horse, were among the first Australian troops called up for overseas service late in 1914. By this time, volunteers were pouring into Enoggera to enlist. Many of those who enlisted in the Light Horse brought their own horses, which were purchased by the Commonwealth, while others were issued with Commonwealth mounts, Walers, generally trained and broken at the remount depot. On 16 September 1914 the Light Horse recruits and regulars were formally inspected by the Governor General, Sir Ronald Ferguson and, four days later, over 2000 troops of the first expeditionary force marched through Brisbane. On 22 September, they embarked at Pinkenba Wharf, for overseas service.

During the course of the war, Australian mounted units impressed allies and foes alike, and it became apparent that the Waler horses, so named for their New South Wales breeding, had developed a reputation as the world's finest cavalry horse. Over 160,000 Australian horses were shipped overseas with their units during the war.

The 2nd Light Horse arrived in Cairo, Egypt, in January 1915 and took part in the ill-fated invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey in late April of that year. The Light Horse served at Gallipoli in a dismounted role, the terrain at Anzac/Ari Burnu being poorly suited to cavalry manoeuvres. At Gallipoli, the 2nd Light Horse were charged with the defence of Quinn's Post in Monash Valley, vulnerable to Turkish positions which looked directly over it. They were amongst the units required to hold the post under the brunt of a major Turkish counteroffensive on 19 May. On 7 August, as part of the now famous Allied "August Offensive", men of the 2nd Light Horse led a feint attack from Quinn's Post, charging the Turkish line and suffering heavy casualties, to coincide with the tragic charge of the 3rd and 1st Light Horse at The Nek.

Following Gallipoli, the Light Horse participated more in cavalry style campaigns, primarily against the Ottoman Empire in Syria and Palestine. Several key battles in 1917 produced some of the Australian military's finest moments. A significant Allied victory was achieved in Gaza, Palestine, on 27 October 1917, when the 4th Australian Light Horse charged the Turkish trenches at Beersheba, causing a rout. Similar manoeuvres were effected weeks later in the capture of Jerusalem. Beersheba has been claimed as the last great cavalry charge in history (although this honour probably belongs to an Italian cavalry unit in Abyssinia during World War II), while some British commanders hailed it as the greatest cavalry operation in the history of the British Empire.

While such exploits did much to build the mystique and honour of the Light Horse, technological change ultimately limited its future. After World War I the AIF was disbanded and replaced with the Citizens Military forces, presumably in anticipation of long-term world peace. These peace time forces included two cavalry divisions and three Light Horse regiments. The Remount Complex at Enoggera continued to be used for breaking horses and training troops in riding and mounted warfare.

At the outbreak of World War II, Enoggera was once again used as a training camp for soldiers bound for overseas service. By this time, however, horses had been largely replaced by machines such as light tanks and armoured vehicles. Horses were used in battle for the last time in Syria in 1941, but, by this time, the Light Horse had largely been given over to armoured units. After the war, the Commonwealth's remount depots, including that at Enoggera, were closed.

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