Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 9 : Construction of the cultural centre, 1977-1981

THE famous .-\ustrn lian Light Horse. disbanded in 19~2. rode again yester da y to c ('Ort the Qu een and Prince Philip int o the NSW country ci ty of Tamworth. It couldn't hal'f been • more typical Austrahln scc:ne - th• 24 Light Horse rode In rorrna11on before nnd behind the Queen, down the wide mnin street, klc., tng up dust. buzzed by bush fl ies, und lh~ horse,;· heels yapped at b;· the rccutotlon str•y dogs. The Light Hor6e men, aged from 28 to 82, wore the fam– ous slouch hats with c 11111 plumes, khaki serge uniforms and S•m Browne bells and carried three rn•tre lonr. lancez . presented to an associated regiment by the Paldstan army, The focal point or the out– tlla were the, ,r, blazins 111d– dlea. Colonel ?foel Park, who dreamt up the Light Horse re– vival, discovered Australia didn't have enough Light Horse saddles 90 the Queen's Household Cav•lry sent over 18 sets or saddleri• on loan for the ride, "They were mostly ne"· and we had to do a lot of work on them rubbing otl Into the leather to aorten II up," •~– plnlned Colonel Park. Colon•l Dennis While, who led th• troop, a famous tight horseman now aged 60, Is used to ctrtmonlal duty - he rode In lh• Qu,en's Escort In Lon– ~on for her Coronation. The oldut was Sergeant Jack Pollock, 82, a retired /armer from Invorell, NSW, who was In the Light Horse In World War II. campaigning In Egypt. ,-., I ... .. . ··• the Deputy Premier of Queen. :md. M r Kno~ (right ). examine o model of the proposed cul turol cen tre on !heBrisbone RivE:r The others, mostly rarmers, riding their own st-Ock or show horses, have been campin( army-style a t the racecourse since lllonday, Colonel Park has presented a submission to the Minister for Defence, Mr Killen, to re– establish the Light Horse. He Is worried that today's army, with Its tanks a nd armored \'ehicles will come to n halt when the world'~ otl rc:sou n:c .... run dry. Tamworth, the count.r)· music r "1pit.nl or Aus tralia, turned on a real country wel– come, with country and west – ern bands plunking away at the airport, and the Corgi Club and Brownies out In rorc.:e. In to\\'n , mra11"'hllr, 11er1r the County Council bu1idms. a local entrepreneur was Sl'llini; the rr.os1 original royal SOUl'c– nir - • British and Au,1ra – tian nag with the little pole filled with sherbel. You suck the shcrbcl and "·a1·e the nag, he said. I'm afraid r caused a lurr · h bulld111c. where the Queen was lo lay a plaque, by oskin to use a loo, and was directed to lhc one set nslde for the Queen by a n officia l who thought that m y EirR prtss badge mado me a member or lhe household sta rr. There were lo\'el)' rtower ar– r b n g e m e n t s, prct ty h.tnd to~els and specially scented soap. bu t no loo pa per. J men• !loned th :s 10 nn offic ial. who pra: :1cally pas!-.ed nut a t the Orfr~lC' h L The roy.11 pa r ty rlev.· on to Nei,n :nsllr and opened the imprcsSJ\'t' nev: $1 1 :- m l111on are galle1:-. v. h1ch con tains a lari;e collect1on of paintings br Sir Wilham Dobell (the Queen owns Dobells herself) They then boarded the Brl– t.Annln anj set sai l for Sydney. where they rrll'e a t 9.05 am tomorro\, . T he Bri ta nn ia looked mag– nlfkcn t at the Nt.•wcast lc dock, a ll slil psha pc and shin • 111 ~. th ree tall , v. h llc m hsh. drl!SSed \''llh fl;lf;:-, nm id th. dosty t.:rn11,..::.