Beersheba Memorial and Light Horse Tribute

Horses and Menangle Park have always gone hand-in-hand.

WORLD WAR I

After the opening of the Menangle Park Racecourse in 1914, the site was commissioned by the Commonwealth. It became a makeshift Army Camp and was used to train troopers in the famous Australian Light horse and the Camel Corp.

As World War I drew to an end in 1918, a host of new housing estates were launched across Campbelltown. And the grassy paddocks adjoining the popular racecourse were no exception.

WORLD WAR II

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Menangle Park Racecourse was once again, in 1941, converted into a military base for the 45th Battalion, providing camping and training facilities for the troops.

It was also used as a base for the Air Force and an airstrip was even laid through the middle of the racetrack.

In 1945, it was the location of scenes for the film, “Smithy”, based on the historic flight of Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith.

In 2017, to mark the centenary of the Battle of Beersheba that took place on 31 October 1917, Club Menangle launched its Memorial (built inside the grounds of the harness racing track) wall as an acknowledgement and our remembering of the Light Horseman of Menangle Park. It contains the names of the 31 Australians that died in this campaign.

Each year, on 31 October, Club Menangle hosts a ‘Beersheba Breakfast’ to honour the fallen and to honour the Light Horse.