Jennifer Pittorino
One month on from the statue unveiling of Sandy the Warhorse, Elaine Brogan from Sunbury has released her book to commemorate the only horse to come home from WW1.
Sandy, was among 130,000 to 160,000 Australian horses sent to the war in 1914 from farms and stations across the nation.
Donated to the war effort by the local O’Donnell family, he caught the eye of major general William Bridges.
Major general Bridges chose Sandy as his favorite horse, it was Major general Bridges dying wish to be reunited with Sandy.
Sandy returned to Melbourne and became ill in 1923, a pair of taxidermists measured up the horse but decided that only the head would be saved.
In May that year, Sandy was humanely euthanized and the taxidermists got to work.
Sandy’s skeleton was buried at the Maribyrnong Army Depot afterwards where he remains.
On Saturday, May 20, a life-sized bronze statue of Sandy was unveiled in Tallangatta , where he was born, along with a descendant of the O’Donnell family and Ms Brogan.
Ms Brogan wanted to commemorate Sandy by writing a book called Minus His Head and Hooves.
“I have a deep love for animals and horses and I want to be their voice and tell their stories,” she said.
“The men and women in the war did it hard but so did the horses, Sandy came back and represents all of those horses.”
Ms Brogan commenced writing her book after she heard the sad story of the horses back in 1986.
I was working on it on and off all these years, it was always my intention to launch it on the 100th anniversary of Sandy’s death.
Those who would like a copy of Minus His Head and Hooves can contact Ms Brogan.
Details: 0437 126 761
