BILL THE BASTARD'S GRAVE - WA

The following is an excerpt from the The Western Australian newspaper. Wednesday 3 December 1924.

SOLDIERS' GRAVES. GALLIPOLI CEMETERIES.
MEMORIAL TO A HORSE.

London Dec. 1.
“In memory of Bill, of the Sixth Light Horse, 1914-24. aged 21; one of the best.”

This is the epitaph engraved on a headstone surmounting a lonely grave under the shadow of Walker's Ridge, at Gallipoli. 'Bill' was a horse.

He left Australia with the original Sixth Light Horse, and after the Armistice was con-cluded he was shipped to the Penin-sula and became the special property of Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. Hughes and his Australian associates on the staff of the Imperial War Graves Commission. 'Bill' saw the job through to the end, and then died. 

Colonel Hughes, -who has arrived in London, said today that the work con-nected with the graves in Gallipoli had been practically completed, and only a few headstones had to be erected. The whole of the 44 cemeteries were in splendid condition. [Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril E. Hughes (the Deputy-Director of Works at Gallipoli) is a Tasmanian.]