Again I’d read about ‘Bill’ years ago during my Light Horse Boy research and toyed with the idea of trying to shape the scene where Bill saves several men in battle into a picture book for young children. If you haven’t read these books, I really recommend both – but read Idriess first! Last week I also read Perry’s Bill the Bastard. I had read Idriess’s Horrie the Wog Dog a while back, but had no idea until reading Perry’s Horrie the War Dog that there was another wonderful twist to this story.
I’ll be posting more about that next week, but in the meantime this site has all the latest info. Roland Perry will be in Albany next week for the commemoration of the 1914 Anzac departure and we will be In Conversation with other military authors/songwriters, Peter FitzSimons, Ted Egan and Ross Coulthart. I’m currently researching anthropomorphism in children’s literature for my PhD at UWA (more about that in future posts), and have found two loves animal stories and WW1 stories combined in books by Roland Perry and Ion Idriess. Last night I was also excited to share some of my recent reading. As is often the case I saw a word I’d like to edit as I was reading, which is always disconcerting, but that’s another story… If anyone wants to read more about Sandy, there’s a short chapter in Anthony Hill’s terrific book for young readers, Animal Heroes. Reading the Beersheeba galloping scene (pgs 78-80) was fun as I don’t think I’ve looked at that part since proofing the final draft in 2012.
Last night, before a screening of the classic Aussie movie The Lighthorsemen (complete with wine and popcorn), I spoke about my research for Light Horse Boy, including details about Sandy, the one Australian horse who came home from WW1 (New Zealand horse, Bess also came back). There was no other horse like Bill the Bastard.Congratulations to the team at Albany Library for another wonderful event. Bill had become a legend, a symbol of the courage and unbreakable will of the Anzac mounted force. And when the chips were down, Bill's heroic efforts and exceptional instincts in battle saved the lives of Shanahan and four of his men.By September 1918, 'Bill the Bastard' was known by the entire Light Horse force, who used his name not as an insult, but as a term of endearment. They depended on each other for their survival. Some even thought Bill took a sneering pleasure in watching would-be riders hit the dust.Bill the Bastard is the remarkable tale of a bond between a determined trooper and his stoic but cantankerous mount. No one could ride him but one man ? Major Michael Shanahan. But as war horses go he had one serious problem. In performance and character he stood above all the other 200 000 Australian horses sent to the Middle East in the Great War. He had power, intelligence and unmatched courage.
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