The photograph first appeared as a copied snapshot passed around among light
horsemen on the Palestine front in 1918. By December 1920, when an exhibition of war
photographs toured Australia under the direction of Donovan Joynt, VC, the Beersheba
picture was "a notable exhibit". Joynt recorded that the photograph was
"under constant discussion" and the theory that it actually showed the Belah
re-staging had already been advanced. However, this notion was effectively squashed when
Brigadier General Grant (who had directed the charge) and members of his staff examined
the photo and pronounced that while the landscape in it tallied with that at Beersheba, it
did not match the terrain at Belah. Grant also said that the charge was shown in correct
formation, finally declaring, "I cannot and will not take exception to the claim made
in the Exhibition catalogue that it is a photograph of the actual charge".
It was apparently also during this tour that someone proposed the idea that the
photograph had been taken by a Turk and found in his camera when he was captured. The
absurdity of the theory clouded official attitudes to the photograph for the next sixty
years and encouraged the Memorial's acceptance of the "Belah re-enactment"
theory. Forty seven years after his first encounter with the photograph, Donovan Joynt
sought a print from the Memorial for publication in R. J. Hall's "he Australian Light
Horse". The then Director, Mr W. R. Lancaster, wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Joynt on
29 May 1967, summarizing the Memorial's reasons for treating the photograph as not
genuine.
1. The formation in which the charge was made was different from that shown in the
photograph.
2. At Beersheba the ground was quite bare and the galloping horsemen quickly became
enveloped in large clouds of dust. In the photograph the ground appears to be fairly well
covered with herbage and there is practically no dust.
3. At Beersheba, the Light Horsemen charged in a westerly direction in the late afternoon
so that the shadows would fall behind the horses.
4. The final stretch of the Beersheba gallop was downhill whereas the horsemen in the
picture are galloping uphill.
5. There is also the improbability generally of such a photograph having been taken.
Undeterred, Joynt contacted the 4th Light Horse Association to
see if veterans of the Palestine campaign could help his research. They could and did. The
Assistant Secretary of the Association, E.G. (Rex) Elliott, was introduced as the man who
had taken the photograph. Elliott, who completely convinced Joynt that his claim was
genuine, wrote a statement which was published in an edited form in "The Australian
Light Horse". This is the complete text of his account.
I, Eric George Elliott, state that
on 31st Oct. 1917 I was a range finder with the 4th A.L.H. Brigade which was resting in
reserve in a depression between two ridges about four miles east of Beersheba, at approx.
1430 hrs I was called to H.Q. and instructed to accompany a party of officers and take
some ranges and prepare range charts, the party moved out to the front on the Brigade
position and halted behind a knoll approx. 3,300 Yards from the town of Beersheba.
I was given my points to range on by the M. G. (machine-gun) and
Artillery officers in the party, this I did and reported the ranges verbally to each
officer and noted them on a rough plan from which to prepare my range charts.
The officers them moved back to Brigade area and left me to
prepare my range charts and deliver them to the respective officers with a copy to Brigade
H. Q. I was about half way through this task when I happened to look in the direction of
the Brigade area and saw dust rising indicating that there was some movement taking place.
I hastened to complete my job under the impression that this was what my charts were
required for, at the same time keeping my eye on the Brigade area, to to my surprise it
seemed to be within minutes, I saw horsemen in extended order coming over the crest of the
ridge, I packed my gear, and then came another line of troops in the same order, I then
moved around to the other side of the knoll, and by this time the third line appeared,
bewildered by what was happening I just lay there and gazed in astonishment, as the front
line drew nearer I saw that their bayonets were drawn and that they were approaching at a
hard gallop, having a camera in my haversack I got it out and took a shot, got on my horse
and went as fast as I could further out to a flank and then back to H. Q., there I learned
that my charts were not now needed as the whole plan had been changed and that an attempt
was being made to capture Beersheba with a Cavalry Charge by the 4th and 12th Regts.
In Jan 1918 I met a fellow of the 4th A. L. H. Regt. who was returning to Australia, I
gave him my spool and asked him to have it developed and sent to my parents, I told him
that it had a shot of the charge on Beersheba, and that if it was any good he could have
what copies of it he wanted.
On my return to Australia in Feb 1919 my parents gave me prints
of photos that had been sent to them posted in Melbourne, this they could not understand,
but which I soon explained.
One of these prints was to the best of my belief the one I had taken at
Beersheba of the charge of the 4th A. L. H. Regiment. I had several enlarged copies made
and over the years gave them to members of the Regiment. This print is identical with one
now in the hands of L. Col. Joynt of Blackburn.
(Signed) E. G. Elliott |
Joynt subsequently sent a copy of the Elliott statement to the
Memorial's Director with a report of Grant's 1920 opinion on the authenticity of the
photograph. Despite this, the official view supporting the Belah theory endured.
I first encountered the photograph about three years later. Now, after some twelve
years of sporadic research, I believe that it is undoubtedly genuine. I have carefully
considered the objections put forward by the Memorial.
1. As attested by Grant in 1920, the charge formation is accurately depicted. I have
spoken with thirteen men who rode in the charge. All considered the formation correct and
the photograph genuine.
2. Reports of dust raised by the charge came from men looking into the sun - a situation
which exaggerated its density. Men watching from the side, with the sun over their
shoulders, could see the action quite clearly. It also seems likely that the combination
of reddish brown dust and reddish sunlight minimized the effect of dust in the photograph.
Regarding the "herbage", a veteran of the action, Vic Smith, commented in
1981 that part of the charge lay over the stubble of a recently harvested Bedouin crop.
Untrimmed copies of the photograph show traces of furrows in the foreground.
3. Regarding sun direction, the Light Horsemen did not charge west, as stated, but to the
north-west. Also, according to the Curator of Astronomy at the Melbourne Science Museum,
Dr Robin Hirst, on that day at Beersheba the sun set sixteen degrees south of west. This
placed it more than sixty degrees to the left of the charge, as shown in the photograph.
4. The "uphill" effect in the photograph was created by a slightly tilted
camera. With true verticals restored, the formation is heading down a very slight slope.
5. The Elliott statement removed any improbability of the photograph being taken -
specifically the improbable Turk. In addition, a road is visible on the right flank of the
formation and a wadi can be seen across the front of the second line of horsemen. Both
features existed at Beersheba. In 1981 I walked over part of the charge course and
photographed the hills south-east of Beersheba. In character and detail, they match those
seen in the charge photograph.
One piece of the jigsaw remains to be found - the movie film of the re-enacted
charge at Belah. I believe that it lies somewhere in the Australian War Memorial
collection and was used as stock footage in the Charles Chauvel epic of 1941,"Forty
Thousand Horsemen". In the heart of the spectacular Beersheba charge sequence is one
shot totally out of phase with everything around it - different in the formation of
troops, in film quality, and in camera speed. It is a crowded long-shot of three lines of
closely packed horsemen at a half-hearted gallop. Nothing could be more unlike the expanse
and incredible vitality of the controversial charge photograph.
I can find no reason to doubt that the photograph represents an authentic record of
a truly great feat of Australian arms. I believe it is more that time for both the
photograph and the man who took it to achieve the recognition they deserve.
Written approximately 1977
Author not supplied
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