Camel saddle: British army

British military issue camel saddle with wooden 'A' frame tree with oval shaped uprights at each end secured together with metal plates. The wooden side panels sit on felt padded canvas panels bound to the tree with a combination of tanned leather and rawhide straps which also secure equipment to the panels and the longitudinal wooden poles attached to the tree on each side. A curved wooden seat attached between the uprights has a channel down the centre to protect the camel's hump and supports a rectangular padded canvas seat contained in a brown leather cover, shaped at each end to fit over the oval shaped uprights.

A pair of large cream canvas saddle bags is attached to each side of the saddle. They are protected by a broad canvas band that passes over the wooden seat frame and under the padded seat. Each saddle bag has a pair of smaller, leather edged pockets sewn to the outer side, which are closed with press studs. Beneath the near (left) side saddle bag a galvanised steel cylindrical fantassie (water container), which can hold 18 imperial gallons, is attached to the saddle tree with two pairs of leather straps. Beneath the off (right) side saddle bag a large cylindrical canvas bag intended to hold feed for the camel, is folded shut at the rear and secured with a leather strap. Above it is a canvas waterbag with a glass mouth and cork stopper in the top left corner. The bag is protected on the outside by a panel of thick white felt.

A padded brown leather semi-circular 'apron' with fringed edge, on which the rider's feet rest, extends from the front of the saddle tree down the body of the animal to the junction with its neck. The saddle is secured to the camel by a broad yellow webbing girth. A breast band, also of yellow webbing, is secured by hooks near the back of the longitudinal pole on the near side, and is tied to the saddle frame on the off side. A folded dark brown woollen blanket, of the same dimensions as saddle blankets issued to Australian light horse units, is placed across the seat and held in place by a leather strap encircling the entire saddle. Saddles used by officers were distinguished by a tanned goat skin placed hair side out across the seat in place of the folded blanket.

British military issue camel Saddle supplied, new, by British authorities in Egypt in 1936, to be mounted on the figure of a camel then being prepared for the Australian War Memorial by the British taxidermists Rowland Ward Limited. The camel exhibit was a tribute to the members of the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade who had fought in Egypt and Palestine during the First World War. The brigade was made up of four regiments, each numbering about 770 men - two Australian regiments, one British and a mixed Australian and New Zealand one, and up to 4,000 camels.

Camels were suited to the heat, lack of water and soft desert sand, and could carry heavier loads than horses. The operations of the Imperial Camel Corps in the Western Desert in 1916 were characterised by long patrols and brief skirmishes with the Senussi. British commanders in Egypt appreciated the fighting qualities of the ICC and in late 1916 the ICC was transferred to the Sinai desert to take part in operations against the Turkish army. Here the battalions of the ICC fought alongside Australian light horse units at Romani, Magdhaba and Rafa. The ICC remained an integral part of the British and dominion force that advanced north through Palestine in 1917 and 1918. It suffered particularly heavily during the Second Battle of Gaza on 19 April 1917, and in the operations conducted in November to destroy the Turkish defensive line between Gaza and Beersheba. As the ICC moved into the wetter, more fertile country of northern Palestine, its practicality declined. The camels needed more fodder and water than equivalent numbers of horses, and, unimpeded by the desert, horses could move much faster. The Brigade was disbanded in June 1918 and its Australian members transferred to the newly raised 14th and 15th Light Horse Regiments.