Camel headcollar with lead rope: British army

Cream cotton webbing camel headcollar, reinforced with leather at the sides of the nose piece and strap ends. The keepers and slides to hold the straps in place are also of leather. The nose piece is lined with thick white felt. The free end of the head piece strap has six large brass eyelets and is secured to two nickle-plated steel buckles. A long hemp lead rope is attached to a length of steel chain on the left (near) side of the nose piece. This threads through a large ring suspended from a short chain attached to a the right (off) side of the nose piece, which provides a lever action control beneath the camel's nose.

British military issue camel headcollar 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.