Author(s): Paul Daley

War

The Battle of Beersheba, a redeeming win for the Anzacs who lost at Gallipoli, has slipped through the cracks of Australia's historical consciousness. Why are Australians so much more content to commemorate a glorious defeat than we are to celebrate such a resounding, against-the-odds, victory? The sunset charge by 800 Anzacs mounted on horses defeated 400 Turks, captured Beersheba, and led to the liberation of Jerusalem and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It is the victory that paved the way for the establishment of Israel 60 years ago. And yet, the story of the victory has slipped through the cracks of history. Beersheba is not a pilgrimage site, even though the Turkish trenches are intact, shrapnel can still be found within, and the ancient Bedouin camps, through which the horsemen cantered, are still there. In an evocative narrative in the vein of Les Carlyon's masterpiece, Gallipoli, Beersheba will tell a story about a place and its players that is long overdue for acknowledgement.