“Louis Laumen's statuary pays tribute to both the men and the horses that suffered the privations of war”
Boer War Memorial, Louis Laumen, 2017
“A patrol's horses step carefully through the sparse & arid landscape sloping down from the back wall of the memorial. Each soldier keeps an eye on his mates while looking out for signs of booby traps or potential for an ambush, for the tell-tale wheel tracks of big guns or supply wagons. For snipers. Smoke from campfires. Friend or foe.
Louis Laumen's statuary pays tribute to both the men & the horses that suffered the privations of war: burning sun, frosty cold, rain & sticking mud, hard dry wind & dust, the roughness of the veldt, barely survival rations, suspect water, lice. Both soldiers & their horses susceptible to fatal diseases & accidents as well as the occupational hazard of all soldiers, disfiguring wounds & agonising death.
This memorial recognises that all Australian troops in the Boer War were mounted or dependent on horses to tow their ambulances, artillery and supply wagons, to match the highly mobile Boer soldiers. It recalls their endurance and sacrifice, cast in enduring bronze.”
—- The Australian Boer War Memorial
