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25 February 1942 - "No. 8 - 137 - Port-Said - Australian & New Zealand soldiers war memorial monument", Egypt - real photo post card (printed circa 1935)

IMAGE INFO

- This Memorial was constructed in 1932 & commemorated Australian & New Zealand soldiers who died in service or were killed in action in Egypt, Palestine & Syria during World War One.

- On 23 November 1932 it was unveiled in Port Said on behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Governments by Australia`s then war time Prime Minister, W. M "Billy" Hughes.

- Sadly however, the Port Said monument itself was later almost completely destroyed during the Suez War & riots of 1956. With the original monument shown here no longer in existence to provide a reference, the map geo-location I have used is a best approximation.

- Only the plinth & one damaged horse head were later able to be salvaged & transported to Australia, where a facsimile of the original complete statue was re-constructed & erected in Albany, Western Australia, in 1964.

- This later copy of the monument is now proudly known as the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial, or more commonly as the Light Horse Memorial.

www.nzmr.org/bess.htm

monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/ww1/display/6001...

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SOURCE INFO

- This rare postcard was purchased by my late father-in-law, Australian Army Driver Tom Beazley of 1/2 Movement Control Group, Middle East Headquarters (Cairo), 2nd Australian Imperial Force whilst on leave in Port Said.

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RESTORATION INFO

- Digitized using a Canon Canoscan 8800F scanner.

- Restored from the very faded original B&W print quality using Adobe Photoshop CS Windows (sepia duo-tone version).

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Uploaded on August 15, 2018
Taken circa 1935