Branding
Waler Data Base @ Facebook. Image: Branding a horse with the Broad Arrow army brand, 1914 at No1 Remount Depot, AWM.
The Australian government brand was and is the broad arrow. It is still used on some army equipment. Horses were branded with this if they were bred on government farms or bought at sales etc, and had no station or dealer brand to ID the horse – so – not all were branded with the broad arrow.
Image: The Herald, Victoria, Wednesday 3 April 1912.
Horses leaving Australia had to be branded for ID for quarantine. If no station brand, then dealers put their brand on horses they bought or bred – these were by far the most common, including with remounts our army bought in times of war.
Policies changed regularly, and from what I can find, the majority of remounts had private brands on. It’s not an easy subject to research, and there are almost no photos.
Needless to say soldiers resented their clothes and horses being branded with the broad arrow, once associated with convicts (being government property as prisoners and slaves). There was a bit of a furore at WW1 time about it.
Horses sent to India and bought by the British army there were again branded – with the British army brand (not sure what that was ) – on the hoof, on arrival, then the horses sent to whichever area needed them. Thousands a year from Australia. By the time they arrived up country and were settled in, the hoof brand was growing out, to no longer disfigure it or give the tarnish of a government brand which devalued them (something our government never grasped). They had their hide brand and army description to ID them.
A hoof brand was only temporary, but on arrival at the remount depot the horse was sent to, it had information such as bought by the government (government brand, usually broad arrow also used by Britain as it was their brand originally in the case of horses in India) and numbers and letters – indicating who bought the horse, its’ record number etc. So it was like sending the horse with an ID file, without causing it pain or permanent disfiguring. Many countries did it with remounts, before sending them off. Say one proved unsound or aged, they could identify who bought it etc. Also, until in the new depot/ regiment, it could not be said to be stolen as it had the government brand.
This is the simple crown brand used by the government in the C19th in Australia. Any horse purchased or acquired by the government – not necessarily for the military- was branded on the front hoof. The government inspector held and applied the brand.
Image & content supplied by Richard Crispin.
Hot branding is not very painful at all but it is a skilled job. Applied too lightly, only the hair burns – it soon grows back and there is no brand. Applied very hard and for too long, terrible scarring for life occurs, and much trouble healing, with recurring problems on the scar site. Properly done, as normal practice, the branding iron is made hot, then applied to the hide with gentle pressure. As soon as the horse moves the branding iron is lifted off – it only takes a couple of seconds usually. Only the outside skin layer is burned and soon heals.
Anyone who has observed this, and also observed freeze branding, where freeze burn occurs for a time, knows which is best – I’d choose fire branding any day of the week. Many prefer freeze branding – it’s all up to the individual. There were no microchips back in WW1 (and some would also say that is cruel) and it was crucial to be able to identify the horses, as it still is today with agricultural stock (and pets in order to reunite lost pets with owners).
A list of registered brands can readily be found on the internet, check out this link to see the brands registered in the Northern Territory for example. Other states can also be googled. South Australia no longer have requirements for brands to be registered and haven’t for a number of years. Their previous registered brands have been archived and cannot be accessed unfortunately.
Sometimes we get asked about possible Walers of unknown origin and it is always a thrill to be able to match them to a station, such as the rescued Newhaven Walers some of which were branded with Alex Coppock’s personal brand rather than the ‘ACT’ station brand (‘AC’ as in photos below on Fisher, Rigoletto and Pearl).
