Mount Clarence (

Nyungar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

: ''Corndarup'') is an inner suburb of Albany,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, between the Albany city centre and

Middleton Beach Middleton may refer to: People *Middleton (name), list of notable people with surname of Middleton Places Australia *Middleton, Queensland *Middleton, South Australia *Middleton, Tasmania, on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel *Middleton Beach, Western A ...

. Its

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

is the

City of Albany The City of Albany is a local government area in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, about south-southeast of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It covers an area of , including the Greater Albany metropolitan area and the ...

, and over three-quarters of its land area is either parkland or forest, including Albany's Heritage Park. Mount Clarence was gazetted as a suburb in 1979.

Geography

Mount Clarence is bounded by Middleton Road to the north, Marine Drive to the east and south and the eastern boundary of Albany's town centre to the west. Most of the suburb's population of 669 is concentrated in the north and northwest of the suburb near Middleton Road. Islands and headlands fading into the drizzle middleton beach

Islands and headlands fading into the drizzle middleton beach

Desert Mounted Corps Memorial

The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial stands near the summit of Mount Clarence. The memorial is a 9-metre bronze statue of an Australian mounted soldier assisting a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

soldier whose horse has been wounded. The memorial was originally erected at

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. In 1916, Brigadier General J.R. Royston, commander of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade, suggested that a memorial be erected at Port Said in honour of Australian and New Zealand mounted soldiers killed in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The memorial was funded by the Australian and New Zealand Governments, and surviving mounted soldiers. It was erected in Port Said in 1932 and was inscribed to the memory of members of the

Australian Light Horse Australian Light Horse were mounted troops with characteristics of both cavalry and mounted infantry, who served in the Second Boer War and World War I. During the inter-war years, a number of regiments were raised as part of Australia's part-ti ...

New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade was a brigade of the New Zealand Army during the First World War. Raised in 1914 as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, it was one of the first New Zealand units to sail for service overseas. The ...

and

Imperial Camel Corps The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (ICCB) was a camel-mounted infantry brigade that the British Empire raised in December 1916 during the First World War for service in the Middle East. From a small beginning the unit eventually grew to a brigad ...

(all part of the

Desert Mounted Corps The Desert Mounted Corps was an army corps of the British Army during the First World War, of three mounted divisions renamed in August 1917 by General Edmund Allenby, from Desert Column. These divisions which served in the Sinai and Palestine ...

) who died in Egypt,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

between 1916 and 1918. The memorial was damaged in anti-

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

riots during the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

of 1956. In 1959, the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...

agreed to send the memorial back to Australia and it arrived in Albany in 1960. A copy of the statue was made and put on the original monument base and then erected on Mount Clarence in 1964. Another copy was erected on Anzac Parade in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, as the Mounted Memorial. Albany is associated with the Desert Mounted Corps in that the mounted troops and the rest of the first detachment of the Australian Imperial Force and the

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

(later known collectively as

ANZAC The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comma ...

s) left Albany in a convoy of ships in November 1914 to join

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Mount Clarence is the location of the annual ANZAC dawn service, first held in 1931 by Padre Arthur Ernest White. The location of the Albany ANZAC Day dawn service is atop mount Clarence at Padre White Lookout. The ANZAC Desert Mounted Corp Memorial faces east, into the rising sun.

Facilities

Mount Clarence contains Albany Senior High School and the Pioneer Cemetery.

References

{{Towns Great Southern WA Suburbs of Albany, Western Australia