New Light Horse Blog

[Bill Woerlee]

Mates

It is hard to believe that a year has just about passed since beginning the Australian Light Horse Studies Centre. It has been occasioned with ups and downs but mainly ups.

The Australian Light Horse Studies Centre started off with zero capital and no advertising budget and no fanfare. However, I knew it would succeed where others failed. A good analysis of the market place and a solid business plan has allowed it to produce outcomes far in excess of even my expectations.

The premise was that there was no quality Light Horse site on the internet which provided the average family historian a place to go to find simple information. Then after exploring the simple information, higher grade material would naturally lead on until primary source material which was ordinarily unavailable except locked in the vaults of a few institutions was also made available. In essence, allowing a person anywhere on the planet to research their ancestors who may have served in the light horse.

This global nature has been clearly met. The top ten countries accessing the site by percentage importance are:

Australia 71.07%
United Kingdom 8.63%
United States 6.99%
New Zealand 3.53%
Canada 1.43%
Turkey 1.41%
Germany 0.93%
Israel 0.87%
France 0.49%
Netherlands 0.43%

A further 50 nations or so share the balance.

The demand for the site is quite strong. From a viewing of nil per day at the beginning, the average viewings are about 750 page views per day which translates to a traffic load of 273,000 per year and growing.

Over time, understanding the programs used and the presentation required has meant a change in the format many times over. The front page of today looks vastly different to that of last year, as does the information presentation.

Apart from the new graphic as the header, the search box has been moved to the margin.

Descriptions have been altered to fit in with the new look. They have been drastically cut down to allow ease of access to the vital information.

Despite all the changes, the usual items are still available. On the left hand side, all the threads (some 270) are detailed. In each thread is a "Contents" listing of all items contained within that thread.

The threads are placed in a logical order and grouping, with each group containing a separate overall description and table of contents.

Each of these modifications is aimed at assisting each person to find exactly the information they are seeking.

Every day new information is being added. To date, there are 2,200 entries containing over a million words and many thousands of illustrations. This is an average of 6 posts per day, every day. The content grow rapidly in the next year as more people contribute. I expect it to triple in size, that is, 6,000 entries with 3 million words. The expansion plan is already in place and ticking on well.

For those who are not quite sure what this means in personal terms, get yourself a free blog and try it sometime. Then you will grasp the fundamentals of what is said in the preceding paragraph.

Wrapping this up in the totality of the site, to paraphrase the Chinese maxim, a journey on a blog of 2,200 posts begins with the first post.

Those folks who feel they have something to contribute are more than welcome to contact me. We will discuss the item and if it meets the stringent standards required for publication, it will appear accordingly. Opinion pieces will never be accepted. Only well researched items that have all the elements of veracity, primary source documents and references attached will find a place on the site. Otherwise, there are many jobs that require folks who just want to undertake a small project. Over 500 gigs of raw data needs to be sorted and uploaded so there is no shortage of small projects or material.

There are many people to thank for this. Everyone who posts on this site has contributed in their own way to the success of the Australian Light Horse Studies Centre website. While it is now nearly the number one jumping off point for information on the light horse in Australia, by the end of the next year, I expect it to be the premier site on information in Australia about the light horse and military development in the early 20th century.

Cheers

Bill

Australian Light Horse Studies Centre
http://alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/

[Peter H]

Bill

Good to hear the blog has had a successful opening phase with more to come.Well done!

Peter

[trevor jones]

Gday Bill my name is Trevor Jones I am trying to research a relative who was killed in the first world war. His name was Douglas Roy Chidgzey killed in action in Palestine . I have one of his medals and his bronze death plaque which was given to his mother. Her name was Francis Alma Chidgzey my great grand mother on my fathers side. I read in one of the forums you identified three soldier's in a photo graph for a member and was hoping to be able to get a copy of that picture or if you have a photo of him in your records I would be so happy if I could get a picture of him so I can frame his medals and give a forgotten soldier a face and respect which he deserves all these years on. My email is [email protected] hoping you can help thanks. ////// Trevor

[stevebecker]

Mate,

I am sorry to say Bill has left the site due to family reasons.

His death in a fight out side Es Salt is recorded in the new unit history by Browning and Gill on the 10th LHR.

see page 351

I record this on him;

CHIDGZEY Douglas Roy 3111 Pte 10 LHR 24R tos C Sqn 4-17 WIA 19-4-17 L/arm reported 75 men wounded in attack on the Atawineh Redoubt at 2nd Gaza rtn 5-17 KIA 30-4-18 reported killed and 7 wounded in attack and capture by B & C Sqn's under Maj Olden on a ridge outside Es Salt NKG listed Jerusalem Memorial brother Vernon 10 LHR

He was part of an attack to clear the Es Salt road by the 3rd LH Bde, the 10th LHR with B and C Sqn's under Maj Olden and commanded by Maj Timperley attacked in three waves and took the Hill 2900 from the Turkish force holding that area.

During which he was killed and seven men wounded and 28 Turks were captured.

I sorry but I have found no known photo of him, have you tried his brother also in the C Sqn 10 LHR if he had a family that is?

CHIDGZEY Vernon Clare 3112 Pte 10 LHR 24R Tos C Sqn? 4-17 brother Douglas 10 LHR KIA

S.B

[trevor jones]

Thanks for your help Steve. I will research his brother may be there is a photo some where of the two of them. Thanks again. ////Trevor

[Tosun Saral]

Bill is my friend. we are in correspondance. My younger son who was invited last summer to Bisbane Uni for a speech about Turkish war, he viisted him and stayed in his home for 2 days. I will send your letter to him.