Before World War I The origins of the Hunter River Lancers can be traced back to 1885 when cavalry enthusiasts in Sydney first obtained permission to form a Cavalry troop. Interest soon stirred and shortly thereafter troops were formed in many country areas, one of which was in the Hunter River area. All these Cavalry troops were to some extent independent and were known as the 'Cavalry Reserves'. In 1889 these troops were welded into a Regiment called, 'New South Wales Cavalry Regiment', which was subsequently renamed the 'New South Wales Lancers' in 1894. In June 1897, a volunteer cavalry regiment of bushmen was raised and designated the 'Australian Horse'. Some of the sub units from this regiment were the forerunners of the New England Light Horse (NELH). In 1900, E Squadron was raised from Gunnedah, Boggabri, Tamworth and Armidale and rapidly mobilised a detachment to serve in the South African War. After
Federation in January 1901, the colonial military forces were reorganised. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Australian Light Horse Regiments were formed in New South Wales at this time. In 1907, the 1st Australian Light Horse was split to form two regiments: the 1st and 4th, with the 4th assuming the designation of the Hunter River Lancers, while the 2nd Australian Light Horse was split to form the 2nd and 5th New South Wales Mounted Rifles, and the 3rd Australian Light Horse was split to form the 3rd and 6th Australian Horse. In 1912, the 6th Australian Horse became the 5th Light Horse (New England Light Horse), while the 4th Hunter River Lancers became 6th Light Horse (Hunter River Lancers). Most of its members were from the areas covered by both the 4th and 6th ALH. In July 1915 the regiment trained as infantry in preparation for deployment to Gallipoli. In late August 1915 the regiment departed Egypt to support the
ANZAC forces at
Gallipoli. Upon landing at Anzac Cove the regiment were split up to reinforce the three other Light Horse regiments from New South Wales (1st, 6th & 7th) already in place. In 1918, the 5th Light Horse Regiment became the 12th Light Horse Regiment (New England Light Horse), The 6th ALH (HRL) became the 16th Light Horse Regiment (Hunter River Lancers), despite never having seen overseas service. This was because many of the members of the regiment had seen active service with other regiments. In 1936, the 12th Light Horse regiment was designated the 12th/24th Light Horse Regiment and then in early 1939 the regiment was split to form the 12th Light Horse Regiment (New England Light Horse) and the 24th Light Horse Regiment (Gwydir Light Horse). In 1942, the 12th Motor Regiment was re-designated as the 12th Australian Armoured Car Regiment (NELH). At the same time 16th Light Horse (Machine Gun) Regiment was re-designated the 16th Motor Regiment (HRL).
Staghound Armoured Cars and Canadian Scout Cars (known as "doodle bugs")—similar to the British
Daimler Dingo but manufactured in Canada. The first regimental camp was held in February 1949 and the Regiment was the first CMF unit to go into camp. Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron was located at Muswellbrook with tank squadrons in Newcastle, Tamworth and Armidale. The regiment was retitled 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers on 31 July 1949, In the following years Regimental HQ was moved to Tamworth and the Regiment was re-roled in the reconnaissance role. The regiment was still equipped with Staghounds and Canadian Scout Cars (the Canadian Scout Cars were replaced by
Ferret scout cars, in the late 1950s). In the 1960s the regiment was again reorganised, this time as an Armoured Personnel Carrier regiment equipped with Humber 4 × 4 trucks, Ferret scout cars,
M3 Personnel Carriers and a solitary
Saracen APC. By 1970, the regiment was operating
M113A1 APCs. From 1 January 2018 the regiment went through a number of organisational changes. It was removed from the
8th Brigade and came under the command of the
11th Brigade, Support Squadron in Tamworth was removed from the regiment's ORBAT and at the same time B Squadron was relocated from Muswellbrook in NSW to Caboolture in Queensland. However, no soldiers were involved in this move. All soldiers in the Tamworth, Armidale and Muswellbrook depots became members of A Squadron and the personnel of the new B Squadron were all sourced/recruited from the South-East Queensland region. ==Current organisation==