Second Boer War The unit's complicated lineage included the
New South Wales Lancers, which had been first formed as the
New South Wales Cavalry, a reserve
colonial unit in 1885 and had later served in the
Second Boer War. A half squadron of the Regiment had been in Great Britain where they participated in the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. When war was declared they were transported to South Africa. The Lancers contributed a
squadron that had served under
John French in
Lord Roberts' army, and participated in a counter-invasion of the Orange Free State that eventually lifted the
Siege of Kimberley in 1900.
First World War and inter-war years In August 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War, the
1st Light Horse Regiment was formed at Rosebury Park in Sydney, as part of the raising of a 20,000-man expeditionary force known as the
Australian Imperial Force (AIF). The new regiment was raised mainly from volunteers of the 7th Australian Light Horse (New South Wales Lancers), an existing militia unit based in Sydney and on the New South Wales south coast. Serving in the part-time
Citizens Force (later known as the "Militia") after the war, the Lancers was designated as successor to the 1st Light Horse Regiment, and they consequently inherited the former unit's battle honours. The regiment continued as the 1st Light Horse Regiment until 1929, its ranks augmented with conscripts. In 1929, universal service ended, and the unit was linked with the 21st Light Horse to become the 1st/21st Light Horse (New South Wales Lancers) in the wake of the
Great Depression. and many of the 1st Light Horse (Machine Gun) Regiment's members volunteered. Assigned to the
2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion, they took part in the fighting in the
Mediterranean theatre. In March 1942, the regiment was again renamed, being converted to the 1st Motor Regiment. During the fighting the tanks had performed well, and despite the difficult jungle terrain, the suitability of the Matilda for such operations had been proven with the Australians effectively employing combined arms tactics against which the Japanese had no effective response. On 1 June 1944, the unit was renamed the 1st Armoured Regiment. Landing with the infantry, the tanks—including newly modified
Matilda Frog flamethrower tanks—mainly operated in small detachments in close support of the troops, even though the terrain offered the opportunity for more mobile tactics to be employed. Although the Australians were ultimately successful, casualties among the infantry were heavy and during this time the regiment was involved in some hard fighting, with the Japanese able to make effective use of strong natural defences in conjunction with
minefields and
anti-tank ditches to compensate for their lack of anti-tank guns. With the fighting coming to a conclusion however, tank operations ceased on 24 July. In total, casualties suffered by the regiment during the war included 14 dead. As a part of this force, the regiment was reconstituted as a reserve formation on 1 April 1948, adopting the designation of the 1st Armoured Regiment (Royal New South Wales Lancers), in recognition of its previous history. During this time the regiment continued to operate Matilda tanks and was based at Lancer Barracks in
Parramatta, in
New South Wales. However, in 1949 the regiment was renamed the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers and its battle honours and history were perpetuated by this unit, to reallocate the former name to the tank regiment that was to be established in the new Australian Regular Army. Later, in 1956 the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers merged with the
15th Northern River Lancers to form the
1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers, equipped with a small number of
Centurion tanks. This unit continues to serve today as a part-time unit in the
Australian Army Reserve, operating
Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles (PMV) in the Light Cavalry (Reconnaissance) role. ==Battle honours==