Shrine Stories: The Saddle

Discover the unlikely, and at times almost unbelievable story behind a horse saddle on display in the Shrine's Galleries of Remembrance. Former Warrant Officer Leon Dimmack joins us to uncover the tale and how the saddle went from almost being thrown in the trash to an invaluable treasure.

Transcript

LAURA THOMAS: The Shrine of Remembrance acknowledge the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which the Shrine stands, and pay our respects to their elders, past and present. As a place of remembrance and storytelling, we honour their deep connection to country and waterways shaped by generations of stories and memories.

LEON DIMMACK: Mum got this saddle, and I hated it. It was absolutely terrible. It was very, very derelict. The leather was so dry that should you bend one of the flaps of the saddle, the leather would have snapped.

LAURA THOMAS: Hello and welcome to the Shrine Stories podcast, a place where we take a look at the stories behind the objects on our gallery floor. My name is Laura Thomas, and in this episode, we're going to uncover the unlikely and at times almost unbelievable story behind a horse saddle that we have on display. Joining me to tell that story is former Warrant Officer of the Australian Army and the owner of the saddle, Leon Dimmack. Thanks for joining me, Leon.

LEON DIMMACK: Thank you very much, Laura.

LAURA THOMAS: Now, Leon, let's start from the beginning. Tell me about how this saddle came into your possession.

LEON DIMMACK: Okay, so 1980 to 1982 I went to an agricultural college north of Perth in Bindoon Keany College. It was run by the Christian Brothers, and it had 32,000 acres and designed for farmer's sons, basically. So the total number of students at the time was around about 85. So the college jas quite a an impressive history on its own. It was built by the orphans from the Second World War. Anyway, I was a bit of a larrikin lad, and we were a single parent family, andI had an older sister, younger sister, and my mother, and she wasn't quite sure what to do with a boy, and I was a bit of a rascal of the time.

LEON DIMMACK: So off to boarding school, I went. I had no interest in going to a boarding school. But when I found out about this place and it had horses, I was very interested. So we went up there and and I went to that college, the main attraction being my interest in learning how to horse ride. Now, I was a city kid, going to a country school, so that faced a few problems on its own, but being a single parent family, we had no money, so Mum did home birth, and she's a nurse, and so she put the word out to the rural community, and a farmer came back and said, 'Look, I've got this old saddle that's been hanging up in the shed for donkeys years. But if you're willing to restore it and use it, you're welcome to it'. Mum got this saddle and I hated it. It was absolutely terrible. It was very, very derelict. The leather was so dry that, should you bend one of the flaps of the saddle, the leather would have snapped. It was covered in layers and layers of years and years of dust and bird poo and all sorts of things. And it was rubbish worthy. And I thought, 'Oh, my goodness, what have you done?'. Apart from that, this saddle did not look like a normal saddle. I was a young teenage boy, and I wanted a saddle to look the same as everybody else's saddle. And this did not, this looked like a historical piece of rubbish, which I did not recognise what it was at all. I had no knowledge. But my mum said, 'Well, that's it, or you've got nothing'. You know, you can do away with the horse riding. Well, I was pretty keen on the horse riding. So she said, 'Go and see your uncle, Nicky'. He used to be in horses in his younger day. He was born in 1898 and he was quite old at that stage, and he'd been blind since he was 19 years old. But I had a hell of a respect for my old uncle, Nicky, and I described him as a old fashioned gentleman. So if it made him smile, that was worth it for me. So I took it to see him and and we started the process of restoring the saddle.

LAURA THOMAS: It would have been a big job, I imagine

LEON DIMMACK: It was a job that I thought was impossible. The only incentive or motivation I had to go ahead with it was to do something with my uncle Nicky. He had a feel of it, and he said, forget all of that rubbish that you get down the shops. Now, what I'm about to describe in the restoring process, many people in the horse community, or leather community would probably disagree with this method, but this is what happened. So he, he said, 'Right, stick it under the sprinkler for a couple of days'. Well, I didn't care. I thought it was ready for the rubbish bin anyway. And I had, you know, I just didn't really care. So under the sprinkler, it went for a number of days, and it waterlogged the leather, totally waterlogged and saturated the leather.

LEON DIMMACK: It then became, started to become a bit pliable, because the leather was so waterlogged. Then after a few days under the sprinkler, he said, 'Now go and see Bob across the road at the butcher shop, tell him I sent youand get some mutton fat'. I didn't even really know what mutton fat was, but I soon learned. I went over and in this butcher's paper, I came back with a whole pile of mutton fat, greasy, white, terrible looking stuff, and he said, right in the heat of the day, out in the backyard, 'Rub it into the leather'. So it's on the lawn, and I, with my dirty, rotten hands, was hand rubbing in this mutton fat, which was greasy and buttery and absolutely horrible. Anyway, into all the nooks and the crannies and the whole lots of stuff of the saddle. And over the next number of days, the sun melted the mutton fat and soaked into the leather. After doing that for a number of days, he said, 'Righto, wipe all of that stuff off', which I did, and we went to the back shed.

LEON DIMMACK: Now, they lived in this house for many, many, many years, and like a typical old uncle or old grandfather, in this back shed there was rusty old cans and tins and all sorts of things. Being blind, he'd grab a tin and open it have a sniff, 'No, that's not it', and so forth, until he found this rusty tin with no label, and it was magnificently rusted. I don't even know how he got the lid off it, but he did. He had a smell. Stuck his finger and rubbed his fingers together and said, 'Yep, this is the stuff, rub this into the saddle'. It could have been battery acid, as far as I knew. I had no idea what this fluid was, but anyway, rubbed it in and it it did turn out to be neatsfoot oil. That tin was probably as old as the damn saddle. Anyway, the leather became pliable, and I took it up to the college, and I used that saddle full time for the next following three years.

LAURA THOMAS: It's pretty incredible that you managed to get it from something that you thought was ready for the skip to something you could use to ride with.

LEON DIMMACK: It was absolutely by necessity. I had a strong desire to learn how to horse ride, and it was that, or nothing, I will tell you that I felt like, for those that are familiar with Harry Potter, you've got Ron Weasley who gets the old hand me down vintage stuff. That's exactly what I felt. I rocked up to the college with this thing. I was terribly embarrassed because it looked nothing like a standard, normal saddle, and I had no idea of what this saddle actually was at that time,

LAURA THOMAS: And tell us about when you found out about what this saddle actually was.

LEON DIMMACK: Well, I was using the saddle, and with the college, we did a lot of farm work, stock work and that sort of stuff. But we also entered into Gymkhanas with other pony clubs and that sort of thing. And I was at one of these events and feeling not very flash now being out in public on this strange looking saddle. When in between events, this man came up to me with couple of other people, and he said, 'Is that a Light Horse saddle?' I had no idea. I said, 'I don't know'. And he said, 'Do you mind if I have a look?'. Yeah, sure. So he had a bit of a look, and he saw some of the markings on the saddle. And he said, 'Oh, my God, that's an original Light Horse saddle'. I'm like, 'Is it?'.

LEON DIMMACK: Anyway, at this stage, my other friends on their horse was like, 'What's going on over here?'. And this gentleman went away. And then in between more events, he brought back more friends and family and said, 'Have a look at this guy's saddle. This is an original saddle'. So this is, this is the introduction to my realisation that, oh my goodness, I've got something rather special here. Also I was gaining much more attention than the other fellas, and, you know, young teenage lads, you don't mind a bit of attention. So I, as this became more known as to what it was and looking into it, I went from being the uncool city kid on a horse with this vintage thing, to being the guy with a very cool saddle.

LAURA THOMAS: And you kept riding on it once you found out what it was?

LEON DIMMACK: Absolutely I had no choice. We weren't from a wealthy family at all, and it was that or nothing. So, yes, I continued riding with it, but my attitude towards this saddle changed, and I started to realise that, wow, I've really got something of value here and historical.

LAURA THOMAS: How did it feel when you realised that?

LEON DIMMACK: Look, in all honesty, I was younger and not really that appreciative. As the years went by and I matured a bit more and learned a bit more that absolutely, definitely grew, but at the time, I thought, 'Oh, that's cool', but I didn't really have that full appreciation. I think I was a bit too young for that.

LAURA THOMAS: Now you yourself joined the Army. You're a former Warrant Officer. Was that the moment around that time that you thought, 'Wow, this is incredibly significant, what I've had here and what I've been able to restore'?

LEON DIMMACK: Um, no, when I joined that that didn't come to me. My attachment to the saddle was very, very strong, but not for the reasons of history. My old uncle, Nicky, had by now passed away, and the sentimental value of the saddle because I restored it with him, and he taught me how, in a means, in a way that was seemed very obscure, that connection with my uncle was the thing that really made it very, very valuable to me personally. I never told anyone that story, because that was personal, and that was to me.

LEON DIMMACK: As I joined the Army and I started to ask a few questions about the 13th Light Horse, we didn't have internet back then, so researching information was a lot more difficult, so I tried, but didn't really get much info. So it's sort of pretty much stopped about there. And I went on with my military career. I went to artillery for the first couple of years, and then I changed over to RAEME aviation and working on helicopters, which I'm still doing. In my aviation career, I started off on Iroquois helicopters. They were the Vietnam helicopters for those that recognise them. Then on to Black Hawks for about 11 years, and went on active service with others. And my final years in the Army, I was with the Army Reconnaissance Helicopter Project Office introducing the Tiger ARH helicopter into service. I was part of that team. And when we had the initial parade for the acceptance of the very first Tiger helicopters at Oakey, leading the parade was two light horsemen on horses with all of the regalia. So they were walking in front of the Tiger Army reconnaissance helicopters. And the connection being that it's symbolic of the old cavalry versus the new cavalry, which is why they were there.

LAURA THOMAS: Sounds incredible, but your saddle, unfortunately, wasn't involved in that. Was it?

LEON DIMMACK: No, it wasn't. I wasn't aware of the light horsemen being included in the parade until the day. When I saw it and I said they could have used my saddle, the Army said it would have been fantastic to use my light horse saddle in that as another connection, as I was part of that team. So it's a little opportunity that was missed, but that's the way it goes.

LAURA THOMAS: It probably drove home even more, the importance of the connection that you have with this saddle and the work you were doing, though?

LEON DIMMACK: Yeah, before that time, because that was towards the end of my career, by now, we've got internet, and I've managed to do a lot more research and get a bit more history about the saddle and the 13th Light Horse and where they were raised, and a few things like that. And I certainly had an appreciation of exactly what I do have, I started to build a collection of Light Horse regalia. I had a 303 rifle, an original cleaning kit for it, an issue cleaning kit, which is quite rare to come across, and the bayonet. And I was looking to get, you know, the pouches, the saddle bags, and the, you know, other things that they had. Gun laws changed in Australia and those sorts of things. So that went by the by as it as it does and well, life continues on. I got married and kids and priorities change and all that sort of stuff. So it never eventuated. But in the course of those years, I was offered a lot of money for that saddle on several occasions, but I never, ever entertained the idea of selling it. The monetary value was worth nothing to me. My sentimental value with that connection with my uncle was probably the highest, and certainly now the military connection and I now was in the military, I just think selling it would have, to me, felt cheap.

LAURA THOMAS: So how did you come to the decision to bring it here to the Shrine of Remembrance?

LEON DIMMACK: In my research, I'd found out that 13th Light Horse was raised in, I think, Broadmeadows just north of Melbourne. And I thought, 'Oh, that's interesting'. My sister and mother are in Melbourne, and we went to visit them, and we went to the Shrine of Remembrance. The whole lot of us as a family, and I went through and I remember being very impressed by the Shrine of Remembrance. Everything there. We spent quite a bit of time, and I thought the Shrine of Remembrance, correct me if I'm wrong, it pretty much concentrates on Victorian military history, as opposed to the War Memorial, which is Australian, and I thought my saddle originated from here. To me, I'll use the words 'going home', so being returned to its place of origin. So I thought about contacting a Light Horse there and that sort of stuff. But I thought, I'll contact the Shrine of Remembrance and see if they're interested. I thought it would be an appropriate place. The saddle has, I've looked after, I've loved it, I've cared for it, I've used it for so many years, and I felt that it would be, it was time that is fitting, that it should be appreciated by the public.

LAURA THOMAS: And did you find out who originally owned the saddle?

LEON DIMMACK: I did. Now forgive me. I can't remember those details off the top of my head, but through the process of it being accepted by the Shrine of Remembrance, obviously there's validation for its authenticity. In the process of validating it, they did tell me the name of the light horseman that my saddle was issued to because one of the numbers that it stamped on the saddle is his regimental number. I think from memory, it's 140

LAURA THOMAS: You are correct, and I do actually have it in front of me here. Number 140 could be the regiment number of Sydney Chipperfield, who served with the 13th Light Horse regiment.

LEON DIMMACK: Yes, that's the name. Yes.

LAURA THOMAS: What did it mean to you to have a name and to have a connection there?

LEON DIMMACK: It had been something that had been on my mind for so many years, and to actually be told this gave much more life to the saddle and the history and the richness of it. 13th Light Horse, if you continue on with the history, went to many of the well known battles in the First World War. So that saddle has seen action and goodness gracious, what else.

LAURA THOMAS: And the fact that it kind of fell into your hands. Do you know how the original man who gave it to your mother came upon it?

LEON DIMMACK: Before I received that saddle, zero history. Absolutely no idea. All I know is that it came from a farmer who was nice enough to donate it. I don't know his name. I don't know where - we were in Western Australia at the time. I don't know which part of Western Australia, just that he was nice enough to donate it and said, if you're prepared to restore it, you're welcome to it. That's the end of my knowledge about the previous history and looking at the condition it had very obviously been in a shed for 30, 40, 50 years.

LAURA THOMAS: It's an absolutely incredible story. And I was hoping, because I know there are some other stories, some fond memories that you shared riding that saddle.

LEON DIMMACK: Ah, look, many, many fond memories. Keaney College being the agriculture college, we did stock work. We were, as I say, it was mainly for farmer's sons and things.Gymkhanas, we had lots of larrikin times on it. We had overnighters on it. In the Gymkhana it turned out the saddle was quite handy, because the the bar that goes across the front of the saddle, the main support, on another saddle they would call that the pommel, that bar aided fantastically as a hand hole to swing yourself onto the horse from ground level. Rather than using the stirrup to get up, I could grab that and if and if the horse is moving forward, it assisted to swing up onto the saddle and get on quicker, faster, making it better for events. So it was really quite good.

LEON DIMMACK: One of the other things was I rode in a tentrathlon, which was long distance swimming, cross country running, shooting and a two kilometer cross country jumping course. Now I did have the original girth, which had the date 1915 stamped on it. I was, there was so many people from all over Western Australia in this event that there was actually eight ribbons. I wasn't good enough for the first four places, but I might have been good enough to squeeze into the second four places, maybe seventh or eighth. The jumping was the last thing. And my horse, which was a buckskin, for those that don't know, the Man from Snowy River's horse is a buckskin, and it was released the same year. So I thought I was on a very cool saddle on a very cool horse, and he was quite a feisty horse. He was incredible. And we had quite the relationship.

LEON DIMMACK: It was the third jump, which was basically a very large tree on its side because it was a cross country course. As I approached the jump, the horse shied and I went over the jump, still in the saddle, feet in the stirrups, but without the horse. I landed on my butt on the saddle, and the horse walked around the jump and casually came up to me, stuck his head down, as if to say, what are you doing down there? The leather had ripped where the buckles are, the horse must have felt that and made him shy. And of course, that was the end of the girth. I found out later that you must start the event with all the gear, but you don't have to finish the event with all the gear. Had I have known that I could have continued bareback. But anyway.

LAURA THOMAS: So no ribbon for that one.

LEON DIMMACK: Sadly, no. That was the end.

LAURA THOMAS: So what of the original saddle is on display here at the Shrine?

LEON DIMMACK: The felt pads are not original. You can't possibly imagine the felt pads lasting, you know, a hundred and nine years or something now. So they are not original. They were remade. However, the leather, I can't remember whether the leather that's stitched onto it may be. The seat of the saddle, the rear of the saddle, the front, the bar, the timber for the supports, all of that, including the stitching, is original, which is quite amazing, that the stitching is actually original.

LAURA THOMAS: It's probably a testament to the way that you restored it, the love and care that went into that.

LEON DIMMACK: Well, as I said, it was maybe what many might consider unorthodox that, hey, it worked. I will say that that's how I originally restored it, but through the course of the next couple of years that I used it full time, yes, I used normal leather dressing, leather soaps and that sort of thing.

LAURA THOMAS: And what does it mean to you now that it's on display at the Shrine for hundreds and thousands of visitors to see every year?

LEON DIMMACK: It means a lot to me. It feels right. I'm very proud to have donated it. I'm very pleased that I stuck to my guns and I never sold it when I had very attractive offers. It was just a sentiment and it's how I feel about it. So to put it on display so other people are going to appreciate that is what meant the most to me. And I think being at the Shrine of Remembrance, where the saddle basically came from, well, not the Shrine, but from 13th Light Horse, it was raised there, I feel it is the most appropriate home.

LAURA THOMAS: It's got a wonderful story, and it's a brilliant piece. I thoroughly urge everyone to come in and have a look at it, and now that they know the backstory, probably take even more interest than they had.

LEON DIMMACK: Fantastic, I'm glad. I hope people enjoy it.

LAURA THOMAS: Thanks for listening to the Shrine Stories podcast. For more, make sure you hit subscribe wherever you listen.