Officers' collar badge : 8 Light Horse Regiment, AIF

Officers' unofficial silver and enamel collar badge of 8 Light Horse Regiment, AIF. The badge shows a prancing horse within a circular blue enamelled garter. Within the garter are the words '. LIGHT . VIII . HORSE . AIF'. At the bottom is a blue enamelled ribbon containing the word 'AUSTRALIA', and the whole badge is surmounted by a King's crown highlighted with red enamel. On the reverse is a hinged vertical pin clasp, and the impressed maker's marking 'STOKES & SONS MELB'.

When 8 Australian Light Horse Regiment was raised in 1914, it was decided that a unit badge, based on that of their 'parent' regiment, the 8th Australian Light Horse Regiment (Victorian Mounted Rifles) should be produced. The badges, which were made for officers only, were produced in small numbers in enamel and sterling silver by Stokes and Sons of Melbourne. 8 Light Horse Regiment suffered heavier casualties than any other Australian Light Horse unit during the First World War, primarily because of its involvement in the ill-fated charge at 'The Nek', Gallipoli, on 7 August 1915, where it suffered 234 casualties in less than 15 minutes. Since the badges were only produced for the original officers of the Regiment, (ie not for later reinforcements) twelve of whom were killed at the Nek, their rarity is understandable.