Camel Corps Hat Badge

Badge of the WW1 Australian Camel Corps. Australian and New Zealand mounted units were crucial to the success of the Sinai and early phases of the Palestine campaign. They undertook lengthy and often hazardous reconnaissance patrols. When called on to fight, the speed with which the Light Horse and Camel Corps could be deployed across arid country gave the allied forces a strong tactical advantage against the numerically superior Turkish forces. The companies were reorganised into four battalions, each of four companies. The 1st Battalion and 3rd Battalion were Australian. The 2nd Battalion was British. The 4th Battalion was formed of Australians and New Zealanders. The Corps was also augmented by a mountain artillery unit raised in Hong Kong and Singapore. It also had its own machine gunners, and veterinary personnel. The Corps had a badge (which usually existed in unofficial forms) of a camel against a sunburst, with a scroll bearing the unit title underneath.The badges was unofficial, although widely worn. This excellent replica badge in antiqued copper comes with clutch pin clips. Badge measures approximately 60mm wide and 40mm high (a similar size to the official badge of the time, the 1904 3rd hat badge).