Lancers Barracks Parramatta

Lancers Barracks was built by Lt. John Watts in 1818 under instructions from Governor Macquarie. It was finished and operational in 1820. This is one of the oldest still in use Barracks.

A Lancer is a soldier of a cavalry regiment armed with a lance. Lance is a weapon of war used by soldiers on horseback. It has a sharp metal point affixed to the end of the long. Wooden ( usually bamboo) pole. It is used to spear enemy soldiers.

Military presence in Parramatta traces back to 1788, when the first European settlement was established. The Regiment’s ties with Parramatta began in 1891, when the Regiment’s Parramatta Troop was founded.  Regiment’s Headquarters was established in 1897 and Lancers have called Parramatta their home since then. Lancers are Australia’s oldest and most decorated Regiments.

In the 1914-1918 war the Regiment, being militia, did not serve abroad. However most of its pre-war members joined the 1^st Light Horse Australian Imperial Force (AIF). They served at Gallipoli and as part of the ANZAC Mounted Division in Palestine, fighting in Sinai, Beersheba, Jerusalem, Jericho and Amman. By the end of the war, 224 men had died and 679 wounded.

At the end of the war and disbandment of the AIF, the 1^st Light Horse was effectively rolled back into its ‘parent’ militia Regiment, the NSW Lancers, which became known as the 1^st Light Horse (NSW Lancers). It was granted the title ‘Royal’ in 1935. It was a horsed regiment till 1936.

In 1956, the ‘1^st Light Horse Regiment’ was linked with ‘15^th Light Horse Regiment’ making the Regiment also the successor to the 15^th Light Horse Regiment AIF which had been formed in Palestine in 1918 from personnel from Imperial Camel Corps.