The world’s oldest mounted police unit marks 200 years in NSW

The fastest things on the roads these days run on four wheels, but that’s not stopping the world’s oldest mounted police unit getting around on four legs.

The NSW mounted police unit, which also lays claim to being the oldest in the force, celebrated its 200th birthday on Friday 12 September, marking the milestone* with a parade from Macquarie St to the Sydney Opera House.

The unit was formed in 1825 to address rising crime rates in the colony, but had some teething problems.

“When it originally started, they probably weren’t the most efficient in terms of having the right horses,” said mounted and dog unit commander, superintendent Julian Griffiths.

“But just like the unit has today, it evolved* over time.

“The land grants encouraged European settlers to bring better quality horses. As technology increased, motor vehicles replaced a lot of the mounted units in the early 1900s into the mid-1900s. But the unit has evolved with it.”

Supt Griffiths said a lot of the work of the unit now involved supporting police area commands and police districts with high-visibility patrols.

“It’s not lost on any police commander: the ability of the horse and the rider to actually defuse potentially volatile* situations just by being there,” he said.

“So I think our focus is just being – as the officers who have gone before us did – adapting and evolving and changing to what the community needs.

“I think we’ve just got to be ready to change and keep the mounted unit relevant in policing.”

One member of the unit who understood the value of changeability was officer Zane Clarke.

He used to perform at the famed Australian Outback Spectacular in Queensland before making the change to law enforcement.

“My experience with horses started pretty young. I was around eight or nine years old when I first got on a horse and the affinity started from there,” Mr Clarke said.

“I actually grew up in Victoria, but was born on the Gold Coast, (then) got taken under the wing of a cowboy down there (in Victoria), and my experience growing up was going to saleyards and buying horses and getting on them to see if they were broken in or not.

“I had a pretty unique upbringing with horses, learned how to ride like a cowboy, and then finessed* my skills along the way when I joined Outback Spectacular and through my years of competing.”

Mr Clarke said the chance to celebrate the mounted unit’s anniversary at the parade was a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.

“I’m probably not going to be here for the 250 or the 300-year parades, so it’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of us here to be a part of this moment in history for the unit and for the police,” he said.

The parade included serving officers and troop horses, retired officers, VIP cyclists, a police band and banner party.

“It’s an amazing unit to work for. We are always working towards something,” Mr Clarke said.

“We’re always perfecting skills down to our police academy with our officers on foot, making sure that we can all work cohesively* together. So there’s always training and things happening for us and it’s ever-growing.

“I think the unit’s becoming more and more popular and people are seeing it as a unit that’s still extremely effective.

“I think for a little while there, maybe people were thinking, ‘Oh, I wonder why they still have the horses’, that maybe it’s just a ceremonial thing.

“But I think every day we prove how effective we are on the street and at these protests and events, it’s shown how useful we are.”

POLL

GLOSSARY

• milestone: an important event in the development or history of something or in someone’s life
• evolved: having developed over time through a gradual process
• volatile: likely to change suddenly and unexpectedly, especially by getting worse:
• finessed: polished, refined, made something better
• iconic: very famous or popular
• cohesively: done in a way that shows that people or parts are united and working together

EXTRA READING

Let’s ‘b kinder’ for everyone’s sake

Purple Poppy Day for war animals

Wild horses to be reined in

QUICK QUIZ

1. How old is the NSW mounted police unit?
2. Where did the parade take place on Friday?
3. What encouraged European settlers to bring better quality horses?
4. Officer Zane Clarke used to perform as part of what?
5. Who took part in Friday’s parade?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. A day in the life of the mounted police
You probably know a bit about the operations of the mounted police in 2025 from your own experiences or from having seen them in the media. But cast your imagination back in time to think of what a day in the life of the mounted police might have been like back in 1825. You could do some research to better understand what life was like in the colony 200 years ago. Then write a journal page or police report that could have been written by one of the first members of the mounted police all that time ago.

You could make your work feel more authentic by choosing the names and language used carefully and presenting it in a style that fits the era.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, HASS (History)

2. Extension
What do you think the mounted police unit will be like in another 50 years? Write down three things that you think will be the same and three things that you think will be different.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read with Kung Fu punctuation
Pair up with the article between you and stand up to make it easy to demonstrate your Kung Fu punctuation.

Practise reading one sentence at a time. Now read it again, while acting out the punctuation as you read.

Read and act three sentences before swapping with your partner.

Take two turns each.

Now ask your partner to read a sentence out loud while you try and act out the punctuation. Can you keep up? Swap over?

Try acting out two sentences – are you laughing yet?