March 2000 Volume 81 Number 3 "serving the protectors"
From Mounted Cadre to Canberra
By John Ballantyne

ontroversial WA senator, Ross Lightfoot, who was guest speaker at the January Police Club luncheon, has never forgotten his years in SAPOL’s mounted cadre.

Although he has since pursued numerous other ventures - such as mining, exploration, running pastoral properties, and politics - he has nevertheless retained “very, very fond memories” of his time in the No. 20 Mounted Division.

Lightfoot originally came from Port Lincoln, where he was born and schooled. He did his National Service in the mid-1950s in the 43/48 Infantry Battalion under the late Brigadier John G. McKinna (SA police commissioner from 1957 to 1972), after which he served for a number of years as a police officer in the SA No. 20 Mounted Division.

At the January Police Club luncheon, Lightfoot expressed his delight at having present there his old commanding officer from his days in the mounted cadre, retired chief superintendent, Jack F. Cawley.

Lightfoot described serving under Cawley as “one of the great privileges of my life.”

He said: “He turned us out, I think, the best dressed, the best horsemen, and the best troop of mounted cadre anywhere in the world.”

Lightfoot expressed particular gratitude for the discipline and valuable lessons which his old boss instilled in him - a foundation which, he said, has stood him in good stead during his subsequent career.

“Jack was a great disciplinarian,” recalled Lightfoot. “But for all that, he was revered, and - dare I say it, in a very blokey sort of way - he was even loved by his men.”

Highlights of Lightfoot’s career in the mounted cadre included providing royal escorts for Queen Elizabeth II and the king and queen of Thailand.

Lightfoot also reminisced about other less appealing experiences in the mounted cadre - such as handling difficult horses; his colleagues’ taste for practical jokes; and unglamorous chores at Thebarton Barracks, such as having to unblock manually drains clogged with straw.

His most embarrassing memory involved the misbehaviour of one Police Mare Queale, who was notorious for her “gargantuan appetite” and for her consequent “intestinal problems”. When the mounted cadre used to patrol the city, Lightfoot would sometimes back Police Mare Queale into the kerb as if she was a vehicle; and inevitably bystanders would want to come up and pat her. On one such occasion, a messy accident occurred, involving some unfortunate young female bystanders, which is better imagined than described...

In 1962, he left the mounted cadre, taking with him the valuable lessons he had learned from Jack Cawley.

Lightfoot went digging for opals in Andamooka and White Cliffs (New South Wales). He studied at the Adelaide School of Mines and the Kalgoorlie School of Mines.

“As luck would have it,” said Lightfoot, “I struck the nickel boom.” However, he did not put all of his success down to luck. Rather, he holds firmly to the belief that “the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

From the late 1960s onwards he was employed (and later was a director of) a number of mining and exploration companies.

He undertook numerous mining ventures and explorations in Western Australia, and also in Africa, China, the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

During this time he made enough money to buy a number of sheep stations and pastoral properties. Although operating them was extremely strenuous work, he nevertheless derived much satisfaction from it.

In 1986 Lightfoot was elected Liberal MP for the WA state electorate of Murchison Eyre (a seat which has since been abolished), after which he was elected to WA’s Legislative Council.

In 1997, Lightfoot entered national politics when appointed as Liberal Senator for Western Australia. He has served on several parliamentary committees.

In addition, he is a member of organisations, such as the RSL, the Australian Defence Association, and Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy.

Lightfoot was keen to clear up misunderstandings about the media uproar over his views on aboriginal land rights.

“I’m considered to be a racist,” he said, “because I care about aboriginal people. But we’re going the wrong way!”

He described how he has lived with aborigines all of his life, from his earliest years on the Eyre Peninsula. He expressed pride at representing them in parliament, having won his first parliamentary contest in 1986 with the help of the aboriginal vote.

Lightfoot said that he entered parliament in the same spirit that he entered the police force all those years ago:

“I entered parliament because I thought that I could assist my fellow travellers, my fellow man...

“I think there’s no greater pursuit in life than the protection of property and life, for the advancement of your state, or the advancement of your nation, in what you do.

“And it’s not just the big contributors, but it’s those mosaics - you people, your colleagues, all of those who contribute (to) that little mosaic that make up the safety and the conditions and the quality of life that we enjoy today.”

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