This Is The Lifetime Collection Of Rodney O'Regan Rodney O’Regan OAM of Hillville via Taree NSW. Rodney is down-sizing and relocating to Newcastle basically due to continued ill health and age. He has been collecting Australiana and military items since he was a child. His immediate family are not interested in continuing with the collection. Rodney was born on the outer skirts of Melbourne Victoria in the late 1940s. Both parents were in the Navy during World War II, with his father continuing on as a Warrant Officer in the Royal Australian Engineers (Army Reserve). Both of Rodney’s grandfathers served in World War I; one in the 8th Light Horse, and the other in the 1st Light Horse then 4th Division Horse Drawn Artillery. His mother and family originated from Gilgandra, from where his maternal grandfather enlisted for the First World War. As a 14-year-old Rodney left home to work on dairy farms in southern NSW and cattle stations in far south-west Queensland, mainly on Bulloo Downs in the Channel Country, and later on Helen Springs in the Northern Territory. At the age of 19 Rodney joined the NSW Police Force serving in the Mounted Police. He also joined the Army Reserve (Citizens Military Forces) as a Military Policeman where he later volunteered for National Service and served in South Vietnam as a Sapper in 2 Troop 1 Field Squadron (Tunnel Rats). His job there was clearing and lifting mines around hamlets and in the jungle using a mine detector and bayonet, demolishing bombs, and tunnel and bunker search, working closely with infantry and armoured vehicles. On returning to Australia Rodney returned to the Police Force and served in the western division of NSW in particular Broken Hill, Cobar, Wilcannia and Ivanhoe, and retired as Patrol Commander at Gundagai Police Station. To honour his grandfather, Rodney returned to Gilgandra several times over the years to partake in Cooee marches and celebrations. It was an uncle in Gilgandra who was a member of the Australian Light Horse Association who inspired Rodney to join the Light Horse about 15 years ago. Since then, Rodney has been an active member of the Australian Light Horse Association and served as vice president for five of those years. Rodney founded and led a Light Horse Troop in the Manning Great Lakes area where he is still the sergeant of that troop today, supplying and fitting out troop members with uniforms and saddlery to a high standard. Rodney has travelled extensively overseas participating in Light Horse re-enactment activities and events. He participated in the 90th and 95th re-enactments of the Charge of Beersheba in Israel, visiting Israel, Turkey, Egypt. In 2014 he was one of six riders, he being the only Australian, to ride in the Sea to Somme Ride where they rode horses from Dunkirk to Pozieres. He has travelled to the Belgian and French battlefields of the Somme on five occasions for Anzac and Remembrance Days, spending weeks away participating in ceremonies and re-enactments throughout those areas. Back in Australia, and representing the Light Horse, he attends agricultural shows, Anzac and Remembrance Days, lectures at schools and speaks to service organisations and local media. Rodney was awarded an Order of Australia in 2014 for military history and service to veterans and their families. Rodney’s collection is large and comprehensive comprising of many items handed down from his parents and grandparents and many items collected throughout his time working in stock and drovers’ camps as a teenager in central Australia during the early 1960s, and his time as an Australian Light Horse Association member.