The Friends of Sandy will receive $17,622 in funding for a memorial to pay tribute to the contribution of the Australian Light Horse, Opposition Leader and Member for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten announced today.

Mr Shorten said the project would be funded under the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program and would honour the contribution of Sandy and the light horse to the nation's World War I effort.

"Sandy holds a unique place in Australia’s wartime history as the only horse who returned home after serving in the First World War,” he said.

“Deployed at the outbreak of the war, Australian Light Horsemen would go on to serve in the Gallipoli campaign, the Middle East and the Western Front. This project will immortalise their courageous contribution."

Mr Shorten said the Grants Program had been established under the former Labor Government and provided up to $125,000 in funding for local electorates to commemorate the Centenary of Anzac.

“Sandy, who lived out his retirement in the fields at Maribyrnong, has become the stuff of local legend," he said.

"Symbolic of the 169,000 horses sent to the war, it's only fitting that a lasting memorial is established to honour his memory."

ENDS