Six high school students will travel to Lemnos in Greece and to Israel as part of a two-week tour for the centenary of the Charge of the Fourth Light Horse Brigade at Beersheba.

Upper Hunter MP Michael Johnsen announced the launch of the program this week, which encourages local high school students in his electorate to take part in an essay competition.

To enter, interested students must submit a 1000 word essay outlining the importance of the Centenary of Anzac and the Battle of Beeresheba in 1917.

The two-week tour, sponsored by ClubsNSW, will leave Sydney on October 24 and return on November 5.

The historic Battle of Beersheba was fought on 31 October 1917 as part of the wider British offensive known as the third Battle of Gaza. 

In a display of insane courage, Australia’s 4^th and 12^th Light Horse Regiments conducted a mounted infantry charge, storming through the Turkish defences and seizing the strategic town of Beersheba in Israel.

The capture of Beersheba enabled British Empire forces to break the Ottoman line, a significant victory and the first time the Ottomon’s control of the Middle East was shattered irrevocably, eventually leading to the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba, which will be celebrated locally with a number of special events planned for the weekend of October 28 and 29 in Murrurundi.

There will be a ceremony gathering on Murrurundi’s main street on the Saturday from 11 to 12pm and a special screening of ‘The Waler, Australia's Great War Horse’ from 3pm with more details to be announced closer to the event.

Applications for the 2017 Premier’s Anzac Ambassadors Program close on Monday 31 July 2017.

For more information and how to enter visit www.clubsnsw.com.au/anzacambassadors