The Battle of Romani was the last ground attack of the Central Powers on the Suez Canal at the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine campaign during the First World War. The battle was fought between 3 and 5 August 1916 near the Egyptian town of Romani and the site of ancient Pelusium on the Sinai Peninsula, 23 mi (37 km) east of the Suez Canal. This victory by the 52nd (Lowland) Division and the Anzac Mounted Division of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) over a joint Ottoman and German force, which had marched across the Sinai, marked the end of the Defence of the Suez Canal campaign, also known as the Offensive zur Eroberung des Suezkanals and the İkinci Kanal Harekâtı, which had begun on 26 January 1915.

The 1st Light Horse Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which served in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. The brigade was initially formed as a part-time militia formation in the early 1900s in New South Wales and then later in Queensland. In 1914, the brigade was re-constituted as part of the AIF and was sent to Egypt. Forming part of the New Zealand and Australian Division, during the Gallipoli Campaign it served in a dismounted role between May and December 1915. After being withdrawn to Egypt it served in the Anzac Mounted Division from March 1916 as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, taking part in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign until the end of the war. It was disbanded in 1919. After the war, the AIF light horse regiments were demobilised and disbanded; however, the brigade briefly existed as a part-time militia formation in Queensland until 1921 when its regiments were reorganised into cavalry brigades.