"To thine own self be true; WITH THE COMMONWEALTH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

And it must follow, as the night the day, ON ACTIVE SERVICE

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

- Shakespeare

Gallipoli, September, 1915

Dear Had,

Just finished writing a letter home so dont expect much news about this place – get that from other letter.

Am sitting up in dugout with a blanket across the front shading the sun off. Today is Sunday & weve now been a week on the peninsula. I think as a rule things are generally lively on Sundays but today so far has been very quiet & peaceful, fine bright sun, which is now gradually working down your way, hills covered with small brushwood & in the

front distance the blue sea with a number of vessels – battleships, hospital ships, etc. bathed in a hazy glare – Some of those same vessels can be pretty vicious when they like though. Things have been pretty quiet since we arrived & weve been in the rear, nights generally spent in dugouts, expect we will get into things before very long.

See a fair bit of Viv & Cec – am now sergeant in Cec’s platoon – but I’ve not seen Otto during the last few days. Viv tells me this morning that Jim Graham is still knocking round as large as life – called to see him once or twice lately. I’ve not had the pleasure of running across him though.

Tucker is pretty good here & so far conditions not too bad but

washing water is rather a scarcity. Will appreciate a good swim. We get our water from wells so can’t afford to get diving into it – But let me get down to Eudlo & leave this place alone. Been down in that bath hole in the gully lately? Don’t mention it. What sort of a winter have you had? From the look of things we’ll have that experience here: nights are getting a bit cool. They tell me you were enjoying a good Season there hope it continued. You beggar, why dont you write and give us a look at returns. Remember I’m keenly interested in that little spot. Believe you put lucerne in on that patch below the house. Have any trouble clearing? How are the bananas going? Guess Tom’s help was very much appreciated.

[page 4]

Get all the bananas clear? Guess it will be some little time before I pop in about 10pm & make my way into another feed of tomatoes, cucumbers & cold fowl. Nell still chasing the fowls & breathing soft blessings on their heads?

(Darby Buchanan just dropped round with a mate to pay an afternoons call. Quite the old smile. You bet I was pleased to see him. He’s in the 9^th Battalion same as Jim Graham & they are shortly to be relieved for a spell in Egypt or elsewhere I believe.)

Just finished tea so will have to shake it up & get through this before dark. How about the horse you provided the lucerne for: got mum & Nell breaking him in? They’ll be able to chase

[in left margin ….. "Give us a line now & then Nell."]

the wallabies now & wont be disappointed like I was when I had a good chance at a couple of them. Fancy Nell charging up the hill on an old bone shaker with a couple of wallabies ahead leaping over all the logs & stumps they could get near. Suppose you’ve got Nell well trained on the rifle now. So much shooting at all? Trust the old rifle is going well. I’ll be sadly disappointed if you dont do some good execution with that. Did you get it into first class working order? I hope to handle it a few times yet. The pests across the way have been wanting to borrow it I expect. Suppose you know I bought a small camera

at Cairo. The last set of films (8) I left to be developed & sent on home with two prints of each. I anticipate they will arrive OK. Would like to have seen ‘em but didn’t get the chance before leaving. Am enclosing couple of prints. Would like to have been a bit closer to get a snap of the boat. You’ll see I spoilt the picture by writing my name in the wrong place.

You see this is a series of questions. Could write a bookful of ‘em so shake it up & get to work on the writing pad. Believe youve had Dug down there making a pest of himself. He’d keep the rifle busy if he had the chance.

Best love to all. Kind regards to Nielsens etc.

Fred.

[in left margin ….. "Spose youve heard about Bert Auchter (ie. Auchterlonie). There’s a remote possibility that he’ll turn up but I (page torn so words illegible) any use giving aunty any hope."]

[written on plain paper]

Dear Nell & Had,

You will see by the date of Cec’s postcard enclosed that I am rather behind hand in scribbling a few lines. Since Cec wrote we have been shifted about a couple of times & have been in firing line, reserves, supports, firing line & back to reserves again. I suppose we’ll only have a few days here before we get into firing line & supports again. Have been terribly busy of late & had no opportunity of writing to anyone. When last I wrote to you I was in charge of a few men on machine gun guard & had an opportunity of writing & reading a little.

That is now cut out. It was while on that job that I got the paper clippings enclosed & put ‘em in an envelope. Dont suppose they’ll teach you much but anyhow they’re something from the Dardanelles. The last few days Ive got a fit something like Cec appears to have had when he wrote that postcard. Tigerish voracity is not the name for it; I eat like a horse – think of your old boneshaker. Wouldn’t we like to pop in on you say tonight.

Yes tonight. I left off yesterday afternoon & didnt

get back to it again before dark. A chap liable to be interrupted at anytime here. You must excuse the writing, its done in all sorts of queer positions. It certainly would be very nice to pop in on you people there – cold chicken & vegetables in the safe, strawberry and other home made jams, scones & home made bread, not to mention a few cakes & your tarts. We’re experiencing a few days of cold drizzly weather at present & I guess things would be a bit more cheerful there than here. I thought space was rather limited there in wet weather but it would do us now. So far things are not too bad. Cec & I have plenty of blankets & keep as warm as toast. They’re building the last thing in dugouts now & when all is fixed

up we’ll be as snug as a bug in a rug even in winter.

Seemed funny the other day in the trenches – our chaps were firing only an occassional shot at the Turkish trenches: when a flock of geese passed overhead: in an instant there was quite a fusilade of fire. One would almost have thought the Turks were attacking but – no geese fell, so we had the usual scrap of bacon for breakfast. I havent time to enter into details of things here – Sihks, Ghurkas, donks, mules, etc. Wait till I get back to civilization again & I’ll perhaps be able to write at some length. This job of Platoon Sergt renders a chap liable to be interrupted at any moment. Have had no chance of taking photos lately either. Must make an effort & get some very shortly.

[ends here at the bottom of the page ….. possibly later pages missing]