Letters from Alexander Sutherland Mackay to his Family, 1916 - 1917 - Part 4

An Australian

mail arrived today but

it will be sometime before

I may expect a letter from

home as you would not know

my address. Durban was the

opportunity we had of writing

I hope you can read

this scribble.

 

Bulford

27/1/1617

 

Dear Mother,

I enclose a few more

scraps of my doing to date. This bitterly

cold weather makes it hard to keep

away from the fire. They say we will

have a couple of months of it yet so I

hope they keep us away from France

until the summer shows up. Whilst

in London. I saw a crowd of Tommies

who left the trenches on the Saturday,

they were covered in mud so evidently

the slush is fairly solid there. Only

for the cold things would be very comfortable

here, the Australians are given much more

latitude than the Tommies. If the Sergeant

Majors give orders the Tommies dare not say

a word & obey immediately. Our fellows

obey but generally pass some funny remark

or chuck off. Its the same throughout

& seems to be recognized by all the English

Officers that the Australians wont stand

for too much rousing. However I personally

have much more respect for the average

English Officer than for own. Some of

our fellows are awful cads especially in

Australia & on the boats coming over. You

noticed that particularly with the officers

coming over, like us for their first time.

Thank goodness here with the more experienced

men they soon get put in their places.

Ernie Pillar wrote but Im too cold to

answer his letter tonight. Ill have a go at

him tomorrow probably. Love to all

Your affect son

Alex

1

Bulford

11/2/17.

 

 

Dear Roy,

Hardly expected letters so

quickly but strolled over to the Post

Office today to see if Bill Nott had

dropped a line. I was delighted at

receiving 4 letters all from home, yours

Mothers Lilys & Leslies. You have undoubtedly

received my letter from Durban, that would

explain the reason of my not writing. I know

you would wonder we all thought we

would be calling at some other Australian

Port after leaving Sydney. I sent a cable

the day after I landed but so far have

received no acknowledgment of it from

2

Headquarters, but presume it departed.

Bill Nott sent one the day after I

did, he tells me he received notice it

had been sent so probably my receipt has

been mislaid. From here I have also

posted the Diary I kept aboard the boat

& copies of the "Benalla Sun". Later I sent

a couple of more pages of the Diary & do the

same with this letter, that will bring

things up to date. I wrote to London for

Ronnies Fred Shaw's addresses but so far

have received no reply. No need for Ronnie's

now you have supplied it. I have just

finished letters to him & Connie Keys.

Ill try & get leave if Ronnie goes to

London, before we depart from here. The

two of us may then be able to run down

& see Connie. Fancy poor Neville Young

3

passing out. I can imagine Mrs Young

would be in an awful state. Its

certainly rotten luck. You did quite

right in drawing that for Lily, Roy & I hope

if there are any other trips on, you won't

hesitate to use my account for their fares.

& don't forget the kids birthdays. Glad

Mother & Lily & Audrey enjoyed the trip so

much. I hope you are not long without

a girl if Mother has to do all the graft

the benefit to her from the trip will be

spoilt. Isa Hodgson had hard luck

however its much better the kids than her.

I won't forget to call on that Geo Elliot Roy

I have his address if I find I get short of

cash may ask him to cash one of your

cheques. I don't think I will require to do so

but should you see a cheque don't be surprised.

4

Ill do without that letter of credit I

spoke to Barlow about for the present

anyway, its no use taking money to

the front. Its about time they gave Doug

that job, he is doing well. I suppose

Claude Watson finds camp life hard,

its the discipline that hurts for a time.

You will see by my diary that I had

a bad cold. However my voice has

returned & I feel much better. Still

intensely cold here, but I never give

my insides a rest, stuff every occasion

its the best cure of the lot. All the other

fellows are suffering from inoculation, they

have received two pricks. For some unexplained

reason Ive missed both. I had two in

Australia but have yet to receive two here.

I suppose my turn will come in a week or so

5

Tell Claude to go his hardest for the

Artillery, its the best of the lot. If he

is after stripes stick to the Infantry. Over

here one realizes what a vast difference

there is between a commission in the

Infantry & a Commission in the Artillery.

Its a question of years not months to become

a competent Artillery Officer. The majority of

our fellows holding commissions are absolutely

lost besides these men. Hughes still appears

to be on top, they think a lot of him here

I see he contemplates another visit. I hope

those Official Laborites as they style themselves,

are downed. Have they been paying in

my allotment money 3/- a day. Last pay

for some reason or other, they asked each

man if his dependents actually depended

on the Allotment money. Goodness knows

6

what the object is. Like a fool I

said NO, however there may be no

stoppage. I made itmine over to

the Bank & then sent a letter to the

Bank authorizing them to place the

amount to your credit. I suppose they

have been collecting it, we get 2/- a day

here, the other 1/- is deferred until we

get back. Well Roy this cold makes

writing a large contrast as this well 

letter will answer the four. Glad to hear 

that Aunt Belle is so well & that Keith

is nearly himself again. Lily's parcel 

will probably arrive during the week

Love to all.

Your affect brother

Alex

Hope Isa OK.

 

Bulford

18/2/17

 

Dear Lil,

Just a few lines to advise

that I received your parcel today containing

three shirts from Nell, mittens & sox.

Ill have to wear all three shirts when

going to France as I understand we

are only allowed about 6 lbs in weight

in addition to the clothes we stand up

in. Thank Miss McLaughlin for those

mittens for me. You fully appreciate 

mittens in this flaming iceberg, hers

are very warm & being strongly made, are

certain of a long life. They will get

little rest whilst this weather continues

I also got a Sydney mail today & during the ^week

got 5 Couriers, 2 Bulletins, & 1 mail. This

afternoon I went over to Durrington

Camp & struck Jack Badger & several

other tent mates who were in Frasers

You have Budgen's photo with Brown's

at home. No snow or ice now, it

rained two days ago & the slush is

awful. However I'd rather have it as

at present than the cold bitter winds

with snow on the ground. The German

W Boats are causing some uneasiness but

the Government appear to think they

can control this danger in the course of

six weeks or so. Three of the troopships

that accompanied us from Capetown

have been sunk - Port Nicholson, Afric

& Border (or Borda). The December Quota

has not yet arrived, they must be close

handy, unless they are hung up at some