Letters from William George Blaskett to his family, 1915-1916 - Part 1

Fremantle.
1. 11. 15.
My dearest Mother, 
As there seems to be a
chance of us getting ashore, I am sending
the money in his letter. We arrived here
at 10.30 this morning. It is nearly as hot as
when I was here last time. I didnt think
then that I would be here again so soon.
Please send Mrs Collins one
of my photos. They took me to their place
for about an hour on Tuesday. I had to work
then till about 2.30 on Wednesday morning &
got up again at 4.45, so its no wonder I was
crook an board. Still I’ve made up for
my lost sleep since then.
I trust you are all
keeping well. We are having splendid
weather this last two days.
Now I must close.
with love to all
From Willy 

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"Talk clean, Live clean, Fight clean, Play the game.'
Association Headquarters:

123 Murray St,

PERTH.

W.A.

Y.M.C.A.

FIELD SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Telephones:
BLACKBOY HILL CAMP.       No. L 115
      “             “        “                    No. L 128

PERTH HEADQUARTERS    No. A 1518
TROOPSHIP.
11. 10 1915.
Dear old dad,
I really don't know
why I am starting to write to you,
because as a matter of fact there is
absolutely nothing to write about, but
I thought you might like to get a
letter from me.
To start with, I must
thank you for the tobacco. I havent
anywhere near smoked it all yet.
I bought ¼ lb in Mitcham before we
left.  It is very cheap, indeed on
board. Less than the English price.
This boat isnt half so
convenient as the old "Omrah". There
isnt much room, as you can guess,
and there are only two seats on deck, 

and as we have no deck chairs.
we have to sick on deck. Talk about
a hardship. There isnt a soft plank
in her. The time hangs very heavily
on a man's hands, although I
have had a fair amount of wounded
work to do. (I am writing this in
the mess room, and they are all
talking about wounded so I wrote
"wounded" in.).
How is work going?
I hope youve got plenty, old chap.
Give my kind regards to Mr. Butler
and the girls.
I suppose by this time
the poultry farm is in good
going order. Whats the price of
chickens? Dont eat all the eggs.
I’ve got 7/6 worth to take out yet.
I hope you are keeping
well dad. They paid us yesterday
at 1/- day. Still theres nothing
much to spend it on, and I would 

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just as soon the government
carried it around as for me to
be loaded up with it.
Please drop me a line
whenever you can, you dont know
how much news from home 
would be appreciated.
Now I must close, with
fondest love to yourself, mother
& the kid
from your affec Son
Willy

P.S.
We are to cross the line tonight.
I hope they will have it painted up
well this time I couldn’t see it last
time, still we might  feel the bump 

"Talk clean, Live clean, Fight clean, Play the game.'
Association Headquarters:
123 Murray Street,

PERTH,

W.A.
Y.M.C.A.
FIELD SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Telephone:
BLACKBOY HILL CAMP      No L115
      “                  “         “            No L128
PERTH HEADQUARTERS. No A1518
TROOPSHIP,
14. 11. 1915
My dearest Mother
Excuse me writing
in pencil but it is much handier 
than ink especially when you’ve
got very little ink to use.
All the time they
allow us to write letters I 
am going to write to you, once
a week whether there is a
mail going or not, so you
may get one or two ^letters at once.
I wrote to you
a week ago, but I am
afraid I haven’t much more news 

to tell you. We crossed the
line last week, Wednesday I
think. I really forget when it
was. We expect to arrive at
our destination in about a
weeks time so I expect this will
be the last letter I shall
write you from aboard ship.
For some time at any rate
We had a good time
yesterday. I really enjoyed
myself. It was quite like
old times. I played for 3
services  Morning at 11. Singing 
at 3 till 4.30.  and evening 7.30.
The Chaplain's text in the
morning  was "Greater Lord &c.).
There was a Communion service 

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14  11  1915
after the morning service, to which
Jim & I went.  There were about
30 or 40 present, I think, I didnt
count them, but there looked
about that number. The sacramenlat
message was "My Beloved's mine
& I am His". The subject in
the evening was "The Glory of a
young man is his strength.
The chaplain spoke of
4 kinds of strength. "Physical,
Intellectual, Moral & Spiritual".
Altogether, we had a really 

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good time. I trust you &
dear old dad & Charles Edward
the Young Pretender, all are
keeping well, that the chickens
& Sambo are going along alright
I am sure you
are keeping Charlie up to
his practice. I wrote to him
a few days ago. & promised
him a hiding if he cant
play brilliantly when I come
back, to he had bette, shake
things up if he wants to be
left alive.
I have been reading 

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14  1  1915
up the drill books since I came
aboard & hope to be able to
keep my job. I will let you
know as soon as I am
sure one way or the other.
Anyway, if I dont get it, it
wont be for want of trying.
I hope you have
fixed up the insurance
alright. If you want anything
any time, don't forget to draw
from the bank. I shall be
only too pleased for you to 

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draw it all if necessary,
altho' I hope for your sakes
it wont be necessary.
Now dear Mother, I must
close with kind regards to
all my friends & fondest
love to yourself, Dad & the
Y P.
From Your loving Son
Willy
PS
As soon as we land, I will
write to Auntie Jane to see if I
can get on the trail of Ernie,
although I am afraid it will
be a hard job
W