Letters of Thomas Rampton Hunter, 1940-1944 - Part 2

Letter N^o 2
at Sea
Sunday 16^th Feb. 41
Dear Mother & Jean,
Last Monday we
sighted land before by day-break & by
10 A.M. we berthed at the port &
before midday we had reached the city
which is 12 miles away. Their trains are
not to be compared with ours - narrower
gauge & very narrow carriages, all steam
trains had been sponsored by the Comforts
Fund for free travel for the troops.
Perth is a very town - conveniently
laid out except that several streets
have one way traffic as in Sydney.
The four of us, Jack, George, Bill & myself
dined at the Adelphi hotel – very
exclusive – 6 course – 6/- & in the
afternoon Stotts practically closed
up to entertain us. Bill & I had
tea at the Boss’s 2/in command who
possessed a very nice place about 4 miles 

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out & he has not been married
very long to his charming missus, who
came from Box Hill but I cannot place
her. We finished up the night at
Mr Case’s place (Stott’s manager), which
was beautifully furnished & possessed
many curios from his travels abroad
a dining seat – like a music seat
charming cigarette containers &
dozens of little trinkets which Jean
would have admired because of their
quaintness. The party went pretty
well & it finished with Bill &
myself being asked there for future
holidays & even a job. On Tuesday
we again had leave & this time
hired a taxi & visited xxxxx
- a xxxx  about xxxxx  xxxxxx
xxxx xxxx xxxx & much of the
xxxxx of rough material bush
We then drove through their University
grounds & the building was most
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modern - it is the only University in
Australia that is free. Then went on to
xxxxxxx 9 miles away which is
one of their good surf beaches facing
the Indian Ocean. We arrived too
late there to go in. The city although
not nearly as big as Melbourne has
many modern buildings & fine homes.
Much of the suburban travel is catered
for by new electric trolley buses, trains
& modern petrol buses.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx & as
the hotels not shutting till 9 there
were many chaps wearing bits of
wrong uniforms & badges, but these
we all sorted out again before we
left. Left the port on Wednesday
& have been moving all the time to
warm regions & in a day or so
we should be very near the Equator 

Received your Air Mail letter at our
last stop - very nice.

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The nights are very hot & all the
fellows from the holds & lower decks
now sleep on deck but we are
confined to our cabins & to make
it worse, all portholes must be
shut of a night to observe the
black out. Tuesday. Both yesterday
& today we have had several heavy
showers of rain & yesterday, in the distance
was seen a water spout disappearing
into the clouds. It resembled, somewhat
a whirlwind of dust except that is was
narrower & wavered about like a snake.
We have many sports on deck such as boxing
tournaments - which sometimes are pretty
willing & deck tennis (when you can [[near?]] it)
Medicine balls games, skipping & such like.
Many of the boys have had all their hair
clipped off & they lookxx like either
monks or criminals. We are all
having a wonderful time & the 

ship-board life seems to agree with
everyone.
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We are all very eager to get off
at the next stop as it should be a
very interesting place for the boys
are already trying to calculate
commodities in rupees.
Well next time you hear from
my, mother dear, we shall be
in a different part of the globe.
Give my love to Fanny
& ask them to remember me to
Tweddle’s.
So lots of love
from
Thos.
SENT BY
VX No 17049,
CPL. T.R. HUNTER
2/1 Corps Field Survey Coy R.A.E.
T E Playton 

No 2
P.O 

Somers
Mrs. B.N. Hunter,
277 Springvale Rd,
Tunstall,
Victoria,
Australia
[[ [*Censor's signature*] ]]

Surface
CPL. HUNTER T.R
VX 17049
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Letter No 3
No. VX 17049
Hunter T.R.
2/1 Corps Field Survey
R.A.E. A.I.F.
Sunday 2/3/1941
At Sea.
Dear Mother & Jean
I do hope
you are both well and that everything
is going along O.K at home. Don’t
forget to let Ron or Jack Elmore or
Jack Beaton know if you want any
assistance. At our other last
stop we met an entirely different
class of people and it is a most
interesting experience. There are
millions of them living in every
condition & state of wealth which
would cover a greater scope than
our conditions. Arrived there xxx
xxxxxxx & on the Tuesday we
have leave for the day. The first
thing that strikes you is the smell
& it persists everywhere. The lower
class are not fussy what they 

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do & where they do it & most of
them chew betal-nut – a narcotic
& spit everywhere leaving large
red stains. Beggars are everywhere
& as soon as one stops they start polishing
your shoes, telling your fortune,
showing diseased sections of their bodies
& blaming you for the children that
they (the women) had strapped on the
backs. All we ^could do was to be rude
& jump into a taxi or gharries (a
four wheel carriage) & even then
they hang on. Snake charmers
were about & one of our borys
boys bought a pipe or ^∧MOOZA whistle & the
natives wanted him to take the
snake as well - all for a rupee (2/-)
In the morning we hired a taxi
without a hood & did in all 28
miles - seeing temples modern buildings
in which various different
religions live, the best buildings
which possess domes & balconies galore
& the worst & lowest sections &
it is hard to believe some places
we saw. One temple - where this
religion are eaten by vultures
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when they die had silver caskets
about 6 feet long and several images
- squat, black & red with gold
crowns & draperies upon them &
they were making offeries to
them amidst a strong smell of
perfume or ^incense. At this temple we had
to remove our shoes. It is
funny to us to see natives sitting
in the gutters shaving one another
and many live there. The
ancient and modern mix - In
the same street one can see modern
double-decker trams & buses and 2 oxen
in a dray of the most primitive type.
The dress is most mixed - gay
turbans and bright shawls draped
about them to the most modern
cut English suit.
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