Letters from Frank John Mulcahy to his family, 1941-1945 - Part 2

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was a bit cut-up at their moving after he had
been with them for such a long time, but
Uncle Ted & Auntie Florrie will look after him
OK.
I was glad to hear that you are contemplating
taking Mum for a trip to Mildura this Xmas,
the holiday will do her the world of good. Grandpa
will probably benefit by the trip, also.
A couple of days ago we were issued with
pamphlets setting out the arguements for and
against the referendum, and this has given
rise to much discussion amongst the boys re
the subject. Things have got very heated at times
and the Botanic Park has nothing on 2 Aust.
DR. Section when they start anything politics.
However, I think the majority of the boys have
decided to be Yes-men when the time comes
to vote. There is one point that we are rather
crooked on and that is the fact that Curtin
 

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has intimated that unless the referendum is
successful, the Commonwealth may not be able
to grant preference to servicemen. That is
ridiculous and seems too much like holding
a gun at our heads to us. However, there
are some points in the referendum that do
definitely appeal to us and I guess we must
take the bad with the good if we wish to
see them enforced.
I have my hands full at the moment and this
job of Section Sgt. is not all beer & skittles. The
fact that we have no officer at the moment makes
things a bit harder but I guess I shall survive.
Next Saturday the DRs are having a party
of their own. It promises to be rather good
and we have seven dozen bottles of beer, plus
a few extras, and in the way of food, a
couple of ducks etc. We should have plenty
of fun, taking everything into consideration.
 

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I haven't had a drink since I came back but
I think I will break my sojourn on the water-waggon
next Saturday night. After all, a man
must be sociable.
It is still very cold of a night up this way
but the days are not so bad. Today was rather
warm and it was more like the weather we
have been used to.
By the way, I have the wireless tuned into
5 DN at the moment. We often pick up that
station and the reception is quite good, especially
early in the morning. It is good to hear an
Adelaide station now and again.
Well Dad, I have run out of news so I
will draw this to a close. Hoping this finds
everyone at home in the best of health.
Love to all
Frank
[[*?*]]
 

10/8/44
5DN
B
Letters
PROOF49
Australian
War Memorial
 

SX3022
Sgt. F.J. Mulcahy
2 Aust. DR. Station
"A" Aust. Corps Signals
AIF Australia
8 Oct. 44
Dear Dad,
I was very glad to receive a
letter from you and to learn that things
with yourself are quite OK.
Well Dad, I have just returned from having
seen another big slice of Australia, and believe
me, I am more than convinced that this country
of our's is a land of vast contrasts and scenic
beauty, the like of which, in my opinion, should
rival that of any other country in the world.
Leaving out the official business, I will endeavour
to give you a resumé of the trip, which covered
a distance of nearly 800 miles of Australia's
outback country.
 

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We set off from the camp at 6.30 in the morning,
the convoy consisting of Jeeps with two men to each
vehicle. We carried all our gear, rations, and petrol
with us and it really is surprising the amount
you can pack into those "prams". For the first
thirty miles or so, our route lay over country much
the same as that around our camp, - the road
winding through green paddocks and patches of dense
jungle, with here and there an Army Camp. After
a while we began to descend from the mountains and
the road became rough. As we went down, the
country began to change, becoming much drier and
with trees sparsely scattered over the rocky slopes
of the hills. By this time it had began to warm
up and the track was very dusty and both
vehicles and men, were soon covered with a layer
of white dust. However this did not deter us in
the least and we settled down to enjoy the trip.
Eventually, we reached the plains below and headed
 

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in the direction of our destination. We passed through
several small settlements and in one of these we
found a pub with cold beer on tap. Needless to
say, we tarried a while in order to wash the dust
from our throats. Boy, beer has never tasted so good
as it did then. We took a couple of bottles with
us to help us on our way – 4/- per bottle, but
we were in no position to pick & choose and we did
not worry much about the price.
We halted by the side of a dry-creek bed for
half-a-hour or so at mid-day for a spot of lunch
and then pushed on. The track wound through
patches of sand and over rocky out-crops and every
so often it would cross a dry bed of a creek.
About 5 o'clock we camped just outside the last
town we were to strike on our outward trip. The
town consisted of a pub, a store and a school. Yes,
there was beer at the pub and after tea we all
went back into the town and had a few noggins.
 

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The old lady who owns the pub said she had not
done as much business for years. It beats me how
she manages to make a living for we did not see
one civilian the whole time we were there.
Next morning we were up at six and after a
substantial breakfast we continued our journey. We
were by this time getting well into the cattle country
having covered nearly 150 miles the first day. It wasn't
long before we passed our first cattle station, situated
on the right of the track. I can't tell you the names
of these stations, so I will give them numbers, this
one being No. 1. We did not bother to call in, but
the people heard us coming and stood on the verandah
and waved to us as we went by. The country was
very dry now and I hate to think what would have
happened had we put a match to the grass.
The going was much slower now and we struck quite
a lot of sand. About midday we passed Station No. 2
on the left. It was quite a bit place situated amongst
 

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large green trees and was in decided contrast to the
surrounding country. Once again we did not bother to
call in, but waving to the folks at the homestead, we
continued on our way. After about 20 miles we came
to a telegraph station where we decided to have
lunch. There was a bush race-course here and we
were told that they have a four day meeting here
once a year when all the station-owners and
stockmen come in for hundreds of miles around
and blue all their earnings for the past twelve
months on the races.
After lunch it was on again and shortly after
we crossed our first big river which was practically
dry, only pools of water here and there, but which
is impassable during the wet season, being nearly
half a mile wide. During the afternoon we struck
patches of bare plain as smooth as a billiard
table and we would fly across these at about
50 miles per hour, two or three Jeeps abreast. About
 

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6 o'clock we reached Station No. 3 and we pulled in
here. The people here were exceedingly nice and gave us
fresh meat and eggs and told us where there was a
spot in which we could it spend the night. This
spot was about four miles at the back of the homestead
on the banks of a river, one of the largest in the
area and which is running all the year round.
It was a beautiful site and easily the best we
encountered on the whole trip. We all stripped off
and dived into the river and it was perfect after
a very dusty day.
Up bright and early next morning and once more on
our way. As we passed through the homestead everybody
was out to see us go past, even the abo's, who
seemed particularly interested in us.
Up will now we had seen very little wild life, but
early this morning we ran into a bunch of kangaroos
and the Lieut. managed to bowl one over with his
rifle. It was a doe and had a Joey in it's pouch