Correspondence relating to William Dunstan, August - December 1945 - Part 10

Officers Wing,
R A Base Depot, Deolali, India
(2)
of manual labour on board a ship
wouldn't do me any harm, and it
would be worth the couple of hundred
quid it would save. I am quite
sure the army wouldn't pay my
passage home via U S A . It would
pay my passage from here, but I
doubt if it would, if I decided
to be demobbed in England.
I am sorry I forgot to explain
the letters R A J N G  - it is only a
draft serial number.
I [[?]] glad the binoculars are a
success. I don't mind what you
do with them although I advise xx
you to keep the 10X50 German
pair marked DIENSTGLAS as their
pre-war price was about £45. The
7x50 Rass glasses which Curtis Wilson
brought home for me used to be
worth at least £30. The small 6x30
pair are not terribly good but
quite useful. The beauty about the
German 10x50 is that they are

made of aluminium and are very
light to carry. The 7x50 have
a certain sentimental value in that
I used them in action.
I never received the cable which
you sent to Kantara
I am very sorry you have lost Miss
Robertson - she is a grand old lady.
As a matter of fact I wrote to her
only a few days ago.
Keiths letters are very interesting
and amusing - I think you have
the makings of a first class
journalist there. I wish I could
write as well as he does.
Other letters I received today
were from Auntie Viola, Teresa
Creswell-George, [[Surrey?]] Davies,
Phil Bannister and Barbara
matters. Auntie Viola has sent
me another parcel which Mr.
Chard is forwarding - I hope it
is as good as the last one.
Roland was on his way home from
 

Europe at the time of writing.
I went to the dentist today but
he is so busy that he can't see
me for another week. There is
nothing to do here except spend
the whole day at the swimming
pool and that's about the cheapest
way of doing nothing.
I am still on the water wagon -
I am afraid the reasons are more
mercenary than altruistic.
That seems to be about all the news.
It was wonderful to get all those
letters today after not hearing
from you for two months.
Your
very loving
Son
 

309493 Captain W. Dunstan,
Officer's Wing
R.A. Base Depot,
DEOLALI. INDIA
November 12, 1945.
My dear Dad,
Today I received quite a pile of letters, the first
I have had since leaving England. They included
yours of September 1. September 25 and October 14 - three from
Mum, one from Helen and also one from Sir Ivan Mackay. There
must still be a few to come yet. I will try to answer all your
questions first.
I very much doubt whether I will be given a useful
job in India because my relatively low release group makes me
rather a short term policy for any unit. I will probably get
an R.T.O. job in the middle of some desert! However I think
it will be impossible for you to wangle my release because the
scheme is carried out so strictly that everybody must wait his
turn.
Unfortunately the British release scheme only
takes into account age and service. Overseas service does not
count any more than home service, which means that a chap who sat
in the War Office in London for 5½ years and who is now 25 years
of age gets out at the same time as I do. The younger one is,
the longer he has to stay in, so the fact that I joined up when
I was 19 more or less cancels out my long service. This is the
unfair aspect of the scheme in my opinion, because the boy who
joined up at 19 at the beginning of the war, didn't have time to
start a career and now, by the time he gets out, he will be too
old in many cases.
It was very good of you to go to all the trouble
of arranging the American tour - it certainly looks very good on
paper. It would be a wonderful experience and I still think I
might do it before I come home. I believe that I can be
demobilised either in England or Australia.
If you want me to come straight home I will do so,
but it might be years before I get the opportunity of going to
U.S.A. and I have heard so much about the "bigger, brighter, and
better land" from the Yanks that I want to judge it for myself.
The only catch is that I wouldn't allow you to
finance the trip. During the last 25 years I Have been a very
expensive luxury to you so I think it is about time I paid my own
way for a change. By the time I get out of the Army I should
have at least £500 sterling plus about £100 of negotiable booty
which I have acquired from time to time. If I worked my
passage across the Atlantic and then across the Pacific it would
save me a lot of money in travel fares which are red hot these days.
/Doing a
 

2.
bit of manual labour on board a ship
wouldn't do me any harm, and it would be worth the couple of hundred quid it would save. I am quite sure the Army
wouldn't pay my passage home via U.S.A. It would pay my
passage from here, but I doubt if it would, if I decided to be
demobbed in England.
I am sorry I forgot to explain the letters
R.A.J.N.G. - it is only a draft serial number!
I am glad the binoculars are a success. I
don't mind what you do with them, although I advise you to
keep the 10 x 50 German pair marked DIENSTGLAS as their pre-war
price was about £45. The 7x50 Rass glasses which Curtis
Wilson brought home for me used to be worth at least £30.
The small 6x30 pair are not terribly good but quite useful.
The beauty about the German 10x50 is that they are made of
aluminium and are very light to carry. The 7x50 have a
certain sentimental value in that I used them in action.
I never received the cable which you sent to
Kantara.
I am very sorry you have lost Miss Robertson - 
she is a grand old lady. As a matter of fact I wrote to her
only a few days ago.
Keiths letters are very interesting and
amusing - I think you have the makings of a first class
journalist there. I wish I could write as well as he does.
Other letters I received today were from Auntie
Viola, Teresa Creswell-George, [[Surrey?]] Davies, Phil Bannister and
Barbara matters. Auntie Viola has sent me another parcel which Mr.
Chard is forwarding - I hope it is as good as the last one.
Roland was on his way home from Europe at the time of writing.
I went to the dentist today but he is so busy
that he can't see me for another week. There is nothing to
do here except spend the whole day at the swimming pool and that's
about the cheapest way of doing nothing.
I am still on the water wagon - I am afraid the
reasons are more mercenary than altruistic.
That seems to be about all the news. It was wonderful
to get all those letters today after not hearing from you for two
months.
YOUR VERY LOVING SON
 

TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS GOLLIN, MELBOURNE
TELEPHONES MU8311 ([[6?]] LINES)
REGISTERED OFFICE
561-563 Bourke Street,
Melbourne, C.1.
G.P.O. 770G
GOLLIN & COMPANY.
PROPRIETARY LIMITED
GAC/JB
MELBOURNE,
SYDNEY, BRISBANE,
ADELAIDE, PERTH,
WELLINGTON, AUCKLAND
CHRISTCHURCH, DUNEDIN,
AND
LONDON
CODES USED
 DUO
 ACME
 BENTLEY'S
 A.B.C. 6^TH EDITION
November
13th
1 9 4 5
Dear Bill,
As requested by you in your letter of the 10th inst. I
attach letter addressed to Colonel Everett. You will note it is
undated, as I think you may prefer to fill in the date when you have
fixed things with Bill.
You will also note I have added a little to the penultimate
paragraph, as I think the Colonel may not have realised the
significance of a Graphic Arts Section.
All the best,
Yours ever
[[?]]
W.Dunstan, Esq.,
The Herald,
Flinders Street,
MELBOURNE. C. 1
 

COPY
GOLLIN & COMPANY PTY. LTD.
561-563 Bourke St.,
Melbourne C.1.
Lieutenant Colonel G.E.N. Everett,
British Army Headquarters,
606 Toorak Road,
TOORAK  S.E.2.
NOTE 

Advice has just been received that
Captain Dunstan's address is now -
309493 Captain W. Dunstan,
Officer's Wing,
R.A. Base Depot,
Deolali. India.
Dear Sir,
This officer is now twenty-five years of age and has
been six years in the Army - counting combined service in the
Australian Army and the British Army.
He has served in North Africa, Syria, Lebanon and so
on, with the 2nd/4th Field Regiment, A.I.F.
He was transferred to the British Army in October 1943
and since then, in addition to seeing further service in the
Palestine area, was in the Italian campaign, including Anzio, until
the Fifth Army was moved into Belgium. He was then with the British Liberation Army for some time and served as Forward Observation
Officer for his Battery in the crossing of the Rhine and
Elbe, later serving two or three months in the Army of Occupation.
I am listing his service in a short way so that you
will see that Captain Dunstan has had his fair share of Active
Service, although it may be that, being unmarried and only twenty-
five years of age, he has not yet built up sufficient points for
his discharge.
This is to inform you that this Company is developing
a Graphic Arts section in which it is intended that Captain
Dunstan shall become one of the "key" men, and it is most desirable
that he should return to Australia at the earliest possible
moment to take up his position in this rapidly developing department.
For your information our Graphic Arts Section is primarily
concerned in the sale and servicing of essential newspaper plant
and machinery.
I should be glad if you could inform me at an early
date how soon we can expect to secure Captain Dunstan's discharge
and return to Australia.
Yours faithfully,
GOLLIN & COMPANY PTY. LTD.
Managing Director.
 

COPY
GOLLIN & COMPANY PTY. LTD.
561-563 Bourke St.,
Lieutenant Colonel G.E.N. [[Everett,?]]
British Army Headquarters,
606 Toorak Road,
TOORAK  S.E.2.
Dear Sir,
Re 309493, Captain W. Dunstan,
late 363, Battery, 91 Royal Artillery,
21st Army Group -
Now posted to R.A.J.N.G., India
Command, Presumably en route to S.E.A.C.
This officer is now twenty-five years of age and has
been six years in the Army - counting combined service in the
Australian Army and the British Army.
He has served in North Africa, Syria, Lebanon and so
on, with the 2nd/4th Field Regiment, A.I.F.
He was transferred to the British Army in October 1943
and since then, in addition to seeing further service in the
Palestine area, was in the Italian campaign, including Anzio, until
the Fifth Army was moved into Belgium. He was then with the British Liberation Army for some time and served as Forward Observation
Officer for his Battery in the crossing of the Rhine and
Elbe, later serving two or three months in the Army of Occupation.
I am listing his service in a short way so that you
will see that Captain Dunstan has had his fair share of Active
Service, although it may be that, being unmarried and only twenty-
five years of age, he has not yet built up sufficient points for
his discharge.
This is to inform you that this Company is developing
a Graphic Arts section in which it is intended that Captain
Dunstan shall become one of the "key" men, and it is most desirable
that he should return to Australia at the earliest possible
moment to take up his position in this rapidly developing department.
For your information our Graphic Arts Section is primarily
concerned in the sale and servicing of essential newspaper plant
and machinery.
I should be glad if you could inform me at an early
date how soon we can expect to secure Captain Dunstan's discharge
and return to Australia.
Yours faithfully,
GOLLIN & COMPANY PTY. LTD.
Managing Director.
 

309493
Capt. W. Dunstan
officers Wing
R A Base Depot
Deolali
India
14 Nov.
My Dear Mum
Today, after making inquiries at
the post office I find that I have to put
an 8 anna stamp on all letters to Australia
[[or?]] they go xx by surface mail. This seems
rather strange as the service is free to
every other part of the British Empire and
U S A except New Zealand. It is very annoying
because I have written a lot of letters
since arriving here and I suppose they will
take ages to reach their destinations.
It was wonderful to receive a large batch
of mail a few days ago. There were letters
from you, Dad, Helen, Barbara Matters,
[[Trevor?]] Cresswell-George, Doug Wallace, Aunt
Viola and many others. It was nearly
two and a half months since I had had
any at all. My coming to India has
been a mistake — it is going to be hard
 

(2)
to find a useful job here. However, who
could foresee the atomic bomb? There seems
to be a chance of my being discharged from
the army about June of next year which is
no terribly far off. But don't be too
disappointed if it is a few months later
— I don't want to raise your hopes
only to have them dashed again.
Owing to a bottleneck in the officer
postings department at G H Q there are
large numbers here in the mess at present
— far more than the place was designed
to accommodate so it is not very comfortable
It is very difficult to find a place to
read or write at night and the meals
are a real bunfight. Considering the
heavy mess charges, 6/- a day, the
food is lousy, to say the least. How
i will revel in your magnificent cooking
when I come home.
I still spend most days in the
swimming pool — the weather is really
 

3
beautiful at this time of the year — just
like the mild summer days of Melbourne.
Dad was asking me if I had been able
to buy either a uniform or clothes in
London. I wasn't able to get a thing,
not even ready made. Simpsons, Austin
Reed, Lilywhites and even Moss Bros. had
[[no?]] readymade uniforms or suits and any
tailor won't guarantee making one under
four to six months. Anyway it would
have been a waste of money buying a
uniform as we never wear anything
but Khaki or green drill in this part
of the world.
I have taken more photographs with
my camera and will be collecting the
prints tomorrow. If they are good I will
enlarge some and send them to you as
soon as possible. Dad wants me showing
my four five medals which look quite pretty
but don't stand for very much, although
I have more than most people.