Letters relating to William Arthur Allsopp - Part 1

The Tamworth Municipal Council
Coat of Arms- See original document

ALL COMMUNICATION MUST BE

ADDRESSED TO

THE TOWN CLERK

P.O. BOX NO. 1

TELEPHONE NO [[?]]
Town Hall

Tamworth

28th April, 193 41.

 

Dear Mr. Allsop

In the year 1914 a vision of noble endeavour, a revelation

of the hidden possibilities of our nature, broke before the

Australian people in the Soldiers subsequently named the Anzacs,

and again young Australians are reaching towards a goal, an ideal

which humanity must surely eventually reach.

It is an augury for the splendid future which is in store

for Australia, that over 25 years later, there are men like you,

inspired with a noble enthusiasm for great ends, ready to display

the same courage as the Anzacs.

You have enlisted for active service in a comradeship of

sacrifice for a moral ideal, for country, for Empire, for honour

and for humanity, and we who must remain in Australia, pledge

ourselves to loyalty to the same ideals.

Upon the eve of your departure from Tamworth for service

with the Australian Imperial Forces, on behalf of the people

of Tamworth I ask you to accept our congratulations upon the
great task you have undertaken.

Duty and unity are clearly the watchwords of your service

to Australia, and believe me, we shall remember you, till we meet

again and always.

With best wishes for a safe return.

On behalf of the Tamworth

Patriotic Committee

G.W. Garland

Mayor.

411063,

L.A.C. W. A. Allsop.

R. A. A. F.

 

 

Telephone: JX1114

LOGO- See original document

No. 2 INITIAL TRAINING SCHOOL

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE

LINDFIELD, N.S.W.

411063 ALLSOPP W. A.

HUT. 51

RAAF

Bradfield Park

Lindfield

Dear Mum.

This is the first chance I have

had of writing you since Friday as we

have had exams and have been

pretty busy.

They are in the process of

assesing us for what we are to be

judging on the exam we have had and

also on past education. A lot of the fellas

now want to be observers, but they

dont take notice of what you want to be. 

We had a long weekend - Saturday &

Sunday off - and Paulie & I went to the

Races. I started off well backing Rons Joy

but just finished up winning I went

to E. Welsch stand after every race but

could not see Pop A swag of people from

Tamworth were down, but none had

seen him so I surmised he hadnt come down.

Telephone: JX1114

Logo- See original document

No. 2 INITIAL TRAINING SCHOOL

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE.

LINDFIELD, N.S.W.

However when we were lining up for

grub today I got a message to meet

Pop at Air Force house Friday night

so I will see him then. It is raining

heavily here now and has been all

day, so they might pospone the

horses. We went for a 7 mile run

this afternoon seeing it was too wet to

do anything else and I am as stiff

as a board. Did Doug get his

call up yet, they tell me they are out.

We got issued with our dress

and will wear them for the first

time on Friday night. I am enclosing

a maths test sheet which you can

give Doug. It is one similar to this

that they get on their entry. It is not

hard but the time given is the catch.

We went to visit Eileen on saturday

night but she had gone away for 

the weekend, so Paulie and I had

Telephone: JX 1114

Logo- See original document

No. 2 INITIAL TRAINING SCHOOL

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE

LINDFIELD, N.S.W.

to drink two quarts of beer. I go

out to [[R?]] to sleep when I'm off

but it is a bit crowded with

Norman, Betty's boy friend, there, so I

was thinking of trying to go out to

Eileens. Australia Air Force house

is always too crowded now and 

is not supposed to be used by

Lindfield trainers being so close to

the city and you can't tell them

you come from Richmond as the

white in the cap gives you away.

There is not much more I can

write about so I will say goodbye

hoping you are still your usual

self and the mob are all. OK

Love 

Bill.
 

CANADIAN AUSTRALASIAN

LINE

LIMITED

 

[*give my regards

to the [[?]] & Docks*]

At sea

6th June '41

L.A.C. ALLSOPP. 411063.

 

Dear Mum:

When you have received

this we will arrived at our destination

And ^you in all probability received a 

cable; as we are only a few days

from port.

Up to date I have had a

great trip and got fatter than ever

if possible; however this is only

in keeping with the others, one fellow

going so far as to put on nearly two

stone. No doubt we are lucky to be

travelling like this, judging by stories

you hear of the soldiers travelling on

the big ships. We have all the

conveniences of first class passengers

with the extra added, that we are

being paid for it. Anyhow it gives

any returned man on board something

to talk about, comparing our mode

of travel to theirs in 1914.

The last letter I wrote I posted

on board so it should have been

sent back from Suva. We didnt

have much time there, only about

4 hours, and about an hour of 

that was taken up finding a cable

office. I had only New Zealand

money on me when I got ashore,

and found that the Hotels or

shops wouldn't have it on at

any price, and had to go to the Bank,

where as the Australian money was

good anywhere.

We arrived outside Fiji

very early in the morning, and

wended our way down the harbour

for about two hours. If they could take

a direct line it would be much

shorter; but the harbour is almost

closed by a sandbar with only a

small opening for the ships to enter.

 

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The shores of the island are

as green as could possibly be,

heavily timbered and mountainous.

Suva, the Capital; is built 

right on the water, and has plenty

of hills. There were plenty of car

rides available by the few whites

there but myself and a few others

went roaming about the city. We soon 

tired of this and hired bikes joining

about half the Airforce with the

same idea. Men in uniform either

command respect or inspire fear

into the native police, who wear

scalloped shirts to distinguish them,

for as soon as we would appear

on our bikes, they would stop

all traffic and give us the right

of way. We explored all the

Government buildings and also

the Grand Pacific Hotel.

And a few others. The only beer

available was Tooths bottled

beer at 2|6 a bottle as a little more

in our money as we lost close on

3|- for our pound in exchange. Anyhow

it was pretty crook and the native

brew - Kava - just as bad, tasting

like cornflour and water mixed together.

The drinking of this is almost

Ceremonial for as soon as you

commence drinking the natives start

clapping their hands and shouting

something like Ah. some of the

fellows thought that the art of belching

to show appreciation might xxxxx

apply there, so they made a pretty

good showing; however it wasnt

well received.

Their spot of local interest

and colour is their cemetery. And

it is one of the prettiest sights I have

ever seen. Seeing that Gwen is fond

of this sort of thing, she would

rave about it. It is set amongst

the hills facing the sea and

fairly compact. It seems they have

the scheme of planting a tree

over the grave instead of having

a headstone; and then cover

 

PRO5361 

the grave with some tropical

growth of various colours. It

is all convict tended and as

these fellows have plenty of time

on their hands they are very

painstaking, and potter about the

graves as Jacky does with his

tomatoes. There appears to be

every colour under the sun in

the makeup, all against a back

ground of this beautiful green.

Fitzpatrick could make a [[short?]]

on the cemetery alone. One of the

first graves we noticed was of

a fellow by the name of Luscombe

from Muswellbrook - perhaps pop

might know the name.

The way from the dock to the

town was lined with fuzzy headed

natives trying to sell anything from

coloured coral to a bow and

arrow at phenomal prices, but

when we were coming back.

they would almost give their

goods away at any price. When

the lads lined up on the wharf

for roll call, they didnt look

very much like Airmen; but more

like native hawkers, whilst our
cabins were like fruit shops.

Last week we had the

experience of having two fridays

in the weeks as we crossed the

date line. I was thinking that just

as well the restrictions regarding

the eating of meat didnt hold.

otherwise I might have starved.

It is just beginning to cool off

now, but it has been as hot as

blazes, especially at night time

when everything is closed so as to

comply with the blackout regulations.

As soon as you step inside you

commence to perspire and continue

to do so until morning.

The weather has been dull the

last few days but it is cooling off now

so we should have good weatherx

from now on. I have to have this

in by a certain time so I will have to

close now hoping you and the family are

all OK Love Bill

 

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