Michael Billings Collection - Wallet 1 - Part 14 of 14

3/
Regarding your straitened financial position, 
don’t bother about spending any dough on me as my dollar a 
day is quite sufficient for my needs.  In fact, the trifles 
I’ve sent you have been purchased out of current 
earnings without kicking the pants off the credit in the 
pay book.  Last night for the first time since leaving 
 Australia, Melbourne bitter appeared in the canteen and 
did we roll it around our parched palates.  After the 
local stuff, it tasted like the elixir of life and I 
must confess the evening concluded on a hilarious  
and if somewhat alcoholic note. Awakening this  
morn slightly befuddled, our section is embarked  
on a route march, the effects of which dispelled all  
traces of the binge.  In truth, the Army  is a hard  
taskmaster. Bob Sutton sends you his cordial  
regards and he like yours truly retains good  
health and buoyant spirits.  With your letter No. 19 came  
a splendid letter from Brother Jock and in it were  
some illuminating facts, first of which was the  
impending transfer of the Billings menage to South  
Camberwell.  By Jove, it was a daddy of a letter  
and some of the remarks caused me some merriment.   
Have not contacted your brother John since and I have  
heard that his mob have left here, just where I  
don’t know and if I did, I would not be permitted  
to tell you. But you and your folk will be interested 

4/ 
as perhaps he may not be able to write home for a wee  
while.  I was very sorry not to be able to visit him but his  
camp was a goodish way away and only on a  
Sunday was it possible to make the trip and every  
Sunday so far I've either been on duty or on leave.  
The same has applied to Norm Harris. I hope your show  
with Dot and Syd was productive of much enjoyment  
and I felt that I was along too in spirit with  
old Nugget making his broad cracks accompanied  
by with that remarkable guffaw and you girls vainly  
attempting to quieten him. I think John was pulling  
your leg when he asked the guide to show him something  
beside churches and he led him to another church.  
The guides know a thing or two and most probably  
wanted to show him something very much different  
to a church. Regarding papers I have been sending you  
the Cairo Parade every week and shall send you  
a copy of the A.I.F. news as requested. Very sorry your 
mater has been off color and I hope when this arrives  
she is herself again. You know your Ma & I think a  
heap of one another and news that such a cobber  
also a Digger's mother is crook is bad medicine to me.  
Anyhow, you can cheer her up by telling her that a  
B.Q.M.S will be first into his funk-hole when the  
whips are cracking. Have not had a letter from  
Ducky for over two weeks but house hunting has no

5/ 
doubt kept her busy. It will certainly be strange for me  
when I disembark to go home to a strange castle.  
Still South Camberwell brings me nearer to you so  
it's an ill wind, hey? Tomorrow, I've landed  
a days leave to Tel Aviv and as it is my maiden  
voyage to the Jewish metropolis, it should be a  
good day. Sitting on cafe patios sipping our  
aperitifs. Well, the brain now refuses to churn  
out further tidings so I now ring down the  
curtain until the next outgoing mail  So,  
goodnight, little one and tons of love to you.  
Lest I forget, all the best to your people  
and pals. 
Your ardent cavalier 
Michael Bourke

21.4.41 
  
PR00610 
Australian 
War Memorial 

[[?]] of Mr. and Mrs. 
[[?]] of Won Wron.  He was educated 
[[?]] Won Wron State and Yarram Higher Ele- 
mentary schools, and was a prominent member 
of Yarram Rifle Club.  He sailed last Novem-
ber. 
Private FRANK O'BRYAN, of Yarram, who  
has been wounded and is missing, has two  
brothers also in the A.I.F. abroad.  He is the  
youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. P. F. O'Bryan,  
of Yarram, and was educated at Yarram Higher  
Elementary School. He enlisted a month after  
war began. 
Driver H.M. GRIGG, 19 (missing), is eldest  
son of Sargeant E.C. Grigg, who is abroad  
with the A.I.F., and Mrs. Grigg, of Aspendale.  
He enlisted in November, 1939, and sailed with  
the first A.I.F. contingent. Both his parents  
served in the last war. 
Gunner L.J. FANNING, 22 (missing), is the  
only son of the Chief Inspector of Telephones

V A L 
f r e 
C O X. R 

VX38483 Gnr. M. Billings 
5th Battery 2 Aust A. A. Regt 
A.I.F. Abroad                26. 4. 41 
  
No. 12 
  
Darling Kay, 
Well, Chunky,  here continueth the  
narrative in which one of the Kings men  
campaigning in an outpost of the far flung Empire  
tells of stirring deeds of valor to his Lady Fayre  
dutifully keeping the home fires burning in the  
sunny land of his birth. Anyhow your  
aversion to the winter chills no doubt keep the fires  
burning for purely selfish reasons. I have not been  
idle here, hours have been spent in quest of a cure  
for your chilblains but barring a poultice of sun-kissed  
camel dung, little success has been achieved. An  
end to this buffoonery, let the pen glide along the  
path of truth! Your ever welcome letter No. 20 has  
reached me and has been scanned avidly and like  
its predecessors reawakened the pangs of nostalgia  
in my manly breast. I was pleased to know that mail  
from me is arriving regularly and the pleasure  
derived by you is evident by the tone of your screed. More 
is are on the way and as long as possible I shall come good  
with one or two letters per week - Hows that?

2/ 
your letter No. 15 is still in the blue likewise the one  
from Syd you mentioned but the same fate has been  
suffered by other chaps here so that's just too bad.  
Well once again, I have pleasure in reporting good health  
and spirits which will please you as it does me and your  
well-being is on a par, I trust. As you can well imagine,  
your sweet assurances buck me up no end and  
how I shall respond when I come home is just  
nobody's business. As time goes on, my affection for  
you grows stronger and as the good book says  
'I shall repay' with interest, for what you have done for  
me before I left and what you are doing now. It There  
will be some champion evenings in store for us, perhaps  
sooner than we know, and of course the recounting of  
my exploits and travels, such as they are to you in  
the solitude of a little room will not be the least of  
such delights. I try as I get about a bit here to tell you  
of the various plans but, as the editors say the limits of  
space preclude fuller publications.  This separation  
in our case has certainly borne out the saying that  
absence makes the heart grow fonder but if you had  
been over here with the A.I.F. you would realise that  
having the honor to be betrothed to an Aussie girl and  
living in that bonny land rules out these Eastern  
dumps as a counter attraction. To talk of more

3/ 
mundane topics, I suppose by now you have sampled  
the comforts of the noo Billings home and I know  
that my folks have maintained the welcome  
extended to special people - guess who?  One thing I'm  
glad of is the ease with which the new joint was  
secured as Mum grows no younger and the exertion  
of house hunting could well be avoided in her case.   
I haven't overlooked the fact that it brings out respective  
dwellings nearer and think of the savings in fares too.   
Glad to hear your preparations for the Ellis - O'Dea  
nuptials are in train and I hope you will get a snap  
of yourself in ceremonial dress to send me.  Still, you  
must not let these things interfere with your golf as by 
now you must be a dab at the Royal & Ancient game.   
What with one thing and another the (not the least is Mabel's  
vacation) at time of writing you probably felt rather cheery.   
In the way of news, I spent a day at Tel Aviv  
recently and really enjoyed it.  It is rather incongruous to  
find two widely differing cities such as Jerusalem and Tel  
Aviv in the one country.  The latter is a totally European  
spot hardly an Arab to be seen, Jews from every country  
living there in the most modern flats.  The place is a  
sea of white concrete and makes St Kilda look a back  
number.  The workers run the place and they claim it 
to be the true democracy and after a lengthy tour,  
they've got something there in that direction.  

4/ 
I inspected a flat and they are swell with rents very low. 
The idea is that you pay for a certain period after  
which you own the flat. Electric gadgets are universal and 
some of them are rather novel particularly the idea of 
gaining entrance. In the front of the building there is a  
directory of tenants with an electric button alongside with 
a loud speaker in the centre - you press the button 
and the tenant plugs in and speaks to you. If he is 
going to admit you he presses a button which opens the 
front door of the building - you enter, take the lift 
and there you are. If they don't like you, you can't get 
in, which is a great advantage in my eyes. Well 
sweetheart, I'll tell you more in next letter as I want 
to enclose a photograph taken in Tel Aviv. It seems  
a pretty lousy effort but at least I think it is  
characteristic and I know I am no oil painting. 
I have two and shall send one to Mum in my 
next letter. So, with that enclosure goes all the 
love I can feel for you, Puss and may God 
bless you and keep you until we meet again. 
Good-night darling and sweet dreams, 
Mick 

BY AIR MAIL 
PAR AVION 
  
Miss. K. CLARKE 
China Department 
Mutual Store Ltd 
Flinders St. 
MELBOURNE. C1. AUSTRALIA 
  
NO. 2176
  
12 
26.4.41

26.4.41 
Palestine 
Received 
4.6.41 
  
PR00610 
Australian 
War Memorial