Thomas Whyte Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 5 of 12

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From an officer just landed from 
England comes the news that half the Spring 
Army from Britain has been successfully 
transported to the continent. This if true 
will make our chance of getting into 
the firing  line rather remote for some 
time.  
How I hate to read of you tearing up any 
letters. Don't be afraid of any confusion thro 
many letters being in one envelope. I 
absolutely love unravelling & piecing them
 to-gether.
 The Australian P.O. officials have been 
very generous .  It came out in orders 
when we landed here that postage 
on letters had to be prepaid & this still 
holds good as far as this end is concerned. 
I was surprised in a way about the birthdays. 
I thought the sequence was in March.  
How I got that into my head I dont 
know. I will write a letter to your mother 
this mail though I dont suppose she 
will receive it until after Mar. 20    
It was delicious hearing of Mollies 
slang. She must be getting on wonderfully  
quickly.  
I cant think who Vera Rowe is for  
the life of me.  I seem to know the name

42 
yet I cant remember any girl of that  
name. Perhaps she believes in Spiritualism 
or Bhuddism & it was in a former life  
she missed her chance. However I don't 
blame her. 
I have carefully read over Beans 
famous letter. I have an idea there 
will be trouble or lots of paper talk.  
It seems to create great resentment among 
the soldiers. Everywhere . you hear 
condemnatory opinions about it. On 
a close analysis I can find very little 
that has not some truth in it but 
the whole thing creates such a false 
impression. I feel sure it will do much 
more harm than good. It would be 
grossly unfair to publish the names of 
those sent back & the reason. If they 
do there will be trouble I feel sure.  
Whoever the military authority is who 
asked 'But do all Australians drink quite 
so much' I don't know but I know  
this he is a wowser or an ignoramus 
Drunkenness has been comparatively 
very little in Cairo. Think of 20000 
men landed in a city like Cairo with plenty 
of money & no restraining influences 
and the [[dop?]] liquor to drink. It has 

43
all along seemed a marvel to me  
that there was not much more.   
Any lady travelling in the last trams  
to Mena would have found nothing  
to remark on except perhaps the crowdedness  
for the roofs are crammed as much  
as anywhere else. I have seen more  
disgusting sights on a Saturday nights  
tram to Hyde Park than I have seen  
on the Pyramids tram. 
The headlines the Advertiser & other  
papers have put in to show it up  
in the worst line. Bean says only
1 or 2% are responsible for all this  
unameable scandal. Well that is a very  
small percentage of wasters in any army  
and the henious crimes they have committed  
consist chiefly of breaking leave Take  
the 10th battalion. Seventeen were sent  
back in the first batch, 10 as medically  
unfit, most of whom will enlist again  
7 as discharged ie the wasters Bean talks  
about. In the second batch 10 of each are  
being returned. Of these more than half  
are old hands that is South African soldiers,  
British regulars or navy men mostly of them  
des joining this force as deserters & more  
than half are not Australians at all
 

44 
This is I believe about the same over the  
same as in the other battalions. Some  
of the 'wasters' would be the finest soldiers  
in the world in the firing line but  
because they have more than once 
broken leave for longer than a day  
they are classed as deserters and after  
being at kept in detention here for  
periods varying from 7 to 28 days are  
returned. One man as an instance from  
our company. Scotty Robertson a five
foot six nuggetty chap immensely popular  
with officers & men especially with Major Hurcombe  
for whom he would do anything. Fourteen  
years in the Black Watch is Scottys record  
when he was on parade no neater, smarter,  
more soldierly man could be found And  
drill, he was a picture to watch. But  
Scottys only fault was booze. A few drinks  
sent him over & then arose his violent  
dislike to policemen. Luckily, he d never  
did any harm as the Red caps know how  
to deal with tights. He didn't reckon the  
native policemen worth calling such.  
Our 'old woman' got her say at last  
(though Hurcombe was heard to say  
he wished he had a regiment of Scotty's) 
and Scotty is going to Australia to

45
hop into the next contingent by  
hook or crook. This case is not peculiar.  
I am firmly of the opinion that  
the heads who are responsible for  
this returning are poor judges of  
human nature. There was a real  
rotter in this battalion who got 12  
months in the Malta gaol (which  
will not be unfamiliar to him) for  
hitting Froggy Oldham. He was a cockney  
regular & joined as a deserter.  
The slovenly appearance of some men  
is easily accounted for by the sloppy  
& only uniform we had. Every man  
has always been critically inspected  
before going to Cairo but if his one &  
only uniform has been showing the  
result of 5 months constant wear,  
who is to blame. It is all rot about  
old soldiers showing off. This alone  
shows Bean off as being unreliable. 
I have spoken to lots of veterans, we have  
from A Coy who could be relied on for  
an opinions worth having 
as to why most offenders are old soldiers.  Our Sergeant  
Major who has been a soldier all his life  
& seen more than one campaign put  
the position this way. When a recruit 
joins the Regulars discipline of the hardest 
 

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sort is down on him from the 
first hour  If he is any good it may
slacken but the discipline is there as is  
the commanding officers judgement in 
knowing how to deal with men. 
In this force it was quite the opposite  
Discipline was very slack at first 
& gra tightened spasmodically and  
the officers did not know how to  
deal with men. These old soldiers  
of the unsteady sort took advantage  
of any licence & the heads dont not knowing  
how to deal with them have resorted  
to discharging them & inspiring  
articles like Beans to shift the blame.  
If things are no worse than in any 
 other army (from what I hear we are
angels to streets above the Canadians) why do  
all this harm by these flaring head  
lines  Do they imagine they will improve  
things this way?  If they do I know  
nothing about human nature.   
They sent a circular to the second  
contingent on their arrival at  
Port Said which accused us of Scandals  
in a similar strain to Beans letters. When they  
landed they found most of it  
to be round exaggerated & what was

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the result. They were more 2nd contingent  
drunks in Cairo their first week of  
landing, than in the first week of  
the landing of the first, 3 times their  
number. 
Then these unmentionable diseases. Egypt  
has been notorious for venereal disease  
since history began. The very ancestors  
of these people were the ones who helped  
to introduce syphillus into Europe  
through the Crusaders. They are supposed  
to be under control of the authorities  
& medically examined but they are not.   
The semi respectable demi-mondes seem to be the worst  
& the result is that the proportions of  
officers bitten is as great as the men.   
These diseases can be prevented to a certain  
extent, but the authorities did not take  
steps in time.
Well I feel much better having got all  
this off my chest At anyrate you will  
be able to size up the truth of Beans  
or any other article for yourself.
I am enclosing 2 photos taken at  
last Sunday's lacrosse match. The  
group is the 10th battalion team & reading  
from left to right show Top Du Rieu  
(referee) Edwards, Whyte, Nott, Gordon, Edwards

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& Blackburn. Bottom row Rent, White HH,  
White Rh., Gower, Fordham & Rhodes. The  
duet is supposed to represent me in  
a characteristic attitude 'humming  
cigarettes'  I am not quite as black  
as the photograph would have you believe.   
You can just see the a Maria tram  
in the background of both. The trees  
are on the Pyramids road. We could  
not show the    do.   as a background  
on account of the position of the sun.   
I got hold of some interesting particulars  
of the fighting on the Canal. Major  
Brand & some other officers went down  
to have a look round afterwards &  
this is from his lecturette to #4  
Platoon whom he happened to come across  
in the desert 

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The British forces pumped water from  
the canal into the low lying ground shown in  
sketch as A & B (shaded) rendering attack  
on Kantara only possible where our forces  
were most strongly entrenched Y - Z 
The first attack took place at 3.26 am but  
was easily repulsed At exactly the same  
time a Turkish force of unknown  
strength advanced right up to the Canal  
to a point marked X between Ismailia  
&  Yessoum & launched galvanized iron  
boats. The fighting at this point was very 
fierce for a time but in the end the  
enemy were repulsed (This is evidently  
where that strategy described in a previous  
letter was shown by our forces)
Had they brought forward their 25000  
troops in reserve about 6 miles away  
the issue may have been different.  
There is some who believe the reserve  
refused to go forward.  
The boats were used by the Turks had  
been dragged across the Sinai Desert  
on sledges by relays of men
Wonders will never cease. The second  
lot of 'wasters' were to have embarked  
a week a go but the boat was not  
ready. The were all sent to Abbassia

50
3 or 4 days ago & placed under guard  
there. Half an hour ago Scotty turned  
up here & made straight for Major  
Hurcombe who has promised to do  
his best for him. He only heard yesterday  
we were to move soon. However he broke  
away goodness only knows.
'Ah thought Ah wud be able to keel a  
few more Germans if Ah went wi this  
force instid of ha'ing to gaw to Australi  
& back' he explained to the Major:  
What a character he is.
We are still in the dark as to our  
destination or actual date of departure  
Since writing on Tuesday the war news  
unfolds yet another likely objective  
I mean Constantinople.  If the Allies  
intentions are serious & a Russian  
attack is really intended on the  
Dardanelles an Australian landing  
party from this side would possibly  
be a help.  Still what's the use of  
all this surmising.  You will know  
long before this reaches your I expect.  
A & B Coy did all the Divisional guards  
& fatigues instead of the 9th Battalion
for the 24 hours commencing 5 pm  
yesterday. I caught an easy guard