Papers of Athol Cluny McPherson - Part 2

the guard to arrest him but he was wide awake
237 miles. F 22^nd On guard over the prisoners, two of the
transports in Collision at night, the Hampshire
went down & ran her search lights all over
them to see if they were damaged on the outside
but it was slight. We are armed with a full magazine
of ball cartridges & fixed bayonets 282
S. 23rd Came off guard at 10 am had sports in the
afternoon, received a wireless message saying that
The Goben & Bresalu had been crippled by the
Russians but the extent of damage was not known
265 miles Sunday Church Parade in the morning
& a march round the deck, saw a lot of
Jellyfish 267 miles Monday On guard over
prisoners again, passed an Island that is north
of the mail route, we left it passed it on
its right
 

1

Mena Camp
Egypt
Jan 3^rd 15
My Dearest Mother
As I expect a mail from home again
tomorrow I must send you a few lines to let you
know Im still alive. I parted the New Year
off rather in a novel way this year, I had the
pleasure of being in the field hospital with a
crook leg, but Im pleased to say it is just
about right again, it wasnt very bad as Ive
only been in here about three days & expect
to be out any day now, how I came to hurt
it was, we go up to Mena House hospital every
Wednesday for a swim as there is a swimming
bath there, all cemented & after I came out was
running round to where I left my clothes &
slipped on the stone & fell & cut my leg just
below the knees, I went to the Dr when we
got back to camp & got it bandaged up & as
it seemed to be doing alright I let it rip, the
Consequence was it got very crook, with marching
on it, it was just a week after that I went
to the Dr again & he sent me here, it was
very nearly a case of blood poisoning, but Im
pleased to say, it is alright now, it swelled
up to a tremendous size, but its right
down to its normal size now, infact its
 

2

alright & I expect to be out tomorrow
It was very lively in the camp on New Years Eve
some fellows pulled the officers tents down &
the guard were called out & while they were
away, Im hanged  if they didn't pull the
guard tent down, there are some awful
larrikins in this camp. In my last letter
I told you we were most likely going to join
with the f F Coy but they have changed
it now & the G Coy are joining with us, it
is rotten, the heads here seen to have a
terrible set on the E Coy for some reason
or other, Captain Laker is in charge of us
now, he is supposed to be a very good Officer
of course Captain Tregg is still one of our heads
but Laker is over him the Lieutena∧nt that I
spoke of in my last letter (Hastie) has been made
a Captain, so we loose him, I dont know when
they are going to give as a permanent officer
they are always changing them. Old
George Reid was out here on Thursday
& Friday, but of course I didnt see him as
my leg was "crook", he gave all of the Australians
a packet of chocolates, pocket knife with tin
opener & a packet of cigarettes. I would
like to have seen him, he made
 

3

a good speech according to the paper report.
according to what they say in the papers now
Germany is likely to get Italy against her as
well as the other powers, if the war goes on
much longer she is likely to have the whole
world against her, they are terrible crawlers
the way they attacked Scarborough will
show what sort of men they are, I noticed
by the papers that Australia was going to
send 100,000 men to this war, but I fancy
by the time they have them, there will
be some very weak men in the ranks
from there, its easy enough to get half that
number but when they came to double it
I think they will have a job What great
fighters those Indians are, the Germans
seem to be very frightened of them, I
have seen a good many since leaving Australia
& they are a very fine build. We havent
got a mail yet & it is a wonder if there
isnt a big row if we dont get one soon
some as these fellows reckon they wont
give them to us on account of a rumour
that the money we left in Australia
isnt being paid, & they reckon it is on
 

4

that account they wont give us the letters
but our Colonel told us long ago that it was
only in a few cases that they hadnt paid
where a mistake was made in the paper
that was drawn out in Australia. It is crook
not getting letters as they are the one thing
that we look out for, but Im a bit luckier
than most fellows having got your cable
from home, I know things are alright
but I would like to know how the
season ended up, & hope it was better than
you expected, It seems strange to think of
the new dam being to close to dry & I hope
you had rain to fill it before it had the
chance to dry up. How does "Take it wherever
you go" get on for chaff, he could hardly
expect to retail it now that it must be such
a price, it might be his chance to make
a fortune. There is a Nephew of his here
& Im going to try & hunt him up, if hes
anything like "Old Take it" he is alright
I heard from a fellow here that Bob Henley
was stopped from coming out, it must have
been a bit of a disappointment to him
as he had fully made up his mind to go.
 

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we don't know yet when we will be going
to the front, but we still hope to be sent
out about the beginning of March, there is
some talk of 80,000 Turks with German Officers
being about [[?]] but its hard to say
how true it is, we get as many lies here
as you get out in Australia, we got
one a few days ago that the German navy
was practically annihilated, but instead
of that a 15,000 ton British Battle Ship was sent
to her doom. I dont fancy there will be much
doing in France of Germany of Belgium until
the spring, then I expect to see the Germans
driven like sheep I hope to be one of the
"dogs" driving them. I heard a "Salvo"
speaking in the Y.M.C. last Sunday night, he
had just come from England & used to be a
Sergeant in the British Army, he told as that
wherever you went in England it was military
Camps & one he saw had 190,000 troops in it
so by the time spring comes round they
will be at the front & Britain should
have a huge army, he also told us that
out of all the Belgians that were killed
only a third were soldiers the rest were
women & Children, there are 200,000 Belgian
 

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Refugees in England at the present time
he also told us that we were lucky to be
sent here as the spring winter would just
about settle us. A Parson just came
along & told as that the mail closes in
Cairo today, so Im a bit doubtful if I
will catch the mail,  if it doesn’t close
until late I may get it posted by
somebody on leave. I cant understand
how it is a mail goes out to Australia
every week & yet it doesnt come in
Well mother Dear I don't think I have any
more news so must close with tons of love to
all at home & Kind Regards to Mr & Mrs Bathy
(I always forget them) & with heaps of love to yourself
also Marion I remain
Ever yr loving Son
Athol C. McPherson
  

Envelope- see original document 

Active Service no stamps

Available

Mrs M B McPherson

Clyne Milton

Horsham

Victoria

Australia

Back of envelope- see original document

Mena Camp
Ciaro Egypt
Dec 27th 14
My Dearest Mother
I was delighted to receive a wire from
home this morning & to know that all are well
& many thanks for your kind wishes from home
It took me cop completely by surprise, I got the
wire at breakfart time this morning & felt very
important opening a cable, I think it was the
only one received in our company. It was very
good of you all to send one it, it is grand to know
that all are well. We havent got a mail direct
from home since we landed here & that is nearly
three weeks ago, there is a report through the camp
that the money we left in Australia is not being
paid & putting two & two together, we reckon they
are keeping the letters so there may be information
about it, there is no doubt it is "crook" to think
that the mails are in Ciaro but we cant
get them, if they were all sent to England we
should get a mail nearly every week, as we
got letters sent back from England about two
weeks ago, there is one consideration, we all know
that it isnt the fault of the Australians that
we dont get mail, as nobody gets any.
We had Church Parade this morning & a
route march in the afternoon afterwards
over the sand for over four miles, some
of the fellows did kick up a row, they
kept on falling out, all the way & at
last they started to sing out & the major