Letters of Athol Cluny McPherson, January to March 1915 - Part 3

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it came so late it would be grand to
get the dams filled up & also to get the
rotten dust laid, I can understand what
it would be like after such a long dry spell
you would miss the shower if the water
ran out in the dam, but there will be
no chance of that now. If they meet
500 acress of wheat in this year & get
2 good season with it, the drought
shouldnt affect you much, there, & one
thing certain you are not likely to get
such a dry one as the last, its almost a
cut that it will be a good one & let
us hope it is & I hope to be the war will
be over & all of us back in Australia by
then.
One of these fellows in our
bent nearly always gets the Australian
& the Argus or Age, he doesnt read much
so they come in very handy for us
its grand to see the Australian
papers out here. of I should happen
to come in contact with the N.S.W
Light Horse I'll try & hunt Jack Autill
up, it would be very handy to know
a man like he is. I might be
 

4
going to Ciaro tomorrow if I can get
off in time The little Dug ([[Jook?]] would
remember seeing him at our tent) & Dare
going in & if we can get off in time
we are going to the foo museum, they
say it is a bonzer, & you could quite
understand it, the coins would be
worth seeing alone I always thought
until we came here that there were only
three Pyramids including the Sphinx but
you can see seven more from the foot
of these Pyramids that are six or seven
miles away, they seem to be pretty fair
size too, looking at them in the distance
& if can get the chanced I'll send my chocolate
home by this mail, you can tell
what it is like & also give Marion & Connie
a taste of it, I had some out of another
fellows tin when I was in the Hospital
its good chocolate, but there is plenty of
it about here, the Arabs sell it, its only
for the novelty that I'm sending it home
& also to let you all see the tin,
Please Remember me to Mrs Rennison
when you see her, I often think of
 

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the people in Horsham, but forget
to mention them when I write.
What is Jim Gray doing now & is he
going straight I was sorry to te hear
about miss Hoggarths Father, I take it that
he is a brother of Mrs Grays, it would go
hard with her if anything happened to
him. Your letters just take about
four weeks to get here, so that isnt bad
I hope your eczema is getting on alright
& that it will soon be a thing of the past
Please tell who ever sees "Old Bolley" to give
my kind regards to him & that I'll write
to him one of these days, also remember me
to Old Billy Smith & his wife. Well Mother Dear
I think this is about all the news this time
I might write to Jork by the same mail
as there is a little chance of you getting
at least one then. Please thank her for her letter
if I dont answer it, Good-bye, with heaps
of love to all at home & Kind Regards to the
Bev,. Grays, Old Charlie & the Millars. &
heap of love to yourself
I remain always
yr loving son
Athol C MP
 

Mrs M B. McPherson
Clyne Milton
Horsham
Victoria
Australia

Back of envelope - see original document
 

Mena Camp
Egypt
Jan 22^nd 15
My Dear Father
I was so pleased to receive all the letters from
hone this week, it is grand to get letters away out here
anything that we hear from Australia news to be
interesting & when a fellow gets a letter all the fellows
ask what the news is. We have been kept going
pretty well lately, marching over the sand nearly every
day. We have been "going out for rifle practice
the range is about four miles out, & it is very sandy
nearly all the way, we walk at a pretty fair rate
as the officer leading always rides, so you can
quite imagine it isnt the easiest game under
the sun, although I'm rather glad in a way
as it should take some of the condition off me
You should hear the rifles going off, they make
a great row, &  there are sixty five targets & when
that many start rapid firing at once & they are
only little targets & quite close together, I suppose
from one end of the range to the other wouldnt
be much more than a hundred yards, ^( from side to side) you
can quite understand what it is like
Another thing that we have seen the
last two days is the Artillery, at practice
we could get a good look at them from
 

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where we were shooting as all the desert
is very open, you can see for miles around
in places, dont the [[gu?]] make a roar
& when the shell is going through the
air it makes a great noise, we could
see them leave the guns, or rather, we could
notice the gun go off, & there we would
see it burst, an flash would come, both from
the gun & the shell (where it burst) just like
lightening, we reckoned they were shooting
at targets about five on six miles off.
We were wishing we could go of see the place
w^here they were bursting, I'll bet some of the
sand was rooted up. I went down to
the 8^th Battalion last night, but Harold Smith
was away in Ciaro,I only saw Gil Arnott
Geo Godfrey & Young Farley, I want to go down
there in the daytime & [[hunt?]] Ray McLean
up, there isnt much in meeting a fellow
in the dark as we wouldn't know each
other next time we met. I believe that
young scoundrel T___ (that was on a training
ship) is to be court martialled for stealing
 

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Breaking out of the guard tent & desertion
& there is also another chance charge but
I cant think of what it, is, he must be
a beauty & no mistake, I feel very sorry
for poor Olaf. He doesnt seem to have
any luck with his family, he may get off with
twenty eight days in the guard tent or he
may get five years; a fellow got five for desertion
in the 7^th I believe the 2^nd  Contingent
is on the way, we all wonder where they will
go. I don't evy envy them their trip if they go
straight to England. I'd certainly prefer to
stop here until the winter is over, this place
is cold enough for us, its just a perfect
climate, if anything its a bt cold at
times, infact it is cold tonight & where
we were out shooting today we had
our overcoats on all the time & even
then we felt the cold. What a tremendous
fall of rain you must have had at
Horsham, it seems almost impossible
for so much rain to fall in the time
 

4
although it is too late for the crops you should get some
green feed from it especially on the fallow & in what
stubble you have got - Given a good season this
year you should make up for the bad season last
year as wheat ought to be a great price as they
arent likely to but much in, in Germany & all of the
wheat will be run out in Australia-  I dont suppose
there will be much put in, in Russia either, although
we are want to have a crack at the Germans I dont think
any of our fellows will be sorry when the war is over it
seems to be felt all over the world. I dont fancy we
will be going to the front for some time, according to the
Local Paper the English people dont think that we are
sufficient in discipline, if that is their opinion, I can see
what it is what Id say is they think that these fellows might
get out of hand & it would have a bad influence on the
Tommies of course that is only my opinion of them & its what I would
be afraid of myself. The majority of them are such a low
down crowd. Well Father Ill try & find time to write to
Mother before the mail goes so will say Goodbye Hoping
all are well at home & that this will be a record year
for you
With heaps of love to you all I remain
ever yr loving son Athol
 

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Mena Camp
Egypt Jan 23^rd
My Dearest Mother
As the mail closes tomorrow morning
I must send you a few lines to let you know
I am well & hope you are all the same. I
wrote to Father & Fred during the week so there
is really very little to write about. We are
kept going fairy well now, but no more than
I expected we would infact, I am a bit
surprised at the work that we do, I expected
it would be much harder. There is one thing
a bit crook about it, if we lose any of our
clothing that they issued, we have to pay far
them & as the camp is full of thieves, we
loose a good many things, but there's one
good thing about it, it teaches a fellow to
be careful of his money. There are times here
when a person wishes he had a few hundred
to spend, when the Turk Arabs come round
selling silks, they are as cheap as dirt, they
sell lovely table clothes for 20 piastres about 4/2
some of them ^bought some & sent them home. I posted