Photostat copies of letters from Charles Albert Barnes to his mother, 1914 - Part 4

 

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out in the wide wide ocean. The hooter

was very busy & all the other ships gave us a

wide berth. Wile temporary repairs were

duly affected & away we toddled again &

reached Alexandria early this morning.

I wish I had the gift of describing things.

This place beats cockfighting. Its an

immense artificial harbour built round

one of the mouths of the Nile. We are anchored in

the harbour waiting our turn to go alongside

which we expect will be tomorrow or Monday

There are heaps & heaps of German & Austrian

ships here which put in when it was a neutral

port to prevent capture two or three of them I

well recognise having seen them in F/tle

Now we have sort of taken hold I spose they

will all be collared as prizes.

As usual there are some warships about

but here only one British & one French.

The wharf is all parked with our people

kids &c. A

A lot of ships are moving in & out of the harbour

& one cant help realising what the work our

navy has been doing as the shipping is of course

mostly British & they come & go as if war were 

 

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not dreamt of.

Have had several official calls during the

day but, cannot get ashore to see the town.

Sunday 6th

Church Parade this morning & probably

the last the Bishop will take with us for some

time as he is going on with the ship to London.

This morning we have orders to go alongside

during the afternoon & disembark part of

the Battalion tonight. Four of our Companies

(mine with them) are to leave at 8pm tonight ^by train
& we should get to Cairo at about 1.30 am. We

then have to get out to the Camp at Mena about

10 miles out. I think somehow I'm going to have

a somewhat busy night.

Had afternoon tea with the nurses & a general

yarn with the Ships officers in the middle of

packing.

Monday 7th

Yes I did have a busy night.

We started unloading at about ½ past five

& have got things going a few of us went

ashore to see our tram & mark up the coaches.

We managed to make this last for some time

& we went for a stroll up the town & saw just

 

13
a little bit of Alexandria. Its a

queer mixture of a place. Fine buildings

& streets & then ramshackle & squalor.

The native quarter is what you might term

"lowsy with people" in every condition of

filth. When we got back to the ship every thing

was going on well without us so we had

dinner & then brought the men ashore with

their kits & entrained.

We left Alexandria right up to time 8 pm,

& reached Cairo at about ½ past one this morning

Had some hot chocolate & roll & ham & then

found a lot of tram cars waiting for us

My lads were for duty as guard &c  & so we were

last away. Well we packed up all the kits

into trams & then got aboard. We reached

Mena at 4 a.m. & while the other companys

went on to camp mine had to doss down by

the roadside with sentries on the baggage.

However it wasnt so bad as we able to get

out our valises & had a little sleep not for

long though as at 6 oc the Brigade Major

came along to say that the waggons were

then coming for our kits. We got up at once

& it was strange to find that we are right

 

14
under the Pyramids & the Sphinx just 

a little way behind them. The Pyramids are

g not very impressive at first but after a bit

one begins to realize what huge things they are.

Ive had a great time getting the kits &c sent

to the Camp, the natives are a great source of

amusement but a jolly nuisance & every

second man calls himself a guide or

dragoman & wants to take you over the

Pyramids or Sphinx or else to go shooting

snipe & other things.

The camp is right on the desert not a blade

of grass or a tree of any description but

bare ^yellow sand a little firmer than Cottesloe

Beach. We have no tents at all at present

and hope to get a few in during this week.

The whole Division is gradually

assembling here with the exception of the

Light Horse who are also over at Mardi

about 15 miles away.

Will post this now & tell you more

about the place &c next bout.

With love to everyone & hoping all's well

Yr affec Son

Charlie

Strickland & Jackson are in good form &

wish to be remembered. Im in good nick too.

 

Mena Camp

Monday 7th Dec'14
My dear Mother

I have had a lovely day today.

As I said in my last we reached here early this

morning & the whole day has been taken up with fixing
the Camp.  At present we have but very few tents & the
men have to live on the desert. The sand is wicked. What
it is in the summer goodness knows. Its very cold in
the early morning but during the day it gets warm.

Only 6 of our 8 boys are here yet. Brockman &

Annear with theirs are on the Medic & will not be in

for a few days.

The place is very busy. Road making & fixing

up water supplies. A week ago the place was bare

now theres a tram from the Pyramid terminus

(electric) a good road into the camp which is

being extended in all directions & reservoirs being

constructed.

The local inhabitants are a peculiar & mixed

lot. All sorts & conditions of shades & costumes &

one is pestered by innumerable kinds wanting to

act as guides & conduct you over the Pyramids

tombs & other places of interest or Sniper shooting

there are also heaps of beggars wanting Bhakshish

 

2
Tuesday 8th

Nothing of interest except that we got a few

more tents. Just as well too as it has been

raining very heavily.

Mena House which is now our hospital is a

beautiful hotel with & exists usually on the 

tourist trade from Dec to March. Its a Grand

hospital & the men are very pleased with themselves

W Wednesday 9th

This morning I saw Col. Hobbs & Maj Nicholson

also several officers from other states whom I know

This evening I went in to Cairo & had a most

interesting time. There was no daylight to speak

of but several of us went through a part of the

native quarter. The streets there are very crooked

& smelly to say the least all packed with yelling

people hawking their wares. The shops in the

native parts are small dingy affairs & the

shop keepers sit at the entrance yelling out

their wares. We didnt know where we went to

but got back to Shepheards Hotel in time for

dinner at 7 pm. Shel  We had a beautiful

dinner & then went round to business parts.

The business streets are fine & wide & the business

building generally are bigger than in Perth.

 

3
Shepheards  & the Continental are the best

Hotels. They are enormous & very expensive. Just

at present they are full of Officers & their wives &

families. Motoring & cabs are very cheap also the

trams but generally the place is very expensive.

We got  Thursday 10th

We got back to camp at 2 a.m. this morning

& today have been casting stones over from near

the Pyramids to mark the bounds of our camp.

& to make camp kitchens &c. Saw Speniger today

he is in command of a Victorian Battery.

Friday 11th

Still casting stones & fixing of the camp

I dont spose we will do much training until

next week. The camp is filling up quickly

Today the balance of our Regiment arrived also

the Tasmanians so that our Brigade is now

complete.

Went up to Mena House today to see the nurses

who came over with us. They were as pleased to see

us as we to meet them again.

Saturday 12th

Had a short days work & this afternoon am

going into Cairo.

 

4
Sunday 13th

Went in to town yesterday & saw a few

more of the sights. This time we took a guide

& explored different parts of the city. There are over

500 Mosques in Cairo. I spose each of the old

Kings reckoned he had done his job as soon

as the he had put one up.

The Europeans (civil) here are principally

French & Greek & some of the former are very

nice too. They are all very much interested

in the Australian troops.

This morning we had Church Parade in the

desert behind the camp. It was our first parade

as a complete Brigade & looked quite a big

show. There were over 3000 troops on parade

from our Brigade alone. The Parson is

the Tasmanian Padre & is rather a funny

old thing. He's an Archdeacon of sorts.

Today there have been heaps of visitors to the camp.

The local inhabitant in great force. They

all wear the Fe & the better class otherwise

dress in European fashion except those from

the back country who are garbed in flowing

robes.

Monday 14th

Started training in earnest today & were

 

5
closely watched by the Brigadier & staff.

Went to see Bessel Brown & he the W.A.Artillery

fellows this afternoon. They are all well at least.

Brown had a spell yesterday & his leg is not

too good. We also saw J B Miles who is

commanding a Victorian Battery.

Tuesday 15th

We are getting very anxious about our mails.

Have not had any letters yet. I spose they have

gone to England.

Theres a lot of talk about a deposing the Khedive

He is out of the country at Constantinople & as

Turkey is at war with us its understood that

Egypt will now be declared an English

Protectorate. There are about 80,000 troops here

now & we hear that a Turkish army is on

its way to invade Egypt by way of Palestine

I hope they come. The soldiers defending the

canal have had a few skirmishes already.

Wednesday 16th

Tomorrow Egypt is to be proclaimed a

British Protectorate & the Khedive formally

deposed. Hussein is appointed Sultan

He is a son of a former Khedive.

Today & onwards we have to find strong

6
piquet to go to town just for fear of a

rush on the part of any of the young turkey

sympathisers. Generally speaking the British

occupation is popular but one section of

irreconcilables is very bitter

Wednesday 17

Thursday 17th

The Proclamation was read out & posted up

all over Egypt today & the Turkish flag replaced

by the new Egyptian one. Three white crescents

each with a star in it on a red flag. The

Union Jack was also run up just as a reminder

The business part of the City is very gaily decorated

with flags of the Allies too. Next Sunday there

is to be a great reception by the Sultan in honor of

his accession.

Friday 18th

Went into town today. Saw Col Hald

Herbert Parker who told me that Col Hobbs has gone 
to Suez to meet Mrs & Miss Hobbs who are on the 
way to England. He is going to bring them to Cairo 
Mrs Frank Parker is also coming so in a few days 
we hope to hear some W.A. news.

Just a week off Xmas. Its rather strange to think

that we are spending Christmas here I wonder when