Letters from Irving Russell Flett to his Family, 1915-1916 - Part 7

4
two tins of bully beef, one tin he paid to the tram conductor for
his fare, the conductor took this substitute for money & gave him
two piastres (about sixpence) change, this paid for his tea in
Alexandria, then the other tin was paid at the booking office
of the theatre, & the man who had left camp with only two
tins of bully beef arrived back, after having had tea in town,
paid tram fare, & had a night at the theatre, with sixpence
in his pocket, so if you know of anything to beat this for enterprise
or cheek ,let me know; bully beef, whom most of the fellows have
learned to detest proved to be their best friend on this occasion.
We eventually left Alexandria  on one of the
Khedivial mail ships, [[on?]] a line that goes between England & Egypt,
on Wednesday last 22^nd inst, arriving at Malta on the Saturday at
4.30 P.M. Our voyage was uneventful & calm. The uneventfulness of the

trip was only a fluke, as if one of the engines had not gone wrong, &
we had been steaming at full speed, we would most probably have
suffered the fate of a 16000 ton ship a few miles ahead of us, so sometimes
you will see a breakdown to the machinery is not the worst thing that
can happen. Our stay at Malta was only a fluke as well, as the skipper
would not proceed on the journey without putting in to port to effect repairs
to machinery, so our luck was in again (excuse scrawl but the ship is
tossing like a cork) Malta, without doubt is the most interesting
place we have been at since leaving Colombo, the harbor is beautiful &
teaming with ships - mostly French warships. Valletta, the capital is
built up sheer from the waters edge, & is about 300 feet above sea level
You are taken up from the wharf on an electric lift, & get out of the lift

                                                3
in beautiful garden 200 feet above the harbour. The view to be obtained

from their garden is wonderful. You can see the fortresses, warships, torpedo

boats, submarines & troopers. I have never seen such a place for churches

Malta is called the place of bells, smells & yells. It certainly deserves

the name with regard to the bells, but the latter two do not fit in at all, as

it is very clean, & the people are models of cleanliness & peacefulness. You

cannot imagine how glad we felt to be amongst respectable people again  

after having been for such a long time amongst the dirty creatures in

Egypt. The Maltese are well educated people & nearly all speak

English perfectly, & they ate the best looking people I have ever seen.

The two days I was there I made several friends, & could see myself having

a tip top time had we only had the good fortune to stay there for a

fortnight. All of us were greatly handicapped by being BROKE & were

unable to buy any Maltese Lace, but someone we got to know who

keeps a lace shop is keeping something I think you will like, & directly

we get paid I am going to post her the money, & she will send you home

the lace. Six of our officers could rake up about £3/-/- between the lot, so

we decided to stick together & pool the boodle, which is the best way

when short of cash. On the Saturday night, we went to the Theatre Royal

which is a magnificent place. Instead of having dress circle & balcony

like our theatres, all the space is taken up with boxes, so instead of only

having half a dozen boxes, there are two or three hundred of them. The

body of the theatre is just like our reserved stalls. The piece they were

playing was the Grand Opera "La Traviata" by G. Verdi, & although

it was all in Italian, I have never enjoyed a piece so much in my

life. The orchestra was the feature of the whole show; there were 49

                                 4

instruments, & you cannot imagine what a big continental orchestra is

like until you hear it. Yesterday (Sunday) we went for a tram ride

as far as we could get & saw some very interesting places; the chapel of

bones has some three thousand human skulls & lots of other human bones about it. The old armory unfortunately was closed on a/c of it being Sunday.

Most of the important places, including the pay office, are closed. The

churches are fine; there are dozens of them. St John's cathedral is the

best of the lot. In the afternoon, we went off to the garden of St Antonio

which is at present in full bloom, & there we saw all sorts of flowers

& shrubs, including Australia Wattle in full bloom. There are

terraces, fountains & ponds at every turn, & at the eastern end there

is a convalescent home for wounded Australians. We all reckoned

we wouldn't mind having a stay there if we get slightly touched. At

the far end of garden in the house of the Governor of the island

(Lord Methuen) the house looks to be alright, certainly placed

in ideal surroundings.

      We continued our voyage this morning & sailed

out of harbor at 8am, & are now somewhere between Sicily & the

northern African coast. The sea is pretty rough & tosses our little

ship about a bit, she is only about 5000 tons. I don't care much how much

it tosses, as I am a pretty good sailor. The rougher it is the safer

we are, as submarines cannot operate so effectively in a rough sea.

However we are pretty well out of dangerous water now, as Alexandra

to Malta is where all the damage is done. We expect to get to our

destination on Wednesday morning where I suppose we will go into

camp, then I believe there will be another voyage to a place we

                                          5

are all longing to see. All the Scotch Irish, English fellows in the

Australian forces are getting very excited at the prospect of seeing home

shortly & we all hope the "furfie" turns out to be correct.

       How are things progressing at Brighton now?

Much the same I suppose. You will now have got over the heat, & I suppose

you will not be sorry as it seems to have been rather a severe summer.

Are the Defence Authorities getting anything like the fifty thousand

they are singing out for? I think it will take them all their time to do

this. Hope the church & school are still flourishing & keeping their

end up. Give my kindest regards to Mr Sinclair & apologise to him

for say not writing, bet you can read this letter to him. Hope Auntie

is keeping fit & well & not having any bad turns. Wally I suppose

is quite himself now & able to go in for everything. Has he yet got that

bike - if not why not? Tell him I will send him a line as soon as

possible. Give my love to Aunties at Lupa also Aunt Planck

& Uncle Tas & I will endeavour to send 'em all something as

soon as poss. Hec & myself are both top hole & hope you are all

the same. I will now wind up with love to all, & will write

again at first opportunity.

         I remain

               Your ever loving son,

                        Roy

PS.

Wednesday 29th Arrived at Toulon Harbor early this morning. It is a splendid harbor & very pretty. Things are very quiet, as, although it is a big city there is not much of life about. The brilliant colors are just like what we see on pictures. We

expect to leave for another port early morning.

                                   12th April 1916

Dear Mother & Father

                  I received your PC of the

13^th February whilst in billet in France. You

acknowledge my letter of the 14^th Dec, which I thought

would have reached you much earlier. Our letters

are evidently being held up both ends as I have

received no letters from home for quite a long 

time.

     In my last letter I described

my voyage as far as London I think. After

leaving that port we set sail for Marseilles,

which place we reached about 5PM same day

& on disembarking went into camp at a place

about 3 miles outside Marseilles. It was the

prettiest camping spot we have yet been in, & oh

such a change from the everlasting snd of

Egypt. We only stayed in camp for one night, &

I managed to get a look into the city on the Friday

as I had tags into the pay office - a very

urgent call I can assure you. The city of Marseilles

is rather a nice place, but the electric

tram are not as fast as the old cable cars, &

the streets are not half as wide as those of Melb

                          2

However, it is not a bad place & the people are

very nice. Friday night at 11 oclock

we entrained for somewhere else in France, & which

is the only address i can give you & after a two

& half day's journey in the tram through wonderful

country, arrived at our first billeting place on the

Tuesday morning at 3 am & were made very

comfortable. I can assure you that being put up

in billets is a long way superior to camping, or

bivouacing, as, in addition to having a roof

over your head, we can purchase such luxuries

as eggs (by the way we have had three fried eggs

for breakfast every morning for the past week)

The French people make first class bread, &

knocks the new bread kite high. The people

all along the line mad a terrible fuss about

us - it makes one feel like it is worth while coming

away to be received the way we are. At

one of the stations on the way up they had hot

coffee & soup waiting for all of us & this was very

acceptable. Rather a funny thing happened

on the train "Biddy" the regimental dog

(by the way - McKenzie the pup was lost on the

Peninsula) was travelling in the carriage with

                          3

me, & one of the officers after preparing for a shave,

was waiting for the train to pull up at the next

station He put the shaving water on the floor

of the carriage & went on talking. xx All the

rest saw what was happening but did not let on

to him, & when he looked down he saw Biddy

drinking the last drop of his shaving water, & he

could not get any more. She also wolfed some

of his tucker that was on the seat of the carriage.

       All around the different places

we were billeted at are evidences of the [[?]]

fighting that has taken place; the place is

littered with debris of all descriptions, buildings, 

& specially churches are all of a heap. The

people are very game, as within two miles

of the firing line & in easy range of even the small

eighteen pounder guns people are to be seen

unconcernedly working in the fields, even the

women & children are there. It is very noticeable

how few men are about. Women are working in

the fields, & on the railways they are employed

as locomotive cleaners & oilers, so you can see

the men are doing their bit.

      The part of the firing line we occupy

                              4

although muddy is a real holiday compared

with Gallipoli. The weather is cold & wet but

have good sheds to live in, & the food supply is

first class as the roads & railways come close

to the trenches. We have coke fires in the trenches

& in our sleeping sheds. I am very glad this is

spring & the next month will start the summer

as I fancy winter here would be the limit. The

gentle hun is entrenched about 300 yards in

front of us, & we just sit & watch one another in the

real cat & mouse fashion all day & night. I

believe the war is still being waged, as we

can hear the booming of big guns far away, but

dont think the thing will last long now as I

fancy the enemy is getting worn down.

              How are things progressing in

Brighton. I suppose it just the same old spot

with just about as much excitement as ever.

Brighton's mild excitement would just about suit

me & will always fill my bill. I am sorry

but Im afraid I will not be able to write many

letters other than to home, as we have not very

much time, so will leave you to pass my kind

regards on to all enquiring friends. How is

                                       France

                                        20^th April 1916

Dear Wally,

          Your welcome letter of the 6^th March

to hand today acknowledging my letter describing the evacuation

& am pleased to hear that you are all in good health again

at "Thurso". You ask if I was the last person to leave the

trenches. No I was not but only the last of one battalion

Each battalion had to leave about 50 men & a couple of

officers, & I was lucky enough to be one of the latter. I believe

a Lieut Col of the 1st Division was the last Australian to

"emshi". I would have given a year's screw to have been the

absolute last, but still can't growl. As you say, we were all

jolly glad to have got away with the whole show, & nobody was

more surprised than ourselves, as we fully thought Abdul would

quite possibly get wire to the dodge, & if he had, well - you

know.

            I'd really wish that my letters were

not published in papers, & as for putting them in the "Messenger"

I certainly refuse to allow this to be done. If any of my letters

go into print in that quarter I will only send postcards in

future, & I mean it. As for that latter of mine that appeared

in "Church Notes", some people will get into their nobs that I was

actually the last person to evacuate -The peninsula consisted of

a dashed sight more than "Lone Pine" -our particular spot-

I only want credit for what I actually do. I dont mind "Church

Notes" getting a few of my notes, but that is to be the limit not even

"Brighton Southern Cross", & please see if any more of my scrawl

                                    2

go into the "Notes", there are no "noble hero" preliminary stunts, as

I dont believe in such kibush.
          Well, to change the subject, you ask if

I have sent my Turkish rifle home, no I have not, certain a [[?]]

such as the above named - or in fact any trophies, have a delightful

habit of not reaching the intended destination, so I am not

taking any risks. I have taken it to pieces, & it is now in my

cabin trunk at Cook's. I really cannot understand Hec not

writing for so long. I will word him on the matter; perhaps his

letters have gone astray. However both he & Harold are in

good fettle & still keeping together, which suits them both.

Please to hear that Bill Snowball arrived back safely, & is looking

as though he has had a feed since he left home. Remember me to

him when next you see him. I'll bet Eddie Hudson will be pleased

to be back in "civvies" again, & must admit I won't be altogether

sorry when it is my lot to also. Craigies latest cut "& a shawled

[[?]], I have not seen any of the Brighton chaps since I reported having

met Norman Sandy, but yesterday, whilst taking a party for a hot

bath, I saw somebody coming towards me, & it turned out to be our

one & only Jack Gevrase, just the same old stick with the same

old drawl; he is quite all right, & wished to be remembered to you, &

all the Brighton chaps & chapesses. He is a Linesman.

       Glad your having such good weather, & wish

I could say the same with reference to our own experience. We

have had nothing but rain off & on for the past week & I can tell

you the trenches are a quagmire. If we slip off the boards that

are laid along, up to the fences or past them in mud is a sure thing

Last night when we were coming in it was as dark as pitch, & I left