Extracts from letters by Herbert Gordon Carter sent to his Parents, 1914-1919 - Part 1

1 
Colombo.
14/11/14.
Dear Father & Mother
We left Sydney. on Sunday 18^th oct.
we went direct to Albany where we arrived the following
Sunday morning at 5 a.m. We were all vastly 
Excited when we first struck a warship off C. Howe.
& it caused a good deal of speculation till we got close
enough to recognize the 'Melbourne'. We saw very
little of the other transports on the way bar the 'Suffolk'
which was close on our heels across the Bight.
On arriving at Albany there were 7 or 8 boats already
there. A paper cost me 6^d from a tug alongside
The none of the ships anchored in the  
inner harbour.  Then as the boats required stores or
water they would take turns to go to the wharf
alongside the town. We went in on the Friday (30^th Oct)
& had the 'Benalla' on the opposite side of the wharf
she carried the 7^th Batt. & the 2^nd Brigade (Victoria) besides
some other details. They went out for a route march
in the morning & managed to lose 12 men – who I
suppose were brought on by the police later. We
followed them in the afternoon & took about an 8 mile
step. I think we impressed the Albanians – – for we had
several complimentary remarks made afterwards. 

2
From what we've seen of the other battalions we seem
to have better control - The Afric had the
reputation at Albany of being the quietest boat.– Even the
Orvieto which carried the general was a fairly rowdy
mob. On the 'Benalla' the men even hooted one of their
sergeants when doing his duty -
- On Wednesday morning we were greeted with
the fine sight of the N.Z. contingent arriving consisting
of 10 troopships and 3 escorts. They were, contrary to us,
all painted grey like the warships.
Sat (31^st) we had a fire on board, which
happened to be right underneath where my company was
sleeping. It was discovered about 5.30 a.m. Fortunately
it had little hold & did not take more than an hour to
put out & clean up. The men behaved very well, fell in
on their deck posts without any trouble & kept quite
quiet. The worst damage done was to some cargo
(sugar) which was spoilt by the salt water- we knew that we were 
sailing early next morning. The night was beautifully
clear & the fleet look exceptionally fine with its lights
& the morses twinkling all over the place.
At 5.45 a.m the 'Minotaur' steamed out followed
by the 'Melbourne'. The transport flagship Orvieto (A3) 

3
then followed & the rest in order. There were 36
transports in all; we were the 20^th down the line.
The sight was one I don't expect ever to see the like of
again - the day was perfect & you could see almost every boat
as the steamed out & then took the big turn westward
ho! . I noticed a moving picture man on Breaksea
Isld as we moved out so no doubt there will be
pictures showing of this event before long.
Outside we formed into our three lines & incidentally
picked up the Jap Warship & H.M.A.S. Sydney.
- The slowest boat is the 'Southern' (A. 27.)
She does just over 10 knots & sets the pace for the whole
fleet. - - - It takes some time to adjust the
speed correctly. We seemed to be almost ramming the
'Shropshire' quite often & being rammed by the 'Benalla'.
The engine room telegraph is going almost all the time
On Tuesday (3^rd Nov) the 'Medic' & 'Ascanius' joined
us. they came direct from Fremantle. -
on Sunday & Monday the warships made strange antics
careering at full speed here & there – by Jove they did
look fine too. It was evident on Monday morning that
something was up for the Sydney disappeared at 6.15
& the Ibuki Maru went off about 10.30 with guns trained 

4 
& national flag flying. We heard at noon that
the Emden had been beached
Gordon. 

Sketch of fleet
  
HMAS Melbourne

____ 
Ibuki. 
Dear Father & Mother.  Dec 2. 1914.
- we are getting off the boat very shortly now;
where & when I can't tell you but it is not in England or Europe.
Things have gone really extraordinarily well up to the
present. The difficulties of troopship life must either have
been very much overdrawn - or we have an exceptional lot
of troops - we were told that discipline was very
difficult; that the men were likely to get out of hand &
all that sort of thing. Just the reverse has been the case
however & apparently without very much effort on our part.
-- The further we travel - -  the more one
is impressed at this crisis with the vastness of the 

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British Empire & the number of resources it has to
 - I feel certain that the men who return from this
force will be – - the creation of a new element -
One feels that it is really a great honour to belong to the
force & so long as this keeps uppermost amongst us
there should not be much trouble
- Later. We have just received news (10.15 am) that
letters are to be in by 2 p.m. & that there will be no
censorship - we are lying at the Quay at
Port Said; we are going to Alexandria to disembark
there for Cairo.
 - Yesterday morning while lying at Suez we saw a
new fleet come along - about 12 or 15 transports
escorted by a French battleship -
 - The chief feature of interest about the Canal
was the defence of it. We saw one Egyptian Camel
Corps & one battalion of Royal Engineers but most of the
garrison work was done by Indian (native) troops who
were dotted in small detachments each about 150 strong
all along the Arabian side. - In one case a
football match was in progress.  It was very fine
to see all these things - . Everybody is in
food spirits.
H. Gordon Carter -

6
Mena Camp 11/12/14
I'm sitting on the desert sand with one of my trunks
as a table. - There is some song about 'the
desert sands never growing cold'. I'd like to bring
the writer out here to sleep one night. In the early
morning it seems to be almost freezing. The days
are warm but so far mild and pleasant - it
is really a far more suitable training ground than
England would have been & besides we are within a
mile from the Pyramids. We are camped in
a large valley – just off the Nile Valley -
on our right (Eastwards) is the fertile Nile valley, quite
green & covered in places with dense palm growths.
Westward the barren desert – to the South are the
Pyramids. - - The Great Pyramid has been
swarming with soldiery (afternoons are free)
It's quite a stiff climb & already we've had an
accident to a man in our batallion who fell from about
¾ the way up to the bottom. He will live, they think.
but will have to be sent back to Australia. 

7 
Mena Camp.
25/12/14
Dear Father & Mother
Nearly every one has had more or less of a
Xmas dinner. We provided 5 turkeys & a keg of beer
for our Company. - - Part of the morning I spent
in ascending the Great Pyramid – My knees were shaking
when we got back from the strain. &c &c .
we have been spending the past couple of days in
making the camp tidy – All my company lines are
now marked out in white stones on the sand & several
of the tents have made weird devices & designs of the same
in front of their tents. They have been much admired by
some of the other companies.
I attended Divine Service this morning - the Dean officiated.
The parsons complain of not being able to get hold of
the men & when they get a chance, as today with
about 2500 or 3000 men they seem to do their best
to make as dull a show as possible. The men can
barely hear, others have to stand the whole time in
the blazing sun. The soldiers spend their
money freely - & as the pay bill must be
about £100,000 per week you can realize the
record season -
H.G. Carter 

8
Mena Camp 
3/1/1915 
My Dear Father & Mother. 
The New Year passed without much to mark it. 
- - We have been doing a good deal of trench digging 
this week - & the men worked at it with a will. 
We built some of the latest type - they are peculiar to  
relate almost the simplest trench possible.  - Sir George 
Reid has been out to see us - - Church Parade  
today - the Dean was much better; he is barracked with 
the 3^rd Battalion & they are bringing him up the way he should 
go. If he makes any slip - or preaches for 1 second over 
10 minutes he has to stand drinks for the mess. 
This afternoon McKenzie & I went for a ride - we went 
about 5 miles through a large palm plantation & 
came upon quite a large Arab village (Kerdōsa), 
all stone & sand huts with straw roofs. - We got into 
the middle of it somehow & had quite a job getting out - 
the horses shy at all the camels - Children & 
native's all swarm round you for 'back sheesh'. 
We could only get rid of them by galloping off. 
It would be quite impossible for an ordinary civilian 
to go there safely. I don't think I'd go in again 
unarmed.

9 
Mena Camp.
Dear Father & Mother 31/1/15.
There is a crowd of men being sent
back to Australia next week - they consist of two lots -
those found medically unfit, & wasters - the
former in the majority. I recommended two wasters
from my old C^o to go back & both are going -
-  I went up to see Freff (Sister U. M. Carter.)
yesterday – She looks as well & happy as can be.
We fixed up a very nice donkey ride excursion in
the evening which was just great. Freff supplied two
other nurses & I supplied 2 other officers. It was a
perfect night - full moon - - - We went round the
Sphinx. the old thing was made to smile for us
by the Arabs. This is done by turning a piece of
magnesium wire close up under the head & the
shadow thrown up makes the Sphinx appear to smile,
8-91-07
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