Letters from Herbert Franklin Curnow to Frank Cummings, 1915-1916 - Part 1

C.Co. 22 Inf A.I.F.
Bandores
21/4/15
Dear Frank.
I got your letter alright
on returning to Camp on Sunday.
Sorry I didn't reply before but I
hardly have any time at all to myself
here and its no great wonder I
overlooked it. That P.I.J. Staff School
file ought to be on 2002/25/-. Look on the
sheet and also the corresponding blue
card. It comes under Training in
the old general subject index. Roy
Pearsall ought to know all those
P.T files off by heart. There's little
news here. I was inoculated the 1st
time last week and am to be done
again on Friday. Underclothing &c
has been issued and kits uniforms are now
available. Its thought here that
they are hurrying this force on
to get them off as early as possible.
The new battalion was formed yesterday- 
the 24^th Do you know who is
to be the CO? I spoke to Edwin
 

Hunt here the other day. He is a Sgt
in D. Co 21^st Batt. He is looking well
on it too. Lieut Roberts of the 67^th
is attached to our Batt. with a
view, I suppose, to a permanent app^t.
My Company is now up to 240 -
really 12 over strength. They seem
to think we are off soon as they
all want their country leave at once.
Our band has now been well started
A sports & amusement committee was
elected on Tues, and at pay in
the afternoon over £50 was contributed
voluntarily to establish a sports &c
fund. We have arranged a 5 mile
cross country run, a welter weight
boxing contest &c &c. The field
artillery (C.F) marched out today
after 21 days camp. Last post has
just sounded so the mail will
close soon, & I'd better close. Don't
think there's much else to mention
anyhow. I wont be in till about
Sat. week. So long now
Yours in H.M. Service
H F Curnow 

22^nd Battn.
6th Inf Bge A.I.F.
19/6/15
Dear Frank,
As you probably
know from the cables we
landed here safely on the 9^th.
Our voyage over was very
pleasant one but we were
unfortunate in having 8 deaths
on board. Most of them were caused
through pneumonia. A couple of
the later cases might have recovered 
but the tropical heat made
them collapse completely. It was
very interesting coming through
the Suez Canal. Indian troops and
some Territorials are camped along
the banks. About 20 large ships passed
us coming through. We passed two
French and one British warboats
at anchor. I was ashore at
Colombo, Port Said and Alexandria
I did not see all the sights "Johnnie"
Coleman saw but I saw some of
them. Tom Daly will tell you
what I'm referring to (The city
of Alexandria is very fine divided
into the new and the old
quarter. The latter is pretty dilapidated 

but the former is very fine.
They have many streets which will
compare very favourably with Toorak
and St Kilda. Like Colombo & Port Said
they have a good electric tram service.
The trip from Alex^ia to Cairo took
about 6 hours. We came, of course
down the Nile valley. Every inch
is irrigated. Natives look after small
farms measured almost in chains &
every little bit of ground can be 

2 .
flooded. You do not see horses on the
farms- only camels, donkeys & mules are
used. It was interesting to see men
still using the old wooden plough
drawn by oxen. All the "threshing"
is still done by walking oxen over
the corn & the winnowing is still
done with sives, the work of separating
the straw from the grain being left to
the wind. Many villages we passed
were built entirely of mud taken from
the Nile mainly. (On arriving at Cairo
about 9pm on 10/6/15 we marched to the
camp site at Heliopolis and spent
two nights sleeping in the open. Then
I was sent into Cario with a picquet
of 2 other officers & 63 N.C.Os & men. Our
job is to clear the hotels, streets
cafes & brothels &c. It is rather
exciting work. Leave for men expires
at 10 pm so we must get them
on the move about 9.30. We clear
hotels - cafes first and about 11 pm
start on the brothels. We have a
perfect right to go anywhere and
our arm badge is recognised by all
so that there is no trouble entering 
these places. If a man is
sober &c probably we only clear him
out & send him home. If he is
drunk or drugged he is sent to the
Guard room for the night as a
prisoner. His only, crime is being
absent. We walk straight through
each room. You see girls of all
nationalities- French, Spanish, Syrian
Italian, Russian &c in all sorts of
dress & sometimes absolutely no
dress at all. After a couple of
nights at it you get quite accustomed
to the sights and are surprised at
nothing 

3. 

I can tell you of my experiences
when I come back. You have
no idea how disgusting Cairo
is. Life here pretty gay- the
whole city is immoral. That is
the opinion of many. Heliopolis is
a clean new city only 5 years
old. The money spent here must
have been enormous. The great
majority of the places here put
Melbourne mansions absolutely
in the shade.) Ours seems to be
the best camp site here. Reveille
sounds it 5 am. We parade on
the sand from 6am till 9. From
10.30 till 12 we are under cover.
in sheds lecturing, cleaning rifles
and doing odd jobs. A parade
from 5 till 7.30 pm finishes the day's
work. Egypt is better than I
expected to find it We don't get
as much dust here as we did
at Broadmeadows. The heat is
not too bad - just like our mid-summer. 
The glare is discomforting. 

Tents, sand, houses &c are
all white. We have been issued
with helmets, Khaki drill shirts
and short knickers. This is a good
serviceable dress (The hospitals
here are all full.) Heliopolis Hotel
the 2^nd largest in the world is
a military hospital so is the
Gizerah palace - an old residence
of the Sultan.) I have met several
I know here in Cairo. During 

4
my stay in Cairo I have
made the best of the time
off duty. With the other two
officers I have been out to the
Pyramids & the Sphinx. There
was little to see inside the
former. I was a bit disappointed
All you saw after crawling on
hands & knees through the
entrance passages were two
dark vaults. All mummies &c
have been removed to the
Museum which we visited in
turn. The Citidel, the Khedive's
mosque, the native bazaars all
proved very interesting. There
are fine Zoological Gardens and
an aquarium at Gizirah. The
barracks at Kasr-el -Nile where
we are quartered were occupied
by Napoleon over 100 years ago.
They are being renovated now.
I was attached to the mess of
the Berkshire Yeomanry. The
officers were a fine lot of chaps-
all English gentlemen. I was
round at Headquarters of A.I.F
a couple of days ago & saw
Lt Butler, Major Fair, Sgt Gray
Sgt Mulcahy & others. Tell ^Tom Daly
that "Dan" Mulcahy was the
first person I met at Alexandria
He was on the pier when the
boat was being tied up. 

5.
I can't think of anything else
at present, although I daresay
there is any amount to write
about so will close for
this mail. Remember me to
all the lads at the Barracks,
& write when you get a chance.
B/Gen. Legge, I believe, arrived
here the other day- who is
the C.F.S. now? We do not get
any Australian news published
in the local paper. Only one
mail has been received from
Australia since we arrived.
I saw 300 ^odd Turks arrive here as
prisoners of war last week.
They were a motley crew of all

ages x dressed in all sorts of 
uniform. 70 ^of another party escaped just before
reaching Cairo last Sunday. The
Australians didn't bother to take
or keep prisoners during the
early stages of the fighting at
the Dardanelles. If they were
handed over they'd shoot them.
Now they are established they
save those who surrender and
send them to Lemnos where they
are collected and afterwards sent
in batches down here to Maadi.
It is rumoured here tonight
that Bulgaria has declared war
against Turkey. Information
received here is not very
reliable. So-long now - I'll
have to get some other letters
written. Yours in H.M.S.

H Curnow 

P.S
From private letters received
from England by the officer.
xxxxxx of the Brits Yeomancy
the Zepplin raid on London
did a considerable amount of
damage. About 90 bombs
were dropped. There were
numerous casualties and
The Charing Cross Station, the
Shoreditch theatre & other
places the names of which I
have forgotten suffered
severely.
HFC

Sgt H A Myers

203

A Coy

23rd Bttn

6th Inf Bdge

1 DRL 229
 

XXII

TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY BATTALION.
6th Inf Bge
AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE.
Egypt
17th Aug 1915.

Dear Frank,
Just a brief note
to let you know I've not forgotten 

you and the boys in
the Barracks. Have just
received word from Brigade
Major through the C.O. that
we are moving off on Monday
or Tuesday. There's a good deal
of excitement in the camp; we
are all so glad to feel that
at last we're off to the front.
No doubt many of us will be
back in hospital in a week
or so and others less fortunate
will pass out but we are
all living cheerfully a day at
a time. Glad to get your
 

2.
nice long letter in reply to my
Colombo mail. Our work has

 been pretty well carried out here.
The training has been fairly
solid - mostly bayonet fighting
trench digging, attack & defence,
advance guards, outposts, night
operations &c. The 5th Brigade
left here Monday. As you'll know
the slaughter this ^last week has been
very great- ^the casualties numbering, so we are
told about 35,000. We were expecting 

an early move & were
partly preparing for it. On Monday
we had a very careful examination
of kits & clothing. Last Sunday
fortnight met Johnny Coleman &
Herb^t Ferns. Have had S/Sgt D
Mulcahy out here entertaining too.
Several old pals have popped in
to see me since I last wrote but
I think they'd be unknow to you.
3 of our officers are being returned to
Aust. 2 for non-efficiency & one on
medical grounds. 3 Sgts are to re-