Letters from Norman Griffiths Ellsworth to his Mother, 1914-1915, Part 5 of 27

Best Love to Flos Robbie 
Mena Camp 
Cairo Egypt 9/1/15 
  
Dearest Mother & all at Home 
This has been a red letter 
week for me as I received no less than 6 letters at once & 
of course I was the happiest man alive. I got one from 
you, one from Mab & a Photo, one from May Tilton, 1 one 
from Alice Cutler, & one from a Glaciarium Girl. Poor 
old Jack Hall got none & nearly cried. I can only endorse 
George's remarks about letters from Home Sweet Home. If we 
have something nasty for dinner, we go & read our letters 
again & this is as good as a dinner; Fortunately we get 
the best of grub to eat & have little to complain about 
in this respect. We have had a busy week this week 
& the weather has been vile in the desert & the dust 
storm, which lasts 4 days, played the very devil with 
our eyes. We left the guns & wagons out there all night 
& left a party of one Sergeant & 10 Gunners to look after 
them and to dor the Gun Laying Tests under the Adjutant, 
whilst the Drivers & Horses went back to Camp for 
the night. I was left out the first night & after 
doing my Laying Test, I slept under a Gun Limber that 
night I thoroughly enjoyed myself, & after getting up at 
7 am next morning, completed the Test before the rest 
of the men and horses arrived. I am pleased to tell 
you that I was the only one to Qualify in the Brigade

2 
& I might state that I was the only Sergeant to pass. 
I have had no practise of Laying since I joined 
the Expeditionary force & of course was right out 
of form, & not only that, it was sprung on the Sergeants 
all of a sudden. We had no sooner finished with 
the Gunners, when the Adjutant said, "now the Sergeants". 
I felt anyhow, but as soon as I got to work, I felt 
confident, & finished far before the Sergeants of the other 
Batteries & all my Sights were set correctly so got Full 
marks. The Dust storm we experienced is something awful 
as there is a continuous blinding of fine dust all the time 
& what with the whole of 3 Field artillery Brigades with 
all their horses and vehicles doing manoevres, one can't 
see his hand in front of him, & the Dust has got into all 
the fine bearings of the Gun, however, we have had the 
Guns to pieces & thoroughly cleaned & start shooting with 
live shell on Monday next. One of the mares in  
my Gun Team slipped a Foal during the night, but I am 
sorry to say that the Foal died almost immediately. 
Last Sunday afternoon, we paid a visit to the 
Zoo, & enjoyed ourselves immensely, altho the Melbourne 
Zoo is even better than the one we saw. After this 
we dined "biggly" & then trammed it home to sleep. 
We got several papers & pictures from the "Leader" 
of the Expedry Force & it was quite a relish to see a 
Melbourne paper once more, as the "Egyptian Mail"

3 
is a beastly "rag". Harry Braithwaite got Mabs 
photo & is very pleased to know that she goes & sees 
his Mother every now & then. We are all anxiously 
looking forward to going to the "Front" & having a 
"Box on" with the Germans, as we have been doing 
the new Gun pit work & trenches of a night & I 
can assure you that once a Gun is dug in, it is 
a difficult matter to see anything at all from the 
outside & this method had been found most 
effective at the front & the percentage of casualties 
have dropped from 75% to 5% since the outbreak 
of the war, in the Artillery. I am sending you 
some more Post Cards along with this letter & 
I hope you got the box of Chocolate which I 
registered & sent to you last mail. I write 
as often as possible, which is once a week, & will 
try & keep this up & hope you will let all kind 
enquirers for me know that I am quite well & 
appreciate their good wishes & am sorry I can't 
write to them all. With fondest love to all, 
& self, at home & elsewhere I am 
Your loving Son 
Norman

Mena Camp. 
Cairo Egypt. 
22^nd January 1915. 

My Dearest Mother & all at Home 
Am pleased to tell you 
that I get your & Mabs letters regularly every week now, 
& I can't tell you what pleasure it gives me to read 
them over & over again. It is simply great to come 
back to camp after a hard days work to find 4 
or 5 letters waiting for me. I have read with deep 
interest the different cuttings out of the newspapers 
also the Church notes. Fancy having our names 
in the Church Porch (Is mine there). 
We are all getting on fine here & are right up 
to our neck in hard work & all the the boys are 
working great & are dying to have a fight with 
someone. Turks or Germans let em all come. 
Yesterday the 1^st Brigade (New South Wales) 
did their shooting & to day, the 2^nd Brigade 
(Victoria) that is us, had their turn, & I want 
to tell you Mother, that our Battery has come 
out on top of the lot in everything. Our advance 
into Action, we were told by the Head Quarters staff, 
was the finest they have ever seen. Our Officer said 
it was a treat to see the way we trotted up all in 
Line & properly dressed & not a word was spoken.

2 
So quick was our fellows, that our horses had only 
just time to get clear, when I got my first shot off. 
We had 3 different Targets & our Layers did well 
at each & when we got "Cease Fire" Limber up" our 
drivers came up nice & steady with the Gun Limbers 
and as soon as we "Limbered up" we all trotted out 
of action just as well as we came in. The Permanent 
Battery (No 1) admit that they can't touch us. So you 
see the old St Kilda battery have started well. 
I know you will all be pleased to know of our good start 
& we hope to spell our names in shells (18 pounder) in Berlin 
very soon. 
We don't go into Cairo much now as the novelty has 
worn off it a bit, but each Friday Afternoon we go 
into Shepherds Hotel (Menzies of Cairo) & pay (5 Piastres) 1/- 
& have a lovely hot bath & a clean change of clothes 
then a bonzer "blow out" (2/-) & then Motor Car to Camp. 
Nice isn't it. We generally go for a nice trip on Sunday 
afternoons & thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Now Mum, I have 
not much news this time so hope you will excuse a 
short letter. I hope all are well at home. Give my kind 
regards to everyone & best Love to all Ellsworths & an 
extra ration to your self. I am your loving son 
Norman.

We have plenty of moving pictures in Camp now 
also a big Boxing Stadium & this provides  
some great sport. 
  
Mena Camp. 
29^th January. 
Egypt.

  
Dearest Mother & all at Home. 
Just a line to let you know 
that I received several more letters of earlier dates & I 
think that I have received the lot now. Your latest 
letters told me of news of poor old "Binnso" having Diptheria. 
I can't imagine how he developed this horrible complaint 
unless he contracted it from some kiddie at school. 
I think your decision of sending him to Fairfield a 
wise one, as there can be no doubt that the place is a 
much improved one since the Institution came in for 
such a scathing criticism both in Parliament & in 
the Papers. Not only this, but the task that you would 
have had of nursing him would have thoroughly knocked 
you up & made things worse, however, I have not the 
slightest doubt that he will get quite well again in 
a very short time. Tell him for me that he is a good 
boy for not crying & I will send him some more 
Post Cards. I'm sure he will be well treated there 
& not only this, it will be a change for him & a rest 
to you altho' I know that you will be worrying about 
him, but everything will be all right. I always read both 
your & Mabs bonnie letters scores of times & I get them 
regularly now. Tell Mab, not to go to the trouble

2 
she has, of getting Cigarettes for the Boys, as I want 
to tell you that Egypt is the home of the Cigarette. It is 
nothing but Cigarette shops & on every street corner 
there is scores of men & women selling them & Arabs 
follow us for miles into the Desert, when we go out 
to manoevres, selling "Fags", & the first thing one 
hears when he wakes up in the morning is "Flag 
Cigarette" ½ a Piastre" (1 ¾') I am glad to say that few 
of us smoke them & as for myself, I have given them 
up entirely. We are enjoying ourselves very fine &  
altho the work is hard, nevertheless we are happy. 
We are going at top speed every day & the horses 
are called on to do some arduous work hauling the 
guns & wagons through the sand of the Desert, (for 
this is where we drill), but they are going fine. 
Yesterday we started out in Full War strength & 
a fine sight we made too. Big waggons were with 
us for the carting of baggage Etc & we moved just 
as we would go in the actual job. We bivouaced 
about 10 miles in the Desert & occupied a position 
in Action in the night & dug ourselves in, & we 
finished up at 11.30pm & laid down & slept till 
4 a.m. & then commenced our firing at daybreak. 
It was lovely sleeping out & quite enjoyed ourselves

3 
We have General Bridges  & General Birdwood following 
our work very closely & they criticise our work as 
"Very Good" & our O.C. was complimented on the 
fine Battery he had command of. (Hows that.) 
All the Sergeants are well & send their kindest 
remembrances to all & thank everyone for their good 
wishes. 
We have rumours always that we leave for the  
Front in "2 days time" but it never comes off. 
The Turks are crossing the Desert to attack 
Egypt, but Experts say that they will never get here. 
I haven't been into Cairo much lately as we 
can get a bath in Camp now & Cairo is a dirty 
stinking hole & the businesses have marked up 
"Special Prices for Australians" its special 
alright as we always have to pay twice as much 
as anyone else. Boots are an extraordinary 
price here as very few wear them, and a pair 
which cost 7/6 at Johnnie Wallaces in King St 
cost £1.7.6. here. Clothing is not so bad but 
quite dear enough. There is no milkmen with 
cart in Cairo, as a nigger drives up some cows 
to a persons front door, hops in, & gets a jug & 
milks a cow right there. Dead funny isn't it.

4 
I have received several papers & weeklys & I thank 
you for them. Vin Yardley gets the "Table Talk" every 
week & other papers, so you see we can still see 
dear old Melbourne occasionly. How is George 
getting on, I haven't got a letter from him or Charl 
yet, but hope to soon. I hope they are both 
getting on well. Tell Mab, that there is no girls 
like the Melbourne girls. How is Floss Robbie, ? 
give here my love & also the boys send theirs too. 
Tell Jack Tilton that this is a grand life, & I'll 
expect him out here with the Reinforcements, he 
will not regret it. Jack Heywood sends his regards 
to him. There is plenty of Phone work in the Artillery now. 
How is Miss Taylor getting on, tell her I am always 
thinking of her, & her little blue bags are doing good 
service. How are you off for money, if short, I'll 
send you some. I have plenty of clean clothes 
but some of my socks want darning. I am going 
to tackle them when I finish this letter. Now 
dear Mother, I must close as I have told you the 
news so with fondest love to all enquirers both 
at home & elsewhere & an extra ration for yourself 
I remain your loving son & Brother 
Norman

1 DRL 252

Am glad to see that 
you had Lennex 
out for Xmas. 
It saved you a lot 
of work.