Letters and typescript copies from Florence Hobbes to her family, 1915-1918 - Part 1

S.S. Ballarat
March 1^st 1915.
My dearest old Kit.
Many happy returns of the day
dear, and many of them.
This is not going to be a very long letter
Ive spread myself out in one to Mother &
asked her to send them on to the family in
turn, but this is just for your birthday and
to thank you for the rug etc, Ive felt the benefit
of it already, for it's been bitterly cold, after our
Sydney heat, & we have really had very rough
weather since the Sunday after leaving Sydney.
My skirt & the coat are a great
success, & I lived in it all the time in
Melbourne, & felt well clothed, for it was
dull all the time.
My dear the Mackies were kindness
itself to me, they simply could not do enough,
when I arrived I found they had about every
hour mapped out for me, they took me everywhere
& showed me everything, did'nt you love the
streets & the buildings standing out well, of
course we can't see our buildings because
the streets are too narrow, I also simply 

2
loved the gardens, they were gorgeous.
Went out to S^t Kilda one day & oh every
where, we were never in bed before 12 m.n. &
then they always made me stay in bed for
breakfast, simply would'nt waken me.
We arrived here at 12 today but
just stayed on board as it is a beast
of a day, cold & moist at times, hot at
others, the blessed man is turning the
lights out - so Ill have to go to bed I
suppose, best, all lights out at 10 p.m.
Tomorrow three of us are going up
town for the day, it takes an hour
nearly to get into the town from here.
Ive not missed a meal yet
think of that, not bad eh.
Oceans of love dearest to you
both & the youngsters too from
Narrie

S.S. Ballarat
25^th March, 1915.
Between Durban & Capetown.
My dearest old Jean,
I did not write from Adelaide, so
here goes from here;  & Ill post at Capetown;  I won't give 
you any details of the sea trip tho as I posted a long
one to Mother from Durban, & she will probably send it
or a copy, on to you, & you must send this to her, as
I will not write from Capetown, truth to tell I meant
to write so many but it's really hard work
writing on this boat as we have 450 passengers,
50 of these children, & not very much room, there
is absolutely not a quiet spot to write in, Ive never
heard such a jabbering crowd, in all my life, its like
being let loose in a cage of monkeys.
On Friday night, we had a fancy dress dance,
which was great fun, we had to parade twice round
the deck in pairs, I was powder & patch, my "pair"
was a M^r Crace, a very nice boy, mining engineer, who
is going to England to join King Edwards Horse, he
was dressed as a "Golf Girl" & if you can imagine
how absurd we looked, the two extremes, I in my
brocade frock, powdered hair & patches, this boy
in short creme skirt , & sports coat, panama
hat & bundle of golf sticks, eight of us went up

to the Captains cabin and had a champagne
supper, & did not come down till after 12 m n but
it was awfully jolly, the Cap^t is a real old sport,
really very quiet till he gets going then he's some

fun, like all quiet people, or most; next day was
very rough and I am afraid there were some quite
seedy people; but Sunday was better but still very
rough, Monday we got to Durban about 11 a.m., ok
the excitement of seeing land, we really saw it
ahead about 6 a.m. so all hands were on deck, as
Cap^t had said two hours after we saw land we
would be in Durban, however time went on & we xx
did not seem to be getting any nearer, when we
suddenly discovered we were turning right round
took a big circle, then did it again, we began
to think something had happened, then the ships
D^r came along & murmured, "Lordy you should
see father (the Cap^t) he is fairly rageing up on
the bridge, everyone's getting it, life's only middleing"
it turned out that we had to go a bit out of our right
course coming over from Australia, & instead of
just striking Durban first go off, we came out some
miles up the coast; which put us back nearly 3
hours, & made Cap^t rave, however he was quite all
right when we finally came to Durban, my dear
it's a lovely place, absolutely the most fascinating
place, there is simply a huge breakwater
shutting off the ocean from the bay on one
side, & an enormous bluff on a huge scale, the bluff 
Hand drawn diagram – see original
like this is about 

is a tremendous hight, like a funny mountain, &

covered to the waters edge with tropical foliage,
Most beautiful greens, of course as soon as the ship
got in, the Kaffirs & Hindoo's started, almost before we
got properly tied up they were swarming everywhere
getting ready to coal, we had to wait for over two
hours before we could land, then 9 of us cut for our
lives, as it was 2 p.m. & we wanted lunch, we went to
the Royal, our nice Dutchman recommended it, it
was certainly adorable, quite tropical, you went up
wide white steps on to a wide stone verandah with
pillars & arches, & palms, small tables & chairs,
wide doors & windows opening into sweetly clean
rooms, with indian waiters, Mercy what a lunch
we ate, we really do not have good food, and have
all lost weight shockingly.  I shall want about a
month to pick up again, such a pity, we have
fairly good food but badly cooked, so - however we
fill up on biscuits & all laid in a stock of things
in Durban, which is a most shockingly expensive
place, however to continue, we got off the boat &
were surrounded by Rickshaw boys, my dear are
they not too lovely for words we got five and went off
& were quite sorry when we got to the hotel, M^r Grace
& I were together, & our man kept leaping up in
the air like a rearing horse, we were quite resigned
to the idea of having a fractured skull from being
landed out on the road, however we managed
to arrive quite safely;  after lunch we broke up into
patches agreeing to meet at the P.O. at a certain

time to take the Berea (pronounced Be-re-a) road,
it was supposed to be one of the sights, we had great
fun gathering up the crowd, we got on the top of the
tram & off we went, the white people always sit in
the front the natives behind, it's an unwritten law.
The trip was well worth taking, you catch glimpses of
the Mountains - Draakensburg - the ocean, & splendid
views of the town, it's really a beautiful place,
the Flamboyant trees — like the ones David was
trying to grow — were magnificant, you cant imagine
what they are like, they spread out from the stems
just like an umbrella, soft feathery green leaves,
& crimson flowers, oh beautiful, a very nice woman
guessed we were strangers & told us all sorts of things
We got back into town about 6 p.m. or a little after, &
went straight round to the Marine Hotel, which rivals
the Royal in niceness, as Dutchie put it, "the Marine is
good, very, jolly, so is the Royal, but the Royal is nice
I always go to de Royal", which was meant to express
his idea that both were swankie but the Royal was
more friendly, we were to meet the Cap^t, the ship's
D^r & two other D^rs & M^r Mosely Jun^r Miss Burgess
which made dinner for 15, such a jolly dinner, we
took 1½ hours over it, Indians to wait, - little fans
presented to each lady, after dinner we went
out on the balcony & had coffee & cigarettes, the balcony
was a wide stone place with pillars etc., after a
bit the menfolk got motors and we went round
the beach & then out to a place called Umgani &

my dear, it was away out, miles from the town, and
perfectly beautiful, there are gardens & places
there all lit up with electric lights; we wandered
round for a while. Then as it was after 11 p.m. we thought
we had better get back to the ship, so xx off we went,
six in each car, the first car had a puncture
soon after we left, we passed them & flew on
past sugar cane plantations & queer old houses
covered with vines & surrounded with dense
foliage, very tropical to look at, & as it was
moonlight we were able to see it quite well,
But we regretted it had not been daylight -, but
we discovered we could get out there by train if
we wanted to, just when our car, containing D^r
Marsack, Captain, M^r Corbett, Miss Wellman &
Miss Hobbes, got to the P.O. we had a blow-out
& had to sit on the kerbstone while a new one
was put on, & in consequence only got to the
boat at 12 m.n; we were glad we had the Captain
with us, coaling was in full swing, & anything
more awful than the Kaffir noise, the sound
of coal, the heat & dust you could not imagine,
they said it was far worse than round the other
way, & the nigger smell, eugh — we went up
to the Cap^t cabin for some supper & then talked
the whole 15 of us, it wasn't much use going to
bed; however we wandered off & got to sleep
about 2 am, we would have stayed on shore
but it was too expensive so - the next

morning we went on shore for breakfast, - Misses
Fitzgerald Bell — Wellman — Kirkcaldie — Hobbes
Messers Corbett — Crace — Rhoades & Best. We
of course Rickshawed up, this time to the
Grosvenor after which Miss Fitz & M^r Best went
to a dentist & eye glass man, we four girls
went & had our heads shampooed & the
men somewhere else; all to gravitate to the
Zoo at 12 m.d. as it is was supposed to be something
quite good, we went out by train through

most beautiful avenues, a lovely place really
& as for the Zoo, never could I have imagine a Zoo
could be so intensely clean, in fact all
Durban is intensely clean, & has some most
beautiful buildings, after all meeting at Zoo
we once more gravitated to the Royal & had
lunch, after which some of us went over the
town hall & Museum & Art Gallery; then we went
& had afternoon tea & then flew down to the
old boat, dog tired, but happy, she was supposed
to leave at 4.30 p.m., but it was after 6 p.m.
when she finally got away & promptly ran into
a storm, next morning we heard a kiddie was
very sick, but as it had got on at Durban we
did not think much of it till the D^r came
along & told us he had just done a tracheotomy
on a kiddie 3 years old, had Diphtheria &
was very bad, that a nurse who also got on at
Durban was looking after him but that she

was desperately seasick, vomiting every few
minutes, so we promptly said we would take
turn about do 4 hours each as longer than that
would be too deadly, however the poor little soul
died this morning & has just been buried, &
we all sincerely hope that it will be the last
death while we are on board, it practically only
lived 24 hours after the D^r saw it, poor little man,
it was dreadfully sad, a space on the well deck
was cleared & roped off, then six sailors walked
along with a stretcher on which was the little body
covered with the Union Jack, the Cap^t. Chief Officer
D^r & some of the other officers attended & most of
the passengers, at the words "we commit his
body to the deep" the stretcher was raised &
the little body stitched up in canvas & lead
slid overboard. The boat in the meantime had
been stopped, but as soon as the body was over
the engines started again, one man, as we passed
the spot dropped a little bunch of flowers over,
which I thought very nice of him; it was very sad.
Tomorrow morning we hope to be in Capetown
possibly for breakfast, we hope so; but now
I must stop my hand is cramping as I am
writing on my knee & its very awkward, but
quite impossible to write inside. We are to stop
at Teneriffe or Las Palmas or one of those
places, which is unusual. Cap^t would not tell
us where we are to stop, but said we would stop

somewhere before we got to England.
Truth to tell it is only since we left 

Durban that I have began to realize that

we are really on our way to England, none of

us will be sorry when the trip is over and we

can look round and see what we are to do &

all that sort of thing,

I do hope you have had rain & plenty

of it, it does seem such ages & ages since I 

heard any home news, & will make a wild 

dive for the Commercial Bank the day we

get to England, you bet, I am wondering how

dear old Nell is, I meant to write to her by this

mail but its downright hard work to write on this

boat, I think I made the remark that it was

as bad as being shut up with a lot of monkeys, but

so if I tell all the news to one then it can be 

passed on, & when I get to London Ill just

take a whole day off & write everyone.

So adieu, Ive felt decidedly off colour all day

that  kiddie gave me a shock, he went off so 

suddenly really, Heart failure, & the isolation

Hospital is up on the Poop & you feel the

motion of the boat very much, especially 

leaning over the berth, & I was on duty, it was

really just time for me to go off when it happened

poor little man, so goodnight dears all,

oceans of love to all from Narrie.