Letters and typescript copies from Florence Hobbes to her family, 1915-1918 - Part 9

have built rows & rows of long low wooden houses,
very ugly & unItalian, but they will not fall
with an earthquake, we had a slight shock
the other morning, this great place shook & the
door handles rattled it really was not very nice
and I hope they do not treat us to any more.

I must stop now dears, so sorry to hear
you had Chicken pox youngsters, & poor Donnie
with his arm, how did he break it.

Write to me some day, and tell me all
about school & how you are getting on, & send
the letter to the Bank address, as we are
leaving here shortly, prehaps this week, or
anyway next week, we do not know where we will be
going though, maybe Malta, may be England, or any
old place at all, for my part I would wish
to be sent where ever the Australians are being
sent, Kiddies, you must be very very proud of
our Australian men, they are simply splendid,
not only in their work, but in their sufferings, do
all you can to help get them comforts, & write Franks
& Jack, & Jim Langwell ^as often as you can, remember that
they may never return, & it is the greatest joy they
have, over here, hearing from the home people, & oh
how they look forward to letters, only we, who have been
over here & seen their dear faces light-up when they get
a letter, or how sad they look when someone else gets a
letter & they do not, I write ever so many Australians, simply
because Ive seen that look.  Now darlings "addio" my
very dearest love to you both & Jennie from
Your loving
Auntie Nan.

32^nd British General Hospital
Amara
Mesopotamia
11-12-16.

Dearest Donald.
Your letter, with its enclosed gift arrived yesterday,
for which many many thanks dear man, but
indeed you should not have sent it, after the
awful times you dear people have been having
for the last two years out there, its too generous
of you, & I assure you no one appreciates you dear
generosity more than I do.
Your letter, as usual, acted as a good tonic,
they always do, & they are always much read
writings, for they are as welcome as sunshine
& I can always depend on hearing some pithy
remark in them to enjoy.
Yes, among the few - very few - Australians
over here, there is a rather bitter feeling against
Hughes, for not being man enough to bring in
conscription on his return from England, for
our part we fail to see how he could keep
himself from doing it, after being over, right
there in France & seeing, for himself how absolutly
necessary it is to get every man possible, even
up here, I don't know why I said. "even", for it is
just as every bit as necessary here, &, in fact more

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so, to have every man here, & every good man, to
hold the Turks & Germans back, for God help
us, not only we people right here, but India,
Australia, if they gain this territory, & I think
only we up here really realize just what it
would mean, & what it is costing to hold it,
not only in life, which is a serious problem, but
in money, & yet, that man could hesitate
to bring in conscription, I'd like to have a
quarter of an hours conversation with him, &
put a few of the things, results, that have
happened along, for want of reinforcements,
but there, only it is, to sad that those men out
there - all those beastly unions - have so little
sense of responsibility or loyalty.

My dear man, its too glorious to think of
meeting you & Kit over in England, of course I got
wildly excited when I read your letter, oh & Donald
its worth it, the exquisite beauty of some places,
the strange & wonderful ways of others; Cairo, (&
Egypt generally, and Mesopotamia) is the most
indescribable mixture of beauty & ugliness, grandure
& filth imaginable, you simply could never realize
unless you saw it, the filth in which the natives

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live, from birth to death, my feelings were,
& are, mixed regarding Cairo, Alexandria, Basra
Amara, I sometimes think, especially with the
two former places, that it would sweeten up
the whole world generally if they, & half - or more,
of their population were incinerated, then again
I get filled with amazement, (& a tinge of
admiration in it) at the defiance of all laws
of sanitation & morality, the general spirit to
take every one down, that exists everywhere,
The gay carelessness of the polyglot population
& the "be damned to every-one & everything" way
in which every one carries on, they are an
education to anyone, prehaps a rather too
liberal one in some respects, & then London,
dear wonderful London, & my beloved Malta & Sicily,
oh they were beautiful, & how I love them.

The beastly "lights out" has gone, so good night
dear man, & long before this time next year I hope
we will have met, & are on our way back to
our own home-land, with all our dear menfolk,
wouldn't it be ripping if Frank & Jack & the others
could join us & all go back together,
Oh yes, Im sure honey morning must be quite

all you say it is, provided you are the right
people, & Im afraid my brothers-in-law
have spoilt me, for choosing a husband, I
only want one if he compares favourably
with them, & Ive sampled a good many in the
last 18 months, & find that out of them all,
our own Australian men, especially bush men,
are well away in the front rank, for niceness.
Goodnight man dear, much love & all good
wishes, Yours affectionatly
Narrelle

(Binsar still)
C/o Thos Cook & Son.
Bombay.  India.
14 - 11 - 17.

Casual cleaning

Station, just

behind the trenches

They can only stand

it for about a month

at a time,

Adieu my love

heaps of love to

the family from

Narrie

My dearest old Kit.
You certainly deserve a letter, right away, for Ive
had two no 3 fat letters from you, one after the other, the
only Australian mail I got yesterday, one from you & one
from Mother, & not one the mail before, I tell you I sat
down & howled like a frostbitten dingo, true, & the only
letter by the English mail was one from a Sg^t Berrie, one of
my Malta patients & an awful dear really, he comes
from somewhere up Moree way, knows Charlie & Rose,
& adores Mrs Solling, says she comes next to his Mother
in his affections, he writes most interesting letters from
the front, & I am anticipating a detailed account
of the recent fighting in Palestine one of these days,
Holt & Tonie, dear souls, write pets of letters, & some of the
other boys, but none of them can beat Geo Berrie when
it comes to descriptions of things, Ive kept his letter
with the account of the evacuation of Gallipoli, he
one among the very last trawler load of men to leave,
I hope dear little Tonie has got through this fighting
safely, I got awfully fond of him at Malta, he used to
come to Valletta to see me, stalking along with half a dozen of

his pals, one was that nice soul from Inverell, who
had some of his fingers blown off, & was returned to
Australia, & one with his face all shot about, and as for
Holt, he has always been a favourite, the dear boy, with
his one sided smile, have you ever noticed what a whimsical
expression it does give a face to have a one sided smile, it
always fascinates me, By the bye, who are the Macleans
of M^t Otterly, Warialda, & where is it, I remember once in
Malta, posting some lace to a Miss Maclean there, for
one of my many Australian patients, & then in last
weeks "British Australasian" I saw a little bit, to the
effect that - Maclean of Mt Otterly & another man from
up there, I forget his name, had joined the A.I.F. & I wondered
who they were, what ever was the name of that man in Malta,
an old station hand from New England somewhere, named
Bob Foster, in the 6^th A.L.H. (Holts regiment) got a Military
Medal the other day, he enlisted in Sep 1914 & up to 12^th of
Aug this month had been away from the regiment for
21 days, 14 of which were while he was recovering from
wounds received at Romani, the other 7, was a weeks
leave he was made to take about a year ago, was
30 weeks on Gallipoli & has never been on sick parade
yet, isnt that a record, for 3 years, I don't think
Holt has ever been away from the regiment either, let
me here touch wood, Im awfully distressed to hear
about dear old Franks, & sincerely trust it is only
slight, I can imagine how anxious Barbara will be, how
& where is Jack Webb?  I heard he was badly wounded, but

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have never heard anything more, Ive not heard from
Franks since the Mongolia went down, I told you didn't
I that his letter went down in her, & then floated up
in some of the bags, was'nt it a lucky chance, but
Im afraid his other letters have not been so lucky, Oh Kit if
it would only end and let us all go back now, before
anyone else is killed, poor old Ted Nott & Alan & Geof Yomans;
& crowds of others one knew in those years gone by, there
are days when I just get nearly heartbroken at the thought
of it all, & the longing to stand on deck & watch Australia
come into view, I know Ill yell like a jackal when I do,
fancy it will soon be three years since I steamed away,
I shall make the Captain tell me what time land should come
into sight, I then stay up on deck so as not to miss the
first glimpse, oh joy - I wonder if Frank & Jim will get
their discharge in England, & we could all go back together,
or if they will just ship straight back, When I go
back to England Im going to old Col Norris at the
Commonwealth Bureau, & see if I can get any of my fare
refunded, as Ive been on active service ever since I
came over, its just possible I may, but hardly think
so,. So sorry to hear wee Jean has such a bad cold, & do
hope the trips home did her good, I loved that letter of hers
from school, ask her to write me some day, they are so
refreshing. What pets Rona & Kathleen look in those snaps,
but great scott how Kathleen has grown, last time I saw the
wee thing she was a baby in arms, I simply wont know
them when I go back, & what big boys Jack & Donnie look

I must answer Donnies letter one time.
My dear even if I resigned in India, they would not let
me go to Australia from here, I joined in England, & back.
to England I have to go when I end up out here, does'nt
it seem rot, an Australian girl here, who had joined in
India England as I did, wanted to resign here & go back to Aus -
to be married, but no, tho she was so much nearer Australia,
& had nothing to take her back to England, with the prospect
of being submarined on the way, & the possibility of
having to go back all the way by the Cape, she had to go
back to England first, thats the Army, as well as having
the extra expense of the journey from England instead
of India, isnt it funny, but if I get sick any more up
in Mesopot, Im for "Blighty" next year, tho I would
rather be out here, for many things,
My dear how dreadful, fancy snow at Peidmont, those
poor beasts of sheep, I do hope the firm did not lose
many sheep, too cruel after that awful drought, &
then to have that cold snap, Im awfully sorry.
So Stanly M^cMaster is engaged, yes I expect there will
be crowds of English wives to take back to Australia
when the war ends, Franks amused me once, on the
subject, we had been talking of Teds engagement, &
Frank said Oh yes, I daresay the English girls are  very
nice, but the Australian girls will do for me I guess, "Cant
you just hear him saying it, in is downright way,
that the only reason I would like to be in England for,
to see the dear souls when they happen across, it would

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be such a huge joy, to see a human face Ive ever
seen before, you simply do'nt know the feeling, going
on for years & never seeing a face you have known before
the war, I sometimes wonder if there ever was a
time before the war, the only people Ive met since
leaving Australia, that I'd ever seen before were Tonie
& M^r Andrews, in Malta two years ago, & then, just before
I left Malta for Sicily Geo Berrie turned up, & he knew
Charlie, I could have nearly hugged him for having
known some of my people, & Im afraid if any of them
turned up now, I should hug them, without the
slightest hesitation, however as they are not at all
likely to turn up, there is no fear of my being able
to put my threat into practice.
I came across a funny little skit on Mesopotamia
in a copy of "Indian Ink" the other day written before
the fall of Baghdad
I.E.F (Indian Expeditionary Force)
British & Indian troops selected to open up the new
holiday resorts of Basra, Aurora, Kut & Baghdad;
There is some delay in the completion of arrangements
at Kut & the pioneer work at Baghdad, but Basran
is already known as the Brighton of Mesopotamia, &
the first regatta on the Tigris can be expected shortly.
The I.E.F. is unanimous in its opinion of the climate
to popularise Mesopotamia, visitors expenses are
until further notice, entirely defrayed by the Government
"Indian Ink" Xmas 1916.