Letters from Ronald Mackenzie to Arthur John Moore Burrowes, Ruth Burrowes and other relatives, 1915-1916

Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Letters from Ronald Mackenzie to Arthur John Moore Burrowes, Ruth Burrowes and other relatives, 1915-1916
MLMSS 3413/Item 4

[Transcriber's note:
Ronald Mackenzie enlisted on 5 May 1915 and was part of the New Guinea Expeditionary Force before going to Gallipoli. He survived Gallipoli but was killed at Pozieres on 30 July 1916.]

[Page 1]
[At top of note]: Letters are addressed to "Uncle"
A few letters from my cousin ? Ronald (Don) Mackenzie from Gallipoli, Lemnos, Egypt & France
1915-1916

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Military Camp. Tel-el-Kebr.

Arrived here two days ago, left Lemnos on the 3rd, going aboard the Manitou, old cable boat they crowded us on pretty thick too and the accommodation was a bit off. What should have been a sergeant’s mess was taken up by prisoners of war, - odds and ends from Salonika going to be imprisoned somewhere.

Submarines are very active in the Aegean, we were escorted the whole way, travelled without lights, a most uncomfortable business.

Luckily for me we had fine weather the whole way to Alexandria stopped there on board one day

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on board, and came on by train leaving Alexandria about 3 in the afternoon so had two hours to look at the country-side, very beautiful, the little plots nearly all lovely green with different crops. Plenty of oranges & with a splendid flavor to be had at every stop. Both Divisions are in camp here. Got a letter from you with a pile more so must get down to answering them. This is almost on the site of the historic battle-ground and they say there is a possibility of another scrap here. Must stop

Best wishes from
Don

[Page 4]
9th Oct 1915

Dear Uncle
Many thanks for your letter and news from Liverpool, any news of the old camp is very refreshing to us. We have read a lot about the Commission and the evidence given, in the papers sent to us, some of it rather amused us as we knew the witnesses pretty well. Of course to get to the root of the matter is to see plainly enough that the site of the Camp is unsuitable.

Expect you would have known almost directly when we landed here, as some of the chaps have had letters from home saying that there were rumours in Sydney about us being in action on a certain date, unlike most rumours they were correct. We were lucky enough to have been apparently used as a reserve, had few casualties ourselves but another Battalion had a very rough time indeed, they were badly mauled.

We relieved some L.H. from our present position which is more in the nature of a garrison although one never knows when our present steady routine almost, may be busted into frantic activity, any advance here would mean all or nothing to both sides so they are content to sit tight and indulge in almost daily artillery duels with the advantage to us.

The boom of big guns at Achi Baba and up the peninsular can be heard almost continuously and of course that is were we think all active movement is taking place. I might say in passing that we know less of the local happenings than you do. Also our letters are censored.

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Most of my work has been on sentry groups in the firing line worked 24 on and off with an occasional 48 on which is no trouble to us now. The men have got used to the night work and watching. We use periscopes and periscope-rifles a lot. They make observation much safer although today one of my men had a periscope rifle hit by a bullet, it was remarkable the amount of damage done busting the barrel and woodwork all roads. The enemy’s bullet has a very this case which cracks at the least thing, and this hit him all over the face, fortunately missing his eyes. I counted 34 separate cuts on his face not to mention pin-pricks when he came back from the A.M.C., all quite small.

Most of us have secured pretty good dug-outs and made ourselves fairly comfortable, the nest thing is to see how they will stand wet weather, the soil is clayey and from what we can see of the effect of a few points it will be a hell of a place.

Later. We had a 75mm turned on us just before dusk last night which gave us cause to think, the first shot knocked a hole through the parapet next to mine big enough to wheel a barrow through, by great good luck noone was hit there , although I picked up one man who finished up in the middle of the debris, he said he was not quite sure for a second or two whether he was dead or not, they say almost everyone has that sort of feeling if knocked down by concussion. The next shot was more serious hitting further down the line and causing some casualties, they fired

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about a dozen with intervals of about a minute or so, the 75 has a very high velocity with practically a flat trajectory and of course the brutes give no warning, the first thing heard is swish-bang and we have actually felt the wind of the shell as it skims over our heads. The chaps like it least of all it is so wicked. Bert Vallack just came into see me and interrupted my tale of the gun, he has got on very well, his mates say that he knows as much about the mechanical parts of a machine-gun as anyone here can teach him, we were both listening to two Turk machines gun firing at one of our planes. Their guns have a much softer sound than ours due they say to smoother workings and superior construction, we know they have sufficient of them to make things very uncomfortable for us when we make any advance. They dont seem to make any impression on aeroplanes, an anti-aeroplane gun fires at them every time they come over but hasn't hit them so far we can see the little cloud of shrapnel as each shell bursts, as a rule very wide of the mark, they are very difficult to hit, the range is hard to pick up, they travel so fast and alter their course so quickly.

11th Am writing by instalments. Yesterday I was on a post known as Bully Beef and had a quiet time until the afternoon when a few Shrapnel shells were burst over us, we got due warning from a wide and took what cover we could, the post was peppered by several after that without any damage but one of our chaps had one of his legs broken, further along the line

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The weather is very threatening today with thunder so suppose we are in for it at last and the prospect is very unpleasing no provision whatsoever has been made so we can look forward to a wet time. I have had letters from Burmac [?] things seem to be pretty well right there, what a pity it is for prices to be so high in such a good season, it is to be hoped that the papers are right about the coming harvest, that ought to releive the situation a lot. Our usual water ration is a gallon a day but a hitch occurred somewhere and we have been drawing as low as 1/3 gallon, pleased to say that things are back to normal today. All our water is brought up nearly to the top by pack-mules from an Indian Transport Corps, and our own men carry it the remainder, practically everything is brought up by mules, there are hundreds of them here and everyone good, they are nearly all pony-size but of great strength and activity, they apparently dont take the slightest notice of things that would drive a horse balmy.

You are pretty close to being correct when you said this was a tough nut, we are in hopes that it will smash all of a sudden but as far as we are concerned there seems every prospect of a long struggle.

Will stop now with love to Annie and the family from
Yours sincerely
R Mackenzie

Just been told officially of my promotion to full sergeant

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[The following paragraph has been inserted as a post script at the top of the first page of the letter, above the date]
Have just issued the weekly tot of rum, the men look forward to it, they just get enough to warm them up. Thanks for enclosed paper, we are running very short and have to husband it. With best wishes for the New Year and love for you and the kiddies from. Yours sincerely
R Mackenzie

23rd November 1915

Dear Annie

Thanks very much for your letter and all the news within it, it is the little bits that make the interesting reading and I hope you will write again and give me some more. I am still plugging along, have not had any desperate work to do yet or participated in any charges and must frankly say that I dont want to if it can be helped. I have seen the results of charges, that is unsuccessful ones and it was by no means edifying – dead men lying thick between the trenches and the penalty of sudden death for anyone venturing near them, with burial quite out of the question for the present, we have got used to a variety of things that at home would each give cause for much excitement – and we still have a lot to learn or experience. At present we are having a sort of rest from the trenches in which we put in 9 solid weeks and a bit over, the rest consists of pretty solid work with a full night’s rest – a thing not to be had in the fire-trenches, and of course the freedom from all the strain of constant watching very trying for some men, especially at night, am thankful that it was always easy for me to do to do my bit without making a hard job of it or getting the jumps and seeing Turks in everything that moved. Very sorry to know that it wasn’t Uncle who got the promotion [Burrowes enlisted in March 1917, sixteen months after this letter was written], I thought there must be some mistake because he said nothing of it when he last wrote, it must be much pleasanter for him to have a job on his own to look after and for you to go to when you visit Liverpool. Glad to hear about

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young Percy and the Blacktown men rolling up, we want them all if only to fill up the gaps which grow in an alarming manner although we are not doing desperate deeds, if we were, they would want to send Battalions of them.

24th Its getting a habit with me to write my letters in instalments. During the night one of our cooks was hit in the shoulder by a spent bullet, he was in a supposedly safe place too, but bullets come in very queer ways, it will probably mean a trip to England or Malta for him lots of chaps are very lucky in getting superficial wounds that only require time to heal and do them no permanent injury as they get a trip to England perhaps and the best of attention all the time in fact some of them wont come back or hang out as long as they can while convalescing. Hope you have had rain. I know what it will meant to you to run short, we are cut very short at present ½ a gallon a day is the ration, it is a job to get enough water to have a shave and we look a ruffianly lot in consequence.

Our letters are censored but through the courtesy of my platoon commander who is a very decent chap I am enabled to close my letters without having them read, it makes a difference in the freedom with which one writes. Today I secured a pass and had a look around some of the places I had not previously seen and had a shot at a Turks periscope not more than 20 yards away, in odd places the trenches are even closer than that. 577 bags of mail for us has been sunk by a submarine, on the "Orange "Prince" and some mail from us to Australia was lost on a lighter, mostly Christmas cards and letters. I was a heavy loser, about 20 cards and 3 letters of mine went down.
[Last page appears to be missing]

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13th Dec 1915

Dear Uncle

Very pleased to get your letter from Liverpool and all the news. We are back in the trenches again after a spell from them of about 5 weeks, we were put back into our own old position and the Turks gave us a very warm reception and some casualties resulted. I had better not say how many, big howitzer shells somewhere near 6 inch and weighing over 100 lbs have been lobbing everywhere on the position the whole time making life a very uncertain quantity, they are so erratic. 75s have been having a pot too, today I am Batt. orderly-sergeant and this morning have done nothing but walk trenches, so had a good idea of the damage done, at one time I saw shells going both ways, could see them quite plainly and in fact one landed within 15 yards and I can assure you it shakes ones nerves up some. I thank the Lord that my nerves are in fair order, some of the chaps who have had narrow escapes have entirely lost whatever nerve they had and fairly do their block if a shell comes over. Some very puzzling and mysterious things have been happening of late so we are on the watch for a big move, by the look of things we will be fair in the centre if there is a scrap. We are just getting a bit of our own back, big shells are falling every few seconds on the enemy trenches immediately in front, we can feel the concussions here.

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Christmas day. Isle of Lemnos. The last 12 days have been very full for me. The mysterious happenings were the preparation for our evacuation, it was an anxious time for us as we got weaker every day, each position having the number of men holding it decreasing every day. We were bombarded by howitzers every day and they got on our nerves a lot, its pretty off to have to stand in a trench and have them bursting most uncomfortably close, not knowing when one’s turn was coming. I had the honour to be amongst the very last to leave Russells Top. 25 men from each Company being picked to stay till the finish, we stood to arms all night from 3 in the afternoon until 3 in the morning and I had charge of a detached post known as Bully Beef, one of my section commanders and a man from B Company were killed on the same spot by a howitzer shell the previous day. We got very tired of the continuous watching and it became a strain after midnight when we still had 3 hours to go. Had the enemy charged us as they did the following night we could never have held them off and every man of us would have died. All our arrangements were carried out in perfect order, my party left 5 minutes before the very last and filed quietly out and so down to the back where we were hustled on board so quickly that I hadnt time to throw my bombs away as we had been ordered

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anyhow it went it went to my heart to do it later on when we boarded a transport. I was very much tempted to keep them, but decided not to. The latest pattern of bombs are boskers as near safe as it is possible to get. All the mines were blown up before we left but I had the bad luck to miss the sight being inside the lighter, the Turks must have thought we were just about to charge as they turned on a perfect hell of machine guns and rifle fire from all their back trenches, it showed clearly what great strength they were in, they must have lost a lot of men from the mine explosions however. We have heard since that the day we left they bombarded all along the line all day and the following night charged, they swarmed all over the beaches where the destroyers got at them and gave the pi, it was lucky for us that their information was at fault. We were issued with socks to pull over our boots when we were about to leave so that they would not hear us tramping through the trenches.

There was not a hitch anywhere in the evacuation arrangements and every man got safely off. An enormous amount of gear of various kinds was destroyed and left behind that it would not pay to shift, of course a lot more fell into the Turk’s hands it could not very well be avoided. Those who stayed to the last were to be inspected by General Birdwood on arrival here but it was put off – we hear that an extra clasp will be awarded to us as they seem to regard our achievement

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as a little extra. I was very sorry not to be able to get more photos on the Peninsular, I have been able to get a few here of old windmills etc. The shipping here is enormous, hundreds of transports and warships of all sorts and sizes, the camps ashore are of a size and number to fit, all around the bay are Camps as big as Liverpool. The Island is pretty thickly populated, small villages at short distances apart, most of the houses square built of two stories all rough stone work no plaster in or out and a shop in every house to catch the fleeting crop of soldiers money, strange to say their prices are reasonable the stock tinned stuff, figs, oranges, dates and a great variety of chocolates. Of course most of the chaps have plenty of money so the natives are coining money, its great to be able to get some fruit and a bit of different tucker.

We are not allowed to post letters for awhile and we all expect to go to Egypt so will post it there, we all want to go there its much to cold here for our liking.

We have done a little drill since we came here and the chaps are picking up their old form remarkably well, things naturally got a bit lax in the trenches. I felt a bit strange at first drilling my platoon or trying too, anyhow dont think I made too bad a show considering. Will write again in Egypt as we are not allowed to post letters here.

[There is no signing off at the bottom of the page]

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20th Feb 1916

Dear Uncle

Your last letter which arrived a day or two ago was written on Xmas day and must have been pretty quiet for you, of course you could make up for it afterwards. I spent mine on Lemnos and it wasnt too bad, anything seemed pretty good then without the restraint of the trenches still fresh in our minds.

Am proud to have been amongst the last to leave the Peninsular, it seems to have caused more stir than the Landing itself. Of course we had a terrible lot of luck and for once in our lives things worked without the slightest hitch, one little mistake at the finish and practically all of us would never have got off. I remember, when whispers of the proposed Evacuation were going round, thinking at the time that we hadnt as possible chance of getting away without terrible losses

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Anyhow soon afterwards unmistakable signs showed what was doing, the moving of stores and troops from already weak positions left no room for doubt.

We were very annoyed by the lousy sooners whom we had relieved from Walker’s Ridge cheering and shouting when they went aboard the lighters, Turks must have heard them quite plainly, they didnt care how much they jeopardised our chances of getting off so long as they saved their own skins, they were known mostly as the "Dopey___ I had better not say it. Horace Lovegrove was camped within 2 miles of me at Tel-et-Kebir but didnt see him after all.

Just now we are waiting for Turks near the [Suez] canal out on the Desert, but constant rumours are round of our moving shortly to somewhere in Europe. Today we were addressed by General Legge in which he hinted a possible move.

Hoping you and family are quite well
Yours sincerely
Don

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France 11th April 1916

Dear Auntie

Was away at a school a few days your letter arrived while I was away, found my mob on the move when I got back, gradually getting a bit closer to where things go off.

Had quite a good time while at the school, very interesting work and sufficient time off to have a look around a fair-sized town a little way off. Sorry to say my French is not advancing very fast, owing to the fact of the people having had over a years start in learning English, the consequence is that when I try my halting French they answer me in English. Struck some very nice people near the School, they invited me to tea, two fine girls in the family who both spoke very good English not to mention Flemish themselves and very fair. Didnt like leaving those parts a bit and hope to go around that way again some day. Today proved we were well within range of artillery by the Allemands shelling a house and setting it on fire, a bit to one side and behind us. Expect we will get right up in front very shortly. Would have sent you a cable when we landed, but they wont let me. Practically everything is chewed up by shells here, the houses nearly all have large holes in them somewhere with bits of their roofs missing, some have only the walls standing a village close to us has noone in it, the ruin

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and desolation spread whenever fighting has occurred is something for one to remember. I was in a farm across the road today, it had been turned into a little fortress, loopholes made all round the brick walls and sandbagged up, everything in the furniture line and farm machinery more or less smashed up and slung into the courtyard, a grievous sight altogether.

Thank goodness we missed the Winter, the conditions here then must have been just appalling, by the look of old camps and fields or any place where men had been moving. Although we have had a little rain, the ground is fast drying, the green grass and budding trees I watch every day, its a great country monotonous after a while, everlasting fields bounded by hedges and lines of straight growing trees planted in a dead line, I dont know what they are, am told the owners are not allowed to cut them until the trees reach a certain age and another must be grown to replace it. Of course the Military cut and destroy anything just as it suits them.

I often wonder what the poor devils of people will do when they return at last to their homes, it will take many years to bring them back to normal again, of course the farms interest me most, at every chance I go poking around examining their internal arrangements all the cattle are housed during the winter

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apparently. All the houses are built of brick with tiles or thatched roofs.

Very stiff luck you catching that cyclone, when it was so narrow too. Hope you have no difficulty getting someone to fix things up for you again. It would be nice for you to get a man to make a complete overhauling of the fences gates etc., and would mean a big saving in time and worry to you.

That Upperby shed roof was fated to go off. Have had letters from Aunt Mary in which she said she had heard we might go to France, must write this mail and give her a slight shock. Up to now there has been no mention of Australians in France in English papers which we get only two days old.

Heard a few bullets whistle last night, quite like old times, the remarks and comments of the new hands on the few shells they have seen burst are rather funny. We have a chap named Symons from Riverstone with us, he knows old Pa Davis quite well, a good man too.

I sincerely hope Nell is wrong about Bert, it would be rotten for his people.

Am enclosing a cheque on the account of Sgt Major Cameron of my Company made in your favour, hope you get it safely, do what you think fit with it.

With best love from
R Mackenzie

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France
21st April 16

Dear Uncle
Just a note to let you know I am still kicking and have not yet seen anything very fierce over here, every thing dead quiet after Gallipoli, expect things will liven up in the dry weather, at present Artillery do all the work.

We have just done four days in the trenches, had a nice restful time in my Company, one of the others got hit to leg a bit but nothing very serious, losing a few men. The trench arrangements are not bad considering the country, but there is room for improvement, the ground is very heavy so all the trenches have to be boarded with what they call duck-walks, it must have been truly awful for the poor Tommies in the first Winter, they say they bogged to their wastes in some places. Was very anxious to have a look at the German front lines, nothing very remarkable about them – miles and yards of barbed wire of course, the greenest green grass, untrodden by man for many a day, we missed the usual dead men which dotted the inbetween trenches in the Penins [Gallipoli Peninsular]. Had a post card and parcel from Aunt Mary tonight, I often hear from her now, if I could only get away

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could be over in London in a day.

We had to get rid of our cameras, they wont stand them over here, it gave me a sharp pang to part with mine, I had so looked forward to taking snaps over here. Today we all had a fine warm bath and clean clothes at a specially fitted place a little distance away, a great comfort. It seemed funny to be amongst whole houses again for every house in the Artillery zone has a hole of some sort in the roof or sides.

I know what April showers are now it has showered off and on, mostly on for a fortnight and is raining solidly now, it makes everything very much more unpleasant in this flat heavy land. It’s a great country though and I hope you will see it some day, the fields, roads and planted trees are an education in themselves which ought to bear some fruit from the minds of those of us who live to get back. I hear things are much improved at Liverpool and the men more orderly, it was not a difficult thing to improve on.

Hope to hear from you shortly
With best love to Annie and the Kiddies
Yours sincerely
Don

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[Cover of an envelope]
[On the post mark is the date 19 January 1916 5th Inf Bde
Field P.O.]
On Active Service

Sgt. Major A.J. Burrowes
Franurra
Rooty Hill
N.S.W.
Australia

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France
26th June 1916

Dear Uncle
Arrived back at my unit yesterday from the School after a very full month’s instruction. The time there was all too short for me, several things I wanted to know more about were not touched on owing to the time running out. All our drill instructions of which I think we had too much, based on the Guards way of doing things. A Battalion of Grenadier Gs was attached to the school for the student Officers to practice on. I saw them doing battalion drill and all rifle exercises, on the word moving as one man. I didnt think it possible for a body of men to attain such a precision of movement. It goes to show what expert teaching and constant practice will do. The Guards are supposed to set the standard in pretty well everything. The men certainly are beings quite apart from the new army. Tommies in appearance and behaviour. They have a great reputation to keep up and I believe all their men do their best to maintain it.

The country is alive with our men, coming back I saw Battalion colours quite strange to me. All sorts of odds

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and ends of units are scattered about. Am sorry to say some dont seem to make much of an effort to keep their men clean and tidy, especially when there is no good reason for being dirty, as the chaps in the trenches have. It looks rotten to see a man with his clothes hanging anyhow on him lounging about the streets.

Our chaps raided Fritz last night after a bombardment, with satisfactory results, tonight he started slinging the big stuff over, knocked off for a while and has just started again, the boys up in front are having a close time. Our own guns are replying now. I hear the raiding party report many dead in the German trenches so our guns must have caught them on the hop.

27th Shells lobbed very close to us this morning one right in the billet, its worse than being in the trenches

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because you cant hit back, its marvellous the way men escape, with all the men there were knocking about this morning no one was hit, just luck or something else. We get all Howitzer shells here and they smash everything just where they land, there are no places around here safe from shell fire.

We have a cat here quite mad, they say it is from shell-shock.

Two terriers too that spend their time rat hunting until they hear a shell whistle when the gallop for the billet and hide in a corner, shaking like leaves.

Yesterday went for a walk into ____ and struck Horace and Ronald Bingle with only a few minutes between, its a rare thing for me to meet any personal friends. Horace just the same old doer and looking very well, he asked to be remembered to all our folk.

Ronald has his commission in a Pioneer Battalion, has only just got here from Egypt.

I dont think I told you of a chap named Symons from Riverstone he joined us in Egypt from the 5th Rein I often had a yarn with him about the district, he knew the Davis family well, the poor chap was killed in a big

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dusting we got about 6 weeks ago. Aunt Mary writes regularly and sends papers, it was in one of them I saw Symons’ name amongst the casualties. Poor Brusher is having a rather miserable time, it is a great pity he did not join an Australian unit, Egypt at least would not have affected his health. Even now in the middle of summer, it has rained every second day, it must be just awful in the winter, I dread being here then. Am afraid that we will have to put up with it, the War certainly wont be over.

With love to all your people from
Yours sincerely
Don

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[The first line appears to have been censored. What can be read shows it is two words. The first is Transport and the second looks like the name of a ship as the word is in inverted commas]
Left Moascar on the [date censored] at midnight and journeyed to Alexandria in open trucks arriving there about 9 in the morning, went straight aboard the boat, three times have I been in Alexandria without actually seeing the city, no possible chance of getting leave to go up the town although we laid at the wharf for the best part of two days.

This is a rather smallish boat as Troopers go but better than some, this trip I have a berth very much appreciated knowing what I know of the Troop-decks, when we left the weather was a bit dirty and I had a bad time for a couple of days not feeling quite right yet boats never did agree with me, I am liable to feel off at any time should there be the least roll, it is rather a misfortune for me, most of the chaps have a really good time and are quite sorry when their trip is done. We think somewhere in France is our destination although nothing definite has been said to us.

We have had lectures on French conditions in the trenches and what to expect there such as various forms of gas etc and how to combat them.

Steamer has developed a bit of a roll and dont feel too good so will knock off

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31st Somewhere in Flanders. I have lots to write about, but the strict censors do not allow us to say much. had a lovely train trip fairly comfortable, extending over 60 hours, we passed through some gorgeous country that would have looked even better had the trees been in leaf, they are only just starting to bud now here, although further South they are more advanced. I never got tired of looking at the countryside, in fact felt annoyed that I couldnt look both ways at once and would have liked the train to pull up at night so that I could have seen the lot. The people gave us a great welcome and I must say the boys behaved very well on the whole.

We are in billets here in a very nice little old village, and have made ourselves very comfortable, it is a real pleasure to have decent white people to talk to and have dealings with after the Egyptians who always got on

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my nerves. The chaps generally are greatly taken with them and show them every respect. English Tommies have been billeted here at various times so the inhabitants have been able to pick up a little English, just as well too as our efforts to make ourselves understood cause a lot of fun for both sides. Am trying to pick up French so as to get a working knowledge of it, getting along famously so far.

One thing very noticeable is the great number of women in mourning, here every family seems to have lost someone, there are practically no young men around. I have seen women ploughing in the fields and working in Engineers shops.

Wine and beer is very cheap, champagne can be bought for as low as 5 francs a big bottle, the best is only about 9 francs, the ordinary wines are 10 centimes a glass, about a penny, not bad stuff either.

Its not too easy to write here, we are not to say or write anything that would give any inkling to the enemy.

Think I will write up the lot and only send you short notes.

With best love from
Don

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[Postcard – painting of a Sergeant inspecting two soldiers of the Seaforth Highlanders "In Drill Order". Painted by Harry Payne]

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[Reverse of the above postcard which contains a brief history of the Seaforth Highlanders. Addressed to:]
Mr Don Mackenzie
Upperby
Rooty Hill
New South Wales
Australia

With much love from Auntie

Oban
5 Sep 1916

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[Postcard – photo of a donkey pulling a cart on which sits a male driver, three women in veils and a young girl.]
Cairo- Ready for a drive

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[Reverse of the above postcard]
Miss Ruth Burrowes
Franurra
Rooty Hill
N.S.W.
Australia

Dear Ruth
There are lots of these little carts and donkeys here and they trot along quite well, in the morning they come in loaded with melons and vegetables from the gardens away out over the Desert, we see camels coming in with haystacks on their backs, too.

With love from Don

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[Postcard – photo]
Cairo – General view with the mosques of Sultan Hassan and El-Rifai

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[Reverse of the above postcard, posted in Egypt and postmarked from the British Camp Heliopolis]
Mrs Burrowes Snr
Upperby
Rooty Hill
N.S.W.
Australia

Dear Grandma
We are pretty well settled down here now and used to the routine of the Camp. I have had a trip to Cairo, it is a quaint and wicked place with lots of peculiar sights. With narrow old streets with a most decided smell, not pleasant either.
Don

[Transcriber’s notes:
Achi Baba Gallipoli, was a prominent hill feature offering a commanding panorama of the Allied beachhead at Cape Helles and was therefore highly placed on the Allied list for seizure.
A.M.C. – Army Medical Corps.
Annie is Arthur Burrowes’ wife
Bingle Ronald (army number 4402) died on 8 August 1918. Horace is probably Horace Lovegrove referred to on page 15 in the letter dated 20th February 1916.
Boskers – Australian slang meaning "very good".
Lieut. General James Gordon Legge was a controversial General who with no recent combat experience, was promoted over General Monash. He clashed with Monash over actions on Gallipoli and eventually Birdwood manoeuvred Legge to Egypt where he took command of the 2nd Div. He was in charge of the division at the Battle of Pozieres where Don Mackenzie died.
L.H. - Australian Light Horse Regiment.
Lighter – this is a type of flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods and passengers to and from moored ships.
Loopholes - Historically, narrow vertical windows from which castle defenders launched arrows from a sheltered position were referred to as "loopholes.
Moascar was an army camp on the outskirts of Ismailia, on the Suez Canal.
Oban is about 120 kms W of Coffs Harbour.
Orange Prince – sunk by a German submarine on 15 November 1915 while sailing from Alexandria to Mudros.
Pioneer Battalions - During the war roads and railways needed to be maintained. Engineers alone could not meet the heavy demand, while riflemen were always needed at the front so Pioneer Battalions were raised to support engineers and infantry.
Tel-el-Kebir is 110kms NNE of Cairo and 75 kms S of Port Said. During WW1 it was a training centre for Australian reinforcements and the site of a large prisoner of war camp. The town is now called Ezbet Mohammed Ateya
Robert (Bert) Vallack (army number 61) an electrical fitter, was in the machine gun section of the 5th Infantry Brigade. He served in Gallipoli and was repatriated to Australia from there in January 1916 probably as a result of having jaundice.
Riverstone is in NSW about 12kms N of Rooty Hill and about 20kms NW of Parramatta.
Russell’s Top was 750-100 yards east of ANZAC Cove.
Walker’s Ridge crosses Russell’s Top]

[Transcribed by Miles Harvey, Betty Smith for the State Library of New South Wales]