Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915
MLMSS 245/Box 2 / Folders 1-12

[Transcriber’s note:
Honorary Lieutenant Colonel John Brady Nash VD (Volunteer Decoration) (1857-1925), a parliamentarian and surgeon from Sydney, NSW, joined the Army on 19 October 1914 aged 57, and embarked from Sydney, NSW, on HMAT A55 Kyarra on 28 November 1914 with the 2nd Australian General Hospital. He left Egypt to return to Australia on the Themistocles in early December 1915, escorting invalided soldiers.

This is a series of letters from him to his four daughters in Australia: Agnes (Sister Mary Hyacinth), Caroline, Josephine, and Kathleen. Caroline, Josephine and Kathleen lived in the family home at 219 Macquarie Street, Sydney. Agnes was a Dominican nun, usually resident in Moss Vale, NSW.

Mentioned frequently in the letters is Private Edward George Jerrom, sometimes written Jerom or Jerome, No 778, a Parliament House Messenger in Sydney, NSW, who enlisted on 22 October 1914 aged 41 and embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital, serving as Lieutenant Colonel Nash’s orderly or batman in Egypt and Gallipoli, returning to Australia with Lieutenant Colonel Nash on the Themistocles escorting invalid soldiers. He later served in France with the 1st Field Ambulance and returned to Australia in September 1917.

The letters describe Dr Nash’s voyage on the Kyarra in November 1914, the places visited, life on board the ship until disembarkation in Alexandria, and his experiences in Cairo where he worked in two different hospitals and also visited many historic sites. Towards the end of his time in Egypt, he visited Gallipoli and describes the voyage and the situation he found there. Throughout his letters he mentions a number of other serving medical personnel and soldiers, as well as many friends and prominent citizens in New South Wales, and news items from home and abroad, including the Gallipoli landing, the sinking of the Emden by HMAS Sydney, and the capture of German New Guinea.

The series also includes a small number of letters or documents from other people, including:
An account by Lieutenant John Williams (11th Infantry Battalion) of his voyage from Fremantle to Aden on HMAT A11 Ascanius in November 1914, including an account of the sinking of the German cruiser Emden (pages 379 to 386);
A letter from Sister Blanche Sutton who served at the Queen of Belgium’s Hospital in La Panne, Belgium, about a fire there, and an encounter with the royal family (pages 444 to 455);
A letter from Engineer Lieutenant Clarence Walter Bridge, of HMAS Australia, about the fall of German New Guinea in August 1914 (pages 546 to 549).

Short biographical details have been added for people referred to in the letters where it is possible to identify them sufficiently. Errors in spelling have generally been preserved although those considered to be typographical errors in typed letters have been corrected. Line or paragraph breaks have been introduced as necessary to improve readability.]

[Page 1]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter G.]

Dr. Nash

7 Decbr 1914
S.S. Kyarra

My dear Car, Joseph, & Kitty:/

When I was in Melbourne, a dentist whose name I do not know, looked at my teeth a couple of times. Dr Kenny introduce me to him. I have written to Dr. Kenny asking that he should tell the dentist to send a memo of his account to you and that you would pay him by cheque. It will only be a small amount, which I should not have neglected to pay before leaving.

The two days out from Port Phillip have been as disagreeable as were those from Sydney to Melbourne. Very few members of our party faced the dining table. The senior officers, seven out of eight colonels, made a good showing and example by being at every meal I was not the absent one. He was our clergyman, the Revd Mr Ney [Nye], an Anglican. Poor fellow he was very sick last night and today is confined to his bunk. The younger doctors and the nurses have been really bad. The old buffers have conclued that as one grows older he becomes less susceptible to the pitching and the rolling of a steamer. So it may be.

[Colonel Chaplain Edward Nye, 45, Methodist Minister of Prahran, Victoria, embarked from Melbourne on 15 December 1914 on HMAT Kyarra as a Chaplain with the 1st AGH. He returned to Australia in early 1916.]

[Page 2]

Today the sea and wind have moderated to a marked degree, and the weather so continuing most of our party will be appearing on deck more numerously as the hours pass by. Jerome has been a good sailor, and able to attend to all my requirements. My writing pads are in the tin trunk which is in the box room, when it is available I shall have thinner paper than this now being written upon.

Nothing has come into my mind that has been neglected by me as far as business matters are concerned.

The copies of the pamphlets did not get to Melbourne before we set out, therefore I asked the man at Melbourne Club that they should be addressed Fremantle in the hope that we might be caught up at that port. If we knew where we were to be found after that I might direct you as to letters, however follow the directions which will no doubt be published in the press, we can live in hopes that your communications will reach us in due course.

The group photograph, and the two small ones hang above my berth, these being ready to greet one each morning and to remind me of your smiles each time that I enter the cabin. My colleague, Dr. Springthorpe, has been "cracking hardy" up till luncheon today, but at this meal he was almost himself. Dr. Grey, the fat man, sits opposite to me while I write, struggling between reading the "Kings Regulations", and a pair of sleepy eyes, it is even betting which will conquer. Dr. John Storey, son to David, has just come in. He too is well conditioned. The

[Lieutenant Colonel John William Springthorpe (1855-1933), medical practitioner of Melbourned, joined the AAMC on 19 October 1914 and embarked with Dr Nash from Sydney on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital. He was critical of the management of the Red Cross in Egypt, and of Sir James Barrett’s work there.

Major William Charles Grey, 39, medical practitioner of Lidcombe, NSW, and Captain John Colvin Storey, 27, surgeon of Sydney, also embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra.

Sir David Storey (1856-1924), NSW businessman and politician.]

[Page 3]

Colonel and three colleagues, 3 p.m., are playing bridge. Others are sitting or reclining on the couches about the smoking room reading or sleeping. Sleep wins the Kings Regulations are falling to the ground & Grey’s head is by degrees bobbing lower & lower. He grabbs the book with his right hand. He has now moved off to another site where he perchance will sleep in greater comfort. Dr. Jackson from Brisbane, a sour faced irritable old gent, is asleep to my right hand, he has been making presence to read, and would if told that he had been sleeping, reply angrily "not I". Anyhow he looks that sort. He has not been to meals, but says that: "I have not been sick! Please remember that I do not become seasick!!!" One of the crusty old sort, who is highly amusing to those about him. He is of class that had a day but it is not of A.D. 1914.

Hope fills me that this may reach you in time to convey a Christmas greeting. If so please over the Turkey & plum pudding remember that we midst the watery elements, move daily onwards getting daily nearer and near to our destination. Which is God alone knows where. We should, at Christmas & New Year time, be somewhere on the Indian Ocean. To toast your very good health, and to wish that Fortune may smile her sweetest upon you always, and that God’s blessings and every happiness may be with you in full measure at all

[Major Ernest Sandford Jackson, 54, surgeon of Brisbane, QLD, embarked from Brisbane on 21 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 1st Australian General Hospital.]

[Page 4]

times will be a duty performed with pleasure, which will make fonder the hearts that are so far separated. Thought swifter than lightenings stroke shall travel from us to you and we may shall in fancy conjure up replies. Tell Maria and her relations that I do pray that with them all may be what I have wished to you for the holy and festive season. To the same end please convey for me like messages to all my friends. Membrance does not reproach in regard tonight in writing for any. If there be one I am sorry.

We receive no news of the war. There is a wireless plant and an operator on board but the Commonwealth has not made provision whereby we might get an inkling of what is occurring in the outside world. You at breakfast may have a summary from world wide sources, while we have but the narrow limits of our ship, the boundless ocean around, the books and papers of ancient date, for our study and instruction

8.12.14. A change has come o’er the spirit of the dreams of nearly every one on board our ship, as a sequel to a smooth sea in the section of the Australian Bight on which we are now travelling. The occupiers of deck chairs have increased in numbers hourly, and the faces of men & women are more cheerful, while relays at table have had to be arranged. This is good. Of all the sick men the clergyman was the most seriously ill. He has breasted the table twice today.

[Page 5]

[On letterhead of No. 2 General Hospital, 2nd Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force.]

This morning at 10 o’clock I commenced the lectures to the men of the No. 2 Hospital, by addressing them upon the various diseases to which the soldier may be liable, discussing their causes, modes of origin, and in what manner each man might help to protect himself and his comrades from becoming a victim to many. All those listening gave attention and behaved showed desire to be instructed. This augurs well for the spirit in which the men are entering upon the task which lies before them. If such continues it will help materially to make our expedition the success which we hope may attend it at every stage of its progress. If the individuals of a race be imbued with a proper pride in their forebears and relations and estimate at a high standard the value of their country, the material for those training them is of the best quality, and if the instructors be qualified for the tasks the result is bound to be of the best. So it may be with all connected with No 2 General Hospital which is attached to the Military Division which constitutes the Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force.

On waking this morning the light, through the port hole, illuminated the faces of Car., Joe, Mollie, & Kathleen gathered around a bald-headed old chap on one sheet of paper, while a little further from my eyes were two lassies, the younger holding firmly a doll with black hood & cape, and still further away a young woman with high collar round her neck and her hair in bonnie fashion rising from a well shaped forehead. Can you guess who they were?

9-15. Truly tonight are we a ship upon a

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smooth wide ocean, there is hardly a ripple upon the water’s surface, a gentle breeze blows from the south, and the good ship ploughs her way Westward through the glassy surface. Much of the romance of olden days has departed from a long sea voyage, progress is so rapid that there is no time for the flying Dutchman, the sea serpent, and other fearsome objects that lay in wait for the sailing ship as she breasted the mighty waves or rolled for weeks becalmed upon the swelling surface. Alone still does the albatross fly in the wake of the ship with anxious eyes scanning the flotsam & jetsam that is cast overboard to float astern to God alone knows where. If it be to the tase [taste] of the great birds it is soon devoured otherwise it drifts further and further astern.

I am writing a brief account of our wanders for Sir Gerald Strickland with the hope that he may be pleased with it. The first installment will go by the same post that carries this from Fremantle.

9-12-14. 3 p.m. My left arm is sore. First of all I scratched the second finger of my left hand in Melbourne, yesterday it gave me a little trouble, last night I had it seen to as also this morning & it is nearly right well again. At 11 a.m. into my left arm was placed the first dose of the anti-typhoid serum, already my upper arm is sore giving promise that later on some sickness will follow. Many

[Sir Gerald Strickland GCMG (1861-1940), later 1st Baron Strickland, born in Malta, was Governor of Tasmania from 1904 to 1909, of WA from 1909 to 1913 and of NSW from 1913 to 1917.]

[Page 7]

others of our party have also submitted themselves to the needle, we shall further on be in a position to take notes as to the effect following. You Joe dear do not remember when you, the housemaid and I, had typhoid fever in Wallsend, we all struggled through three weeks of serious sickness. Every day reports were made to me about your condition. You were in the back room of the house while I was in the front. It was in the year 1892. None of the other girls has suffered from the fever. Good thing too, because it is a trial which were best avoided.

The sun shines brightly today, making the blue colour of the ocean apparent. Many new faces amongst the nurses have are to be seen on deck. One of them said – "This is my last sea voyage. If ever I get back to Australia terra firma will be good enough for me." She will probably forget.

Every one on board the good ship Kyarra would give something to have some inkling as to the progress of the war. Those at the Kergulen [Kerguelen] Islands are as well informed as we. There is a wireless plant & an operator on board, but no provision has been made for the sending of news to us. It may be that the authorities believe that each superflous message that is sent into the atmosphere might be the bearer of information to some enemy’s war ship which would put him on the right road to do harm. I have not seen a ship since we left Port Phillip. The albatross is the only living thing that keeps

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us company. They are scavangers which in quest of food follow in the wake of deep sea ships day in day out.

During the morning, after visiting the hospital, I devoted my time to reading a surgical work and the French book that M. Chayet gave to me. Major Barrett has the best French book I have seen, the first column is English, the next correctly written French, while the third are the French words written phonetically. Thus by speaking aloud the printing in the third column one can get an approximate idea of how the Frenchman speaks his language on his native soil. Trying to place within his skull a smattering of French is an occupation of nearly every man on board; I do not note that the nurses are equally enthusiastic in their pursuit of knowledge.

The inmost recesses of my brain have been ransacked during the last few hours trying to bring forth the name of the medical man who in Havana submitted himself to be bitten by mosquitoes as a test of Dr. Finlays statement that the little beastie carried the germs of the disease from one human being to another. You may ’member that I read the account of his heroism to you more than once and we spoke about the meaneness of the United States Republic when it gave to the doctors widow the paltry sum of 17 dollars per month for the support of herself & her children.

[Monsieur A. Chayet was Consul General of France in Sydney in 1915.

Sir James William Barrett KBE CMG MD MS FRCS, 1862-1945, ophthalmologist, of Melbourne, Victoria, was appointed head of the Australian Red Cross at the outbreak of the war and sailed from Brisbane on 21 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra. He served in Egypt as registrar and oculist with the 1st Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis, and was promoted to Major and later Lieutenant Colonel. As a result of administrative problems at the hospital, he was relieved of his duties in February 1916 and resigned his commission. Ignoring an order to return to Australia, he instead went to England and there joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving as a medical consultant and in other roles in Egypt. He returned to Australia in 1919.]

[Page 9]

Just think of it £1. per week. As far as my judgment goes there was no greater deed of heroism in the anals of the world. Nor were there ever braver men than the two privates, with the fate of the Medical officer ringing in their ears as it did from end to end of the land, who offered to make trial in their bodies of that power of the mosquito to do infect them with the fell disease. They stipulated that there should be no monetary reward. Is it wonder that Dr. Reed, who was speaking to them, on receiving their decision, jumped to his feet and said with his hand to his cap: "Gentlemen I salute you!" What is the name of the doctor? Will it come to me during the day? Is it not strange that no medical man to whom I have directed enquiry has been able to give me the name. One had thought that on the tip of each professional tongue the name were ready to leap forth. No!!!!. Such is heroism? Such is self sacrifice?

9 p.m. – The name of that doctor has not yet come to my lips. Bother! Botheration!!!!

In your next letter send to me the names and addresses of the people whom you knew & who were kind to you when you were travelling. Then if I am their way it will be a pleasure for me to salute them & thank them personally.

[Page 10]

I have not Mrs. Captain Frasers or her daughters address.

Since dinner I have written several Xmas letters which I may have opportunity to post in Fremantle. Taking time by the forelock you will say. Is it not good to do so? Most of my day has been occupied in an effort to grasp French pronunciation. Some portion has been given to surgery.

Dr. Springthorp has followed my example & upon the wall of our cabin hang photos of various members of his family. Two boys & a girl comprise his crowd, two grown up and the third at the Melbourne University. His daughter, the eldest, has gone to England there to be married.

11-12-14. His name was Dr. Leazaar [Lazear]. It was not called from the recesses of my brain by thinking or by thumping my skull. Dr. Ramsay said he thought he had it in a report of a Congress. Though he could not find it himself he looked through the pages with me behind him, my eye lighted upon a name – "Eureka Leazaar!" was at once exclaimed by me. Of all the names I have known none had I though to lose so soon from the remembering tablets of my brain. Alas for human frailty, or should I not rather write of some human frailty, because there be some few people who never forget.

If Nan be with you tell her that Dr. Kennedy is playing deck billiards with a party of officers and nurses. He desires me send his best wishes to all of you for the holiday season.

Many thanks Kitty, my dear, for putting so neat a cover on M.M. Joseph’s gift to me.

[Jesse William Lazear, born in Baltimore in 1866, was a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore from 1895. In 1900, as a surgeon with the US Army at Quemados, Cuba, he, along with two colleagues, confirmed the transmission of Yellow Fever by mosquitoes. Allowing himself to be bitten by yellow fever-carrying mosquitoes, he died of the disease on 26 September 1900.

Captain Basil Carlyle Kennedy, 24, senior resident medical officer at Sydney Hospital, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital. ]

[Page 11]

It was good of you to remember.

When I opened my tin trunk this morning it was found that water had got amongst the books and papers and that many of them were wet. A nuisance. Jerome is now drying them by exposure & later will put them in the pantry in a heating apparatus. It is good that they were not left longer without being seen to or some of them would certainly have been destroyed.

Deck billiards, deck hockey, cricket and other games are practised by the sporting folk on board, to their own enjoyment and the amusement of onlookers.

Our clergyman is Colonel Ney [Nye], a Bapt Methodist from Victoria. He told me that he is a Chaplain of the first class, & while holding no substantive rank is entitled to be saluted and addressed as Colonel. He is of the "fancy" religions, according to the Sgt. Major, who formed up his battalion on a church parade & said: "Anglicans to the right, Romans to the left, Presbyterians to the front, and fancy religions to the rear." It was common belief that there were but the first three first in the Army, others just have been added to the Commonwealth forces.

I have written letters to M. M. Bertram – of course to Buddie – to other friends who have in one way & another been kind to & considerate for you and me. They will all be placed in the post at Fremantle.

When shall I have another opportunity for communicating with you I do not know, but when it offers some sort of a letter will be sent on

[Page 12]

its journey. It may be that before we leave W.A. letters may arrive from you.

I do not member of any business matters that I have neglected, if there be some I hope that you have written about them in the chance of the information reaching me some day that I may reply.

Good bye now my dears. My best wishes that God’s blessings and every happiness may be with each of you during the Christmas and New Year time and that every day of A.D. 1915 may be flowing over with good fortune for all, and that some day in Sunny New South Wales, we may arrive at a happy reunion all safe and sound and in such good fettle that we may talk pleasantly of the time that has passed while we were separated.

Please give to Maria Watt & my other friends the Seasons greetings as also for A.D. 1915.

Heaps of love & loads of kisses for Car, Joseph, & Kitty from
their loving & affectionate Faree
John B. Nash

[A block of Xs (kisses) and Os (hugs).] Car. [A block of Xs and Os.] Joseph [A block of Xs and Os.] Kitty.

[Page 13]

[On letterhead of No. 2 General Hospital, 2nd Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force.]

Lieut Col. Nash

S.S. Kyarra
Indian Ocean

15 Decbr. 1914

My Buddie dear:/
Let me hope that these pages will have better fate than mine set out in due course for despatch from Fremantle.

However you will have learned what was not in yours from the girls.

Fremantle surprised me by the magnitude & excellence of its works. The small population has done much. The Fremantle harbour, the Perth sea front, the public buildings, the parks, the tree planting, and the great water works at Mundarring [Mundaring], from whence pipes carry fresh water 400 miles across a veritable desert, stand as monuments to the capacity and grit of Sir John Forrest, his colleagues, & the Engineers of the Public Works department.

Mr. Occonnor [O’Connor] is give the credit for the scientific & practical knowledge, which utilised by Sir John, conceived & brought to fruition the water for the gold fields. Good men all. Many sheets could I fill upon the subjects that came under my observation at the W.A. capital city, but let this suffice.

Archbishop Clune came on board last afternoon. During Sunday morning I heard mass at the Cathedral, & thereafter left a card on His Grace. He asked that we should arrange to have the Catholics gathered together for praying on Sundays & upon other days. So far we have been the heathens on board, every other section having times announced by Colonel Ney [Nye] for services of some kind. Dr. Deakin, one time of Sydney University, is one of the W.A. officers, a friend to the Arch, an enthusiastic R.C., he has been designated to speak with me that

[Sir John Forrest (1847-19180, explorer, surveyor, and state and federal politician, was first Premier of Western Australia from 1890 to 1901, and Member for Swan in the first Commonwealth Government of Australia.

Charles Yelverton O’Connor (1843-1902), hydraulic engineer, public servant, rail and tramways engineer, and railways commissioner, was born in Ireland. He migrated to New Zealand in 1865 and worked there as a surveyor and engineer, developing road and rail networks in the South Island. In 1891, at the invitation of Sir John Forrest, he moved to Western Australia as engineer-in-chief, responsible in particular for development of port facilities and the rail network. Following the discovery of gold at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie in the early 1890s he proposed and designed a scheme to pump water from the western side of the Darling Range eastward to Coolgardie. The Coolgardie Scheme went ahead but there were delays, and controversy about its cost and likely success. O’Connor, affected by overwork, became depressed and committed suicide in March 1902. The Scheme was finally opened on January 1903.

Patrick Joseph Clune (1864-1935), born in Ireland, was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth from 1913 to 1935. He was senior chaplain to the Catholic members of the AIF during WW1 and in this capacity visited troops in England and at Ypres in 1916.

Captain Edward John Ferdinand Deakin, 29, medical practitioner of Perth, WA, embarked from Fremantle on 14 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian Stationary Hosital.]

[Page 14]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

suitable arrangements may in future be made.

The Cathedral, the palace, the Convent, and the schools, are situate upon one of the highest spots in Perth, dominating the City. Just like the Romans all over Australia. How much they might do with more energy and time devoted to their profession by the clerics? However we must be satisfied and make the best of matters as they are.

Rather a good result comes from the letters of the name of two well known men.
Joffre
French
[See image for arrangement of these two words.]
What think you?

At Fremantle we were joined by a party of 90 odd, officers with rank & file. They complete our ship load. Let us hope that they will all get back in good health & strength to our Australia.

Tell M. Mary Joseph to try obtain for your garden a specimen of the scarlet-flowered eucalyptus, native to Western Australia. The bloom is a brilliant one and the fruit is the largest that has come under my observation as of the gum trees. When shall the gum in its native home come across my field of vision again? The roll of this ship is most too much for writing. The rest shall be put off to a further date.

9-30 p.m. Eureka! Eureka!!! Eureka!!!. When preparing to give a lecture tonight the letter came into view lying amongst the pictures. One might have said Godfrey Daniel David Smith Don &c. But Cui bons?

[Page 15]

I shall drop it into the post office at Colombo, where we are to be on Christmas day.

My lecture was upon the vascular systems of the human body, illustrated by lantern slides. An excursion commencing at the heart, going round the body and returning to the heart, then passing on bye paths to other organs. The lantern did not work satisfactorily, which was somewhat distracting for the audience & not satisfactory for the lecture, however it went off all right. I shall tomorrow set up the stereoscope on a table in one of the rooms, then each picture can be studied at leisure by any one who may be interested. Dr. Fred Bird gave me the original pictures in the year 1902, since when they have contributed very much to my happiness, because any time when feeling in the dumbs a look at the pictures set my mind working in another direction, which is the cure for all weight, not due to actual disease, which troubles the thinking faculties.

When this reaches you the year A.D. 1915 will have started on his course. You will be preparing for other months of teaching the young idea of Australia how to shoot its arrows to the skies with the hope of youth building castles in the air. Well the world is a place well worth living in for those who have grit enough to face the various problems that are set for

[Page 16]

solution by us, by a beneficient Providence who knows that in constant occupation man finds his happiness. An industrious people are a happy people. They want not theatres, pictures shows, hotels, and aught else that goes on in order to fill up the vacancies in the human brain that for the main result from not having grasped the essentials of life. There may not be, & is not, harm in amusement, but God never intended it to be as the be all & end all of existance.

18-12-14 Upon this waste of glassy blue water our good ship ploughs its way at the rate of about twelve knots per hour, that being the exact speed during the last 24 hours – 288 miles. Not fast for these modern days, but far in excess of what was common in times not long since of the world’s age. North of the tropic of Capricorn my mind oft reverts to the accounts my dear Mother – R.I.P. – many a time & oft poured into my youthful ears of the way in which sailing ships lay becalmed on the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean in like lattitudes, where for week after week with sails all set ’twas but a roll from side to side, the will while the Captain and his merry men paced the deck whistling for the wind that did not come, the weather was called "the doldrums", word which phonetically suggests a doleful state of affairs. Few now living appreciate the comfortable conditions under which we live as compared with those that belonged to your grandfathers and grandmothers. Even M. M. Bertrand, M. M. Pins, and their companions if there be any now living could give you accounts of a sailing ship on its long voyage from Ireland to Australia. My earliest years were imbued with the history of how your grandparents Nash sailed from

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ould Ireland on a fine frosty morning, crossing the English Channel to Liverpool, there to take ship for their destination, which in our case was Melbourne Victoria, the writer was borne on board the good ship Samuel Lock one fine May morning in the year 1857 AD. when off the Canary Islands, now is he the sole survivor of the whole family. Such is fate. and his cause of work finds upon the S.S. Kyarra bound for the seat of war wherein is being contested the greatest fighting of all time, those battling having as a goal the supremacy of British or German ideas throughout the world. We must win! But at what cost none can tell. Cost not alone in Money, which is the least of the evils, but of the red blood that glows along the areteries of our fellow men, of the distress of our womenfolk, of the suffering of their children, and of the dislocation of trade & commerce which has been built up with energy & grit during one hundred years.

Our population has become a hive of industry the women knitting, sewing, reading, & exercising, the men drilling, taking turns at guard duties as hospital orderlies & such like, studying medical or surgical books, reading ordinary litterature. Games are popular with both men & women, & the study of the French language is universal. Lieut. Col. Ramsay Smith, M.D. Edinburg. is the greatest reader on board. He is a well known citizen of Adelaide. Some 20 years ago he came to that city as an opponent to a course of action which the resident medical men there adopted in regard to some trouble. Mr. Kingston, a member of Parliament of exceptional merit, brought him and a Dr. Napier from Britain to support his action. My profession was at once opposed to men of knowledge and industry greater than that possessed by any of themselves, the consequence was that the battle was prolonged & Ramsay Smith is on top. He was ostracised, as long as possible, to no effect.

[Lieutenant Colonel William Ramsay Smith, 1859-1937, physician, naturalist, anthropologist and civil servant, was principal medical officer in South Australia from 1906. Following the outbreak of War, he embarked from Melbourne on 5 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra in command of the 1st Australian General Hospital. He commanded the hospital in Cairo, Egypt, from October 1914 to 15 October 1915 when, as a result of problems with the hospital’s administration, he and the principal matron, Jane Bell, had their appointments terminated.]

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20-12-14 This is Sunday. There should have been a general inspection and church parade for the whole ship, but our chiefs have so little knowledge of what is correct, that only disconnected church parades were ordered. The R.Cs were given the lecture room. We assembled there. Out of the Missal given me by Mother M. Joseph I read the Ordinary of the Mass inserting the Epistles, gosple & prayers prescribed for the 4th Sunday in Advent. We could not kneel as the deck was very hard and damp. Tonight we shall have the rosary and a litany, for these another book must be used.

At 10-30 a.m. the Cocos islands came into sight, looked at from the south, the ship was at the closest point about 6 or 7 miles from them, we viewed them with glasses and upon one we could make out a group of houses painted red. Each island has a sandy beach, backed by Cocoanut palms grouped and singly. We had hope to see the Emden piled upon the margin of North Keeling but we were most likely on the wrong side of the land. No wonder the Captain when he saw that his ship was to sink ran her on to the land, the beach invited him to do so.

Tropical showers have been falling around us on occasion during the morning, the air is hot and moist, while the ship still ploughs a road northward.

Have you ever read the account of the building of a coral island, or group of islands such as the Cocos? If not you might do so. It is an interesting example of the marvelous. The tiny termites in their millions take from the waters of the ocean lime, encase each small body with it, and placing grain upon grain construct pinnacle upon pinnacle cross piece this way and that, thus construct building pieces of coral, like that in the drawing room at Maitland

[HMAS Sydney attacked the German raider SMS Emden off the Cocos Islands. The Emden sustained serious damage and its Captain ran it aground on 9 November 1914 to avoid its sinking.]

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and which aggregated and raised from depths, more or less great, reach the surface of the ocean, there to await the washing up of sand, & the sea birds the seed of the cocoa-nut palm, to become portions of land surrounded by blue water. A plan in construction common to all can be perceived by close observation, the land, the reef, the harbour (atol.). The Cocos islands, seen from a distance, are have a reef running between, as is indicated by the surf breaking surf.

This afternoon I was telling a group of nurses some legends from Hiawatha, interspersed with others from the Australian blacks as told to us by Mrs. Langhlo [Langloh] Parker of Bangate Station near Moree.

Tell Mother Mary Joseph that if she but could hear, "French as she is spoke" on this ship, ’twould cause her heart to grieve, and gorge to shout out from every fibre of her thinking self. My cabin mate, a little commedian out of place offends even my untutoured ear to such extent that involuntary thoughts rising to almost the point of utterance must be forgiven me.

At 8 p.m. to a small gathering of Romans I read out the joyful mysteries of the Rosary & the Litany of Jesus. Just imagine the old man as a leader in prayer!

21-12-14. This morning I began attendance at a class for French, conducted by a man who was formerly a teacher at St. Aloysius College, North Sydney. He appears to me to know how to teach, appreciation of which is shown by a large attendance. The study of the language is universal mongst the officers and nurses. The Gramaire de Gramaire is of course the best text book from whence to cull correct methods, but many popular books are issued which place before one sentences for all possibilities that may come about, these suffice for the globe trotter but not for him who wishes to talk freely. At St. Patricks College & by my Father – R.I.P. – French was constantly taught to us boys.

[Mrs Langloh Parker: Catherine Eliza Somerville (Katie) Stow (1856-1940) married Langloh Parker, pastoralist, in 1875. Writing as K Langoh Parker, she published Australian Legendary Tales in 1896 and More Australian Legendary Tales in 1898, based on her knowledge of Aboriginal culture and legends.]

[Page 20]

24-12-14 As this is Christmas eve I must speak with some of the Romans about reading over the mass prayers during the morning, and saying some prayers after the evening meal. They are but a few of the people on board. The anglicans are in the great majority. The protesting denominations have a combined service which makes their crowd larger than would be the case had each section a meeting of its own.

We crossed the Equator this morning, and father Neptune, with his trident, is to come on board during afternoon to levy toll from those who have not on a previous date passed through his dominions. Some officers told me that the line was seen at the point where the ship faced and without mishap crossed it.

As there are some cases of measles on board the Kyarra, many wonder if the authorities at Colombo will prevent us landing, if so we shall have to be content with a view of the island of Ceylon from the deck.

So far we have seen but few flying fishes, these lattitudes are their habitat, it may be that this time of the year they do not disport themselves as frequently as at other seasons.

25-12-14, 9.30 a.m. – You should, at this moment, be about finishing your dinner. In your mind mayhap – credo - there is thought of me, as with our crowd we are being carried through the waters of the Indian Ocean a few degrees North of the Equator, en route for Colombo. If you, M. M. Joseph, & your community are as merry as I wish you then there is nothing left for you to desire in that regard. Blessings from God be on the head of each of you in plenty!

Wonder what did the girls at home think & say of you and me, absent as we are in varied directions from them.

11-45 A.M. At 11 a.m. I used the book M. M. Joseph gave me again, & read the mass prayers as suitable for the day to the Catholics who attended in the lecture room.

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When coming along the deck soon after I saw a nurse opening a box of chocolate sponge. I said, "If I were at home one of my best girls would be offering me one of those" – She at once gave me one. I said, "I shall write home & tell my best girls that Nurse Deere from South Australia gave me a chocolate sponge". You know a white-ant building, which in response to the first bite suggests the work of the termite on wood. Another Sister, (the nurses of the Army Corps are Sisters), Nurse Haynes from South Australia selected for me a hard chocolate, as recompense I said "I shall at once write to my best girls and tell them that Sister Haines from South Australia gave me a hard chocolate." Haha! Haha!!! Haha!!!!! Haha!!!!!!!

4-30 p.m. While you are saying your prayers preparatory for bed many merry parties are scattered throughout our ship enjoying afternoon tea, while eatables consist of Christmas cakes, many hued, and other fancy small-goods lie temptingly displayed to coax each appetite to satisfy itself. Melancholy has no place here. Laughter holding both his sides holds jocund sway, filling the tropic air with musically happy sounds, such as become the gay & youthful spirits from whence it flows. Good luck to them all! May the world always deal kindly with them & God give each chance to see many more Christmas days each flowing over with all that is good & merry. Old men look on while youth disports itself and can but think back upon the times that were. Major Grey & other

[Staff Nurse, later Sister, Frances Mary Deere, 35, of Adelaide, SA, embarked from Melbourne on 5 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with 2nd Australian General Hospital Nursing Staff.

Staff Nurse, later Sister, Olive Lillian Creswell Haynes, 26, of Adelaide, SA, also embarked from Melbourne on 5 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with 2nd Australian General Hospital Nursing Staff.]

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men are coming from the parties, wearing the trophies from bon-bons, boxes, & such like. Minds one of after dinner decorations at home at the same annual festival. Good luck to them again!

At 8 p.m. I read the rosary and the litany of the B. V. M. with some prayers for the Catholics who were at the lecture room. One Sister and about twenty men attended. Late arrival at dinner was of advantage in that it made me an odd number, enabling one to be a listener to the merry chatter and the rippling laughter which flowed from my neighbours, both officers and nurses. Brief replies sufficed for sentences addressed to me. Enclosed you should find two leaves taken from off the Christmas cake which was on the table beside me, the trophies were in much demand, mayhap for friends far across the ocean.

Should Mrs. Reynolds like to learn about me and my voyaging please send her word to come that she may look through this letter.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!

26-12-14. We expect soon to be within site of land, & breath the perfume that is said to come from the growths on Ceylon. The island of my childish fancy which was the first of those towards the East Indies stated in legend to be whence the spices came for consumption in Europe. Should we be allowed to land, of the country some notes may reach you at a future date.

Good bye my dear. God bless you. To Mother M. Joseph – Bertrand, – Pins, their Sisters please convey my best wishes & regards.

To you go heaps of love & loads of kisses from one who thinks of you often & remains

Your affectionate & loving Faree
John B. Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Covent
West Maitland, Australia

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[On letterhead of No. 2 General Hospital, 2nd Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force.]

Lieut. Col. Nash

S.S. Kyarra
Indian Ocean

15 Decbr. 1914

My dear Car, Joseph, & Kitty:/
Much disappointed at not receive letters from you at Fremantle. One came from Dr. Paton in reply to mine written to him from Melbourne. The letter & parcel you sent to catch me on the Saturday am & were reposted and I found them at the ship when I returned from Perth.

We left Fremantle about 8 p.m. on 14-12-14 and are now some one hundred or so miles into the Indian Ocean, with the head of the vessel, I think, directed for Colombo. On our way we might come within sight of the Cocos Islands, where the Emden was put out of commission by the Sydney. One of the bright particular spots in the course of the great war up to date. Our company was increased by some ninety odd officers with rank & file who with us represent Western Australia. The men were taken for a march through Fremantle for a couple of hours before we set out.

In writing letters for Christmas, I can only think of one person whom I neglected, viz. Mrs.

[Dr Robert Thomson Paton (1856-1929), medical practitioner and public service admministrator, of "Cramond", Blackheath, was the first Director-General of Public Health in NSW.]

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Abbott of St. Margarets hospital. Cannot now be helped. Must send to her a postcard from the next port of call. Let me hope that you have not failed to give my Xmas wishes to all my friends.

Of Perth I could write much, as the city, the river, & the surroundings were much in advance of what I expected.

On Monday morning I called upon the Hon. Thomas Walker, Minister for Justice, at his office. He was one time of N.S. Wales and visited our house, with other members of Parliament, at Wallsend, on several occasions. He appeared genuinely pleased to see me and regretted that my stay was not longer that he might entertain me and introduce me to his colleagues. However if he be there on my return, which my medical eye impressed by his appearance does not appear to be probable.

His Grace Archbishop Dunne Clune of Fremantle came on to the ship before our setting out and introduced me to several of his parishioners. Each Sunday arrangments are made for every one except the R.Cs., however we hope to have some notice out for next Sunday. His Grace impressed me favourably & I should like to have further converse with him. Too fat of course. I introduced him to Colonel Martin & to Col. Ney [Nye] the Chaplain – Methodist – on board.

Major Barbour [Barber] has shown me the letters as here set out. What think you of it?
Joffre
French
[See image for arrangement of these two words.]

The swell of the ocean is rolling up to our port side causing the good ship to respond in such manner that ’tis more difficult to write than

[Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Morgan Martin, medical practitioner of Sydney, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital.

Major George Walter Barber, 46, medical practitioner of Perth, WA, embarked from Fremantle on 14 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital.]

[Page 25]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

at any time since we have been on board. Yet the sea is not rough. Many of the nurses are sea sick again. We expect to pass the Cocos islands on Sunday and to be in Colombo on the 25th inst.

9 p.m. – While I write Dr. Grey is performing at the piano, going over songs of various kinds, only two nurses are in the room besides the writer and the pianist. Good night.

16-12-14 The vasty waste of waters called the Indian Ocean lies around, our ship the only moving thing that is upon it, a gentle breez slightly disturbs its surface and an unseen swell rolls our home from side to side, the inhabitants the while grouped on various shaped easy chairs read, sew, chat, listen as the fleeting moment made pleasant in its temperature by the morning air, there be of them some more energetic that play games upon the deck space such a hockey, billiards, the former being the most popular with both men & women.

The notice board indicated 294 miles onward progress for 24 hours, 12.1 knots per hour, 1119 miles to Cocos, and two thousand odd to Colombo. The site sight of the islands is looked forward to in anticipation of seeing piled upon one of them the Emden. The ship’s Captain said that our course should bring the ship within five miles of Cocos, but he did not know the name of the island upon which the German boat was wrecked.

17-12-14. Look in the Medical Gazett of Australia that is the local journal, when it is delivered weekly to see if there be articles from the expeditionary force. I have put some notes on paper, & it may be that they will be considered worth publishing, and sent them to the editor of the gazette. Please put each issue away in proper sequence and mark the pages where there may be contributions from me. I left two articles with Dr. Macdonald of Lidcombe

[Page 26]

for completion.

When looking through my issue of Henry V I noted some sentiments put into the mouth of some of the characters which have waited for more than three hundred years to come to fruition. King Charles the Sixth of France in giving to Henry his daughter for a wife is made to say:–
"Take her fair son, and from her blood raise up
Issue to me; that the contending Kingdoms
Of France & England, whose very shores look pale
With envy of each other’s happiness,
May cease their hatred, and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and Christian-like accord
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance
His bleeding sword ’twixt England & fair France."
Hy. V – V.2 – 374 et seq.

And Queen Isabel ends her remarks upon the same subject hoping:–
"That English may as French, French Englishmen,
Receive each other. God speak this Amen!"
Idem. V. 2 – 395 & 6.

In our day in Flanders this has come about, which just previous to the dates supposed time whereon the above written characters spoke was the scene of the battle of Agincourt, before and since having witnessed many a battle ’twixt English and French. Let us pray that the trials now being endured will cement a friendship sufficiently strong to last for centuries to come that peace may be in the time of our children and our childrens children ad majorem Dei gloriam [to the greater glory of God].

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18-12-14 Do not neglect to keep together the various journals that come for me. Open each and put it in correct sequence. The accounts will come for the subscriptions and it will be necessary to send cheques or orders in payment. The account for The Lancet comes from Thin of Edinburgh, the bank will give you a draft, the "first" of which you attach to the account and send to Edinburg. The payment for the British Medical Journal & the Medical Gazette of Australia are included in the subscription to the British Medical Association at 34 Elizabeth Street; the Journal of British Surgery, and, Surgery Gynaecology and Obstetrics are sent by Angus & Robertson. Sanders of Melbourne may send an account, this is not owing because the journal the sets of Murphys clinics have never not come to me. Let me know in your letters how you are managing financially?

We expect to be a Cocos islands on Sunday morning, the Captain has promised that, if the day be fine, we shall see the Emden as she is piled upon the rocks one one of the group.

Professor Watson, of Adelaide, sits opposite me while I write 9-20 a.m. Whether he is pensive or sleepy is not clear to me. He is an odd old man, not fit to undertake this journey, yet as he is here we must help him through to the best of our ability. Wonder how the war goes?

[Professor Archibald Watson, 65, surgeon and professor of anatomy at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A55 Kyarra on 5 December 1914 as a Major with the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital. He served with the hospital as consulting surgeon and pathologist and returned to Australia in early 1916.]

[Page 28]

And not least the aforementioned Colleague from soup to fruit the pile upon the various plates is each enough for a gorge for any man. Mirabile dictum! [Wonderful to tell.]

A real tropical day. My jacket has been taken off & I sit at the table driving this pen with my shirt sleeves rolled up and my braces as the most external article of my clothing.

This is a Saturday afternoon, sports have been arranged on deck for one of the hospitals, at the moment the onlookers are urging the contestants with shouts of go on Reg, go on, go on Bill, go it Jim & such like.

Major (Dr) Grey, he of the robust build has seated himself alongside of me with a book in his hand. He is no less robust. His musical capabilities are much in demand of an evening, as many of our people like singing, dancing, & the like as means whereby to get over the tedium of of the post dinner hours.

Amongst the Victorian nurses there are some high-class and comely women, in these regards much in advance of those sent from New South Wales. Again:/ Go on Peter! Go on Peter! Go on Peter!!! Go on Bill, go on, go on, go on!!!!! A great race, exclaimed some one at the finish.

After looking on for a little at the sports they became tiresome, so I retired to the uppermost boat deck, there to look round, talk and read.

21-12-14. A general inspection should have been held this morning but our chief & his executive know little of the meaning of discipline and of how to run persons in correct military sequence. ’Tis no wonder that we are dressed anyhow, some in kahkhi, others in Drill, more in white, there

[Page 29]

be those who mix them, golden badges & buttons make some officers look like glittering beetles when compared with those set out in dull coloured metal, brown boots, white shoes, black boots, toe caps, patent leather, and such spectacle as an officer at breakfast in his so called dinner suit is not uncommon suggesting idea that he has been up all night and had not time before the assembling for the meal to change. All this is sad and does not augur well for the work we have in hand. The physical and exterior appearances of my comrades impressed me favourably at first, up to date this has not been improved upon. The finger-licking little man is rapidly degenerating, in my mind, to the position of a low commedian. However let us hope for better developments.

Disjointed church parades were ordered by a notice on the boards, R.C., & Ch. of Eng., at 11 a.m. & 5 p.m., in the lecture room & on main deck. As I was the senior of the former it fell to my lot to order the parade. Yesterday I asked the O.C. to make time & place for the Romans. Those desiring to attend were ready at 11 a.m. The book Mother Mary Joseph gave me was the source from which I read the mass prayers suitable for the day. We could not kneel because the deck was hard and damp. However all went well. Tonight we are to have rosary and a littany. Another book must be obtained as neither required is in the Missal.

At 10.30 a.m. the Cocos islands came in sight. They were looked forward to anxiously because everyone was full of the incidents attendant upon the fight between the Sydney & Emden last month. A group, seven I counted, of low coral land resting upon

[Page 30]

the bosom of the Indian Ocean, each with a sandy beach, backed with cocoa nut palms in clumps and singly. Upon one island we could just make out houses, red in colour, in amongst the palms. Our skipper desired to learn the location of the wrecked Emden but the wireless man could get no reply to his calls from the people on the island. It was concluded therefore that the station had not yet been repaired or that they would not answer. We were no nearer than six or seven miles from the shore and none knew which as the North Keeling island. Some were disappointed no doubt.

Real tropical weather today.

If you could but hear "French as she is spoke" on this boat, ’twould make your ears to tingle, your brain to whirl, and your laughing faculties to bubble over. My cabin mate, a little commedian out of place, offends in such manner that even my uninstructed and ill-trained ears carry such messages to my thinking brain, as to result in my tongue being restrained with difficulty from saying words which are not polite in English.

I hope that each Saturday the illustrated papers are brought by the messenger, if not communicate with Mr. Walsh the librarian, he promised me that they would be sent to you. See that they are returned on the Monday morning, I arranged with one of the messengers to call for them but he may neglect doing so, if this be the case one of you had better take them over.

22-12-14. A hot day. We are approaching the equator as is evidenced by a notice on the board to the effect that father Neptune may be expected to visit the ship at an early date.
I gave a lecture tonight to the men of No. 2 Hospital.

We have a Belgian in our crowd who aforetime taught French at St. Aloysius College, he has classes daily as he knows his business I shall attend for this but, he will tutour me daily.

[Page 31]

He impressed me unfavourably at first because he cleans the knives & has an odour of garlic about him, which, as you know, is not pleasing to me. However he understands teaching and the language which, if we go to France, is of prime importance at present. He works near my cabin which is an added advantage, it will enable me to have a few moments with him frequently.

22-12-14. The days speed gaily on, we were at noon today 5.50 degrees south of the equator. A diversion from the ordinary happened during the afternoon, the steam steering gear broke down, and the ship commenced to make a circle, of large diameter, in the ocean. Before long the hand apparatus was put in working order, then the prow was set on its course again. At the same time the smoke of a steamer was seen on the horizon. She passed South at a distance of about fifteen miles to the Westward. All that the telescope found about her, was that she belonged to the British India Coy., of which the A.U.S.N. Coy. [Australasian United Steam Navigation Company], the owners of the Kyarra, is an Australian branch. The first ship we have had sight of in either the Southern or the Indian Oceans. The Captain told me that the paucity of ships is a result of all German, & other commercial vessels, being either interned or doing other work.

Sports have been the order of the day. All amusing in their way, chief amongst them being two contestants on a soaped pole hung over a tarpaulin full of water. If you could have seen Dr. Kennedy with his long legs, or fat Dr. Story [Storey] with his short ones, your laughter would have burt forth. Many of the onlookers today must have sore ribs now. A trial-by-jury, at 9 p.m., promises to be amusing. Dr. Grey is the defendant in a breach-of-promise action. The gay dogs are arranging details, at this moment, outside my door. It is all very silly but amusing for those who have not in themselves wherewith to profitably fill up time. An innocent way too.

I had my second dose of antityphoid this morning, this time into the skin of my chest.

When in my letters there is a reference to business matters ’twill be best to take a note of it in some

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book that you keep for the purpose, & to which you can refer, being especially particular as to money matters & dates. As the subject occurs to me I jot them down hoping that none of consequence has been forgotten.

23-12-14. The green eyed monster – Jealousy – nearly entered into my mind a lunch time today when I saw the way in which my little commedian friend eat soup, fish, entre, his helpings of meat with plate piled up with salads, (lettuce Beet root) – pudding, cheese & beet root again, & several apples, while I could not as a sequel to anti-typhoid innoculation take but soup & a little sago custard; nor, at the cheese stage as the large pieces disappeared, could I keep back the thought that came to my mind, it had to out – "Mind you do not cut your head off, the blood would be a nuisance at the table!" – which was spoken in my suavist manner & it was taken kindly. It was not meant unkindly, but as a timely warning to avert an accident. With head acheing and eyes weary or body sore, I attended two lessons in French during the morning and afternoon. My tongue is becoming capable for pronouncing un and une somewhat the approved fashion. The former is particularly difficult. In looking through an alphabet in a dictionary this morning I saw that the editor after the letters r & u printed – "ask a native?" –

The sports have gone gaily all day. The men of No. 2 Hospital had the use of the main deck from three to 5 p.m. for the going through of their caskets.

A sequel to the inoculation, the second, last night was wandering all round Sydney & its subburbs, in an aimless sort of way, meeting here & there people whom I knew. My imprecations were poured upon the head of Dr. Deakin who injected the material, if I wrote down all that ran through my mind about him he might be excused for being angry.

24-12-14. Better today thank God. We crossed the equator during the morning, I did not see the

[Page 33]

line, though some told that it was plainly visible, but as the same hour was not stated about by each of them one might be excused for doubting the accuracy of the statement.
This afternoon father Neptune is to be on board to claim his victims, & to levy the usual toll from the neophytes and others.

These lattitudes are those wherein "the flying fishes play, and the sun comes up like thunder out of Chinar crost’ the bay", yet we have not seen many. Some one told me this morning, that the most unique fancy dress he had ever seen, was one covered all over with the wings of the flying fish. It was worn at a ball in England. The wings had been coated with some form of varnish which had preserved the form and colour. It would truly be uncommon. The fish must have been caught in the tropics, the wings removed, and treated at once, and stowed away for careful transporting.

25-12-14, 9-30 a.m. – While I am writing you should be just about finishing dinner, & doubt is not in my mind but that you are thinking of and talking about me, as with my companions we are being carried through the Indian Ocean, a few degrees north of the equator, en route to Colombo. Well if all the merriment & God’s blessings, which I desire for you, be with you then there are none more to desire. So mote it be!

We have just risen from the breakfast table, about one hour late, because the butchers & cooks went on strike for some reason or another. Just think of it? On this which should be a military ship. Can such things be? They are. A man with a sense of duty and able to apply it should always be in charge of an isolated unit of any force. Midst the bon-bons the nuts and the raisins what did you say? What did you think? Who was at table besides you three? Whence came the

["On the road to Mandalay, where the flyin’-fishes play. An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay" – from "Mandalay" by Rudyard Kipling.]

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turkey? Who clapped for grace? Who ladeled out the soup? Who carved? Did the plum-pudding blaze up satisfactorily? Who cut it up? Who found the money pieces? Did the nut crackers work satisfactorily? Was the fruit of good quality? What of the olives? What of the cheese straws or other savoury? Was it lemonade or ginger ale or Nan’s delight or Moroneys tonic that slaked the thirst adding moisture to the solids? My hope is that good digestions waited upon full appetites. By the way, did any presents arrive on Christmas morning? You always, in recent years, said that I was father Christmas – Pere le Noel – if so then, during my absence, he could hardly be with you. Let me hope however that a substitute, if your ideas of former years were correct, was found for me. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!!

Have you seen friend Jimmy Roach lately? Should you do so, please give to him my kind regards.

11-45 a.m. Having read for the Catholics the Mass prayers from M.M. Joseph’s Missal, as taught to me by My Kafoline, I walked along the deck. Nurses were opening various boxes, one of these was familiar in shape & size, I remarked – "If I were at home this morning one of my best girls would have offered me a block out of a box like that." She at once said – "Please have one?" I complied and said – "Your name? Well I shall write at once to my best girls telling them that Sister Deere of South Australia gave me a block of chocolate sponge". All the nurses belonging to the Army Corps are Sisters. Then another nurse offered a chocolate out of her box. I said – "Please pick out for me a hard one?" – She did so. Then I said – "To my best girls shall I also report that Nurse Haynes of S. Australia chose for me a hard chocolate from her box."

As proof that my promise was kept I read the last paragraph over for the Sisters. The last named said, Haynes with a Y if you please? Irish not English". Hence the scratching in the name.

[Page 35]

My little commedian friend, when taking soup raises his right elbow to a level with his shoulder, presents the point of the spoon to his capacious mouth pours in and swallows, the earlier movements resulting in his elbow coming up against my left ear. At breakfast this morning he surpassed himself in the using of his fingers to remove pieces of material from his mouth to place them on his plate then licking the soiled fingers as a skilled practitioner. Eat! Jerusalem Kruseos! He can eat anything. Everything at the same time. In record time. The Lord must have endowed him with gastric juices capable for breaking up anything. Mildly I hinted to him a lunch – "Something at this table is real high!" – He then appreciated that ’twas the tripe which he was eating. "This is", remarked he, having eaten half of it he let the waiter take the remainder away and he attacked another plate of something else. He can eat! Little fellow as he is. Yet is he a source of constant amusement and concern to me. In this much should I be thankful.

As a sequel to the visit by Father Neptune and his wife photographic films hang in all directions throughout the ship.

2 p.m. with us. You are probably, 6-30 p.m, seated comfortably at your tea. Hope I that you are enjoying it. Wonder I are you at home or somewhere distant from No. 219.

My calendars, a Shakespeare & a Ruskin were hung this morning in readiness to be fully exposed for use on New Year’s day 1915 A.D.

4-30 p.m. Merry parties of our people are, at this moment, distributed over the ship, partaking of afternoon tea. At each gathering there are bedecked cakes & fancy goods of many kinds for consumption, while laughter and wreathed smiles are to be heard & seen on all sides. Good luck to all. May they see many Merry Christmases.

[Page 36]

While I write Major Grey (Dr.) and other young bloods, are moving about each wearing on his head some trophy given up by a bon-bon or a box, reminding me of post dinner scenes oft happening under our own roof at anterior celebrations of the same annual feast. You may fancy how grand the gallant fat Major looks wearing the trophies upon his head his shoulders and his manly chest. Flaged sticks, have the women folk, besides rosettes caps capes and a’ that. Good luck to each! May every Christmas day that comes to all be merry as is this for them beneath the tropic sky upon the bosom of the Indian Ocean.

At 8 p.m. I read the rosary and the litany of the B.V.M. for the Catholics who assembled in the lecture room. No officers attended, one nurse was present, and about twenty men. The officers & other nurses were at dinner. The dinner passed off pleasantly. I was rather an odd number owing to my being late. This was advantageous as it allowed me to be a listener to the merry chatter & the rippling laughter which flowed from all at table. Some of those near spoke to me but I did not encourage them, preferring that each Sister should keep on talking with the other officers. There were some toasts, but no words that could be entitled a speech.

From off the Christmas cake were taken for me some tokens and leaves, enclosed are samples, which let me hope will reach you in good state.
Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!

[Page 37]

[The top right hand corner of this page has been torn off. Partial lines remaining are transcribed.]

It was announced
the Captain has seen
we may expect to see
it does come within my
be my first sight of this
that bordering the Eastern side of
of Bab-el-Manded [Bab-el-Mandeb] came to view
previous journey to Europe in 1878.

Please give to Maria Watt and my [other] friends my best wishes and kindest regards. A small souvenir from the Christmas cake is enclosed for Maria, tell her to please weave as many anecdotes around it as there are particles of sugar upon or as may be suggested by the site from which it came.

For you my dears God bless you. With heaps of love and loads of kisses for Each.
I remain
Your loving & affect. Faree

John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N.S. Wales

Carrie
Kitty
Joseph
[Each name followed by rows of Xs and Os.]

[Page 38]

[The top left hand corner of this page has been torn off. Partial lines remaining are transcribed.]

written several
to me. Of some of
them you may hear.

Keep an eye on the Medical Journal of Australia to see if any of my notes are published therein. Please mark the pages.

Tie with string, in proper sequence as to dates, the various medical and surgical Journals that come for me?

J B. N.

[Page 39]

[On letterhead of the Grand Orient Hotel, Colombo. This is a double-page spread, transcribed as it should be read.]

Bootless each man & woman here

17 Decbr. 1914

My Mollie dear

This old world rolls round and one knows but little about it. The teeming millions who inhabit it are outside the minds view of any man though there be a few who have on the remembering tablets of the minds God as given to them much more than belongs to the ordinary individual.

Here in this hive of almost all colours, except white, the thinking parts of an Australian have been in a whirl for several hours, & now knows not what to think of the whole business. Black, brown, yellow, copper; heads clean shaven, with dusky straight or curling locks, more of lighter shades but none of what you think as fair, long straight black or grey & tied in a knot at the back – a la chignon –; each separate colour and arrangment bespeaking a separate nationality or religion or caste; and then the clothing, cloths of all shape, and cuts and colours varying in voluminousness but at all times scanty, much more so than is the case in our own women of the day, which by comparison

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with a few years ago is simple indeed. Large & pretentious buildings of many stories & looking solid are in the chief streets for the trader’s purposes. In the outskirts where the natives do congregate the houses for smallness & style surpass all that you could imagine, while the people who are about them are coloured shining as to the skin huddled together in such manner as no Australian can conjure up.

The vehicles are electric tram cars with rails and overhead wires as in Sydney, horse vehicles – pheaterns mostly & drawn by one horse – motor cars, and rickshaws. After observing the various before mentioned phases in the street, I took a rickshaw. A rickshaw is a seat on wheels, to seat one, with two shafts, between these stands a black or copper coloured man, the substitute for a horse. I felt mean on taking the seat, but he raised the safts [shafts] & off he went. A small sized, small limbed, flat chested, son of Ham. For more than two hours he pulled, he trotted, he walked, he sweated, he bent, he rested, & brought me back to the spot from which we set out. Often did I say to myself – Get out you heavy savage ’tis you not the little creature in front of you who should pull such heavy weights.

I visited at Catholic Church, the one for the Military, said a few prayers, looked round, noted the set of stations like those in the Church at

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Santa Sabina, admired the crypt with the infant and his surroundings, manger Mother, wise men and all others essential to complete the picture, then went to what looked like an attached residence, knocked at the front door, having walked through from back to front, spoke with a swarthy being, he found a priest, then did I talk with the "Revd. O.H. Lytton, O.M.I., Military Chaplain, Pettah, Colombo", as upon his visiting card, thought of M. M. Bertrand & the Dominicans, when he said that he had been here for forty years, with but chance once to go to Fremantle and back with his Chief who was visiting the house here and suggested the trip, he said I cannot go because I have nothing we are an order. Fancy I hear you smile as I put the question, are you as poor as my mendicant friends in Sunny New South Wales. No information was given me as to his or his peoples financial position, but a few words were let fall that land had increased in value during recent years.

My little nigger to the safts shafts again, dragging me to the hospital, the general hospital, an extensive single storied structure which covers much space & is

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fitted up in modern style. How much do even these coloured people owe to L Pasteur & Lister the genius of the one & the ability of the other have done more for mankind that even did the great sacrifice of Leazaar. Next the eye hospital. On through roads & streets flanked with cocoanut palms in full bearing, cannas of every shade of blooming colour, other & varied tropical foliage, the mean shops limiting many, while the bungalows of the rich lay back in a wealth of foliage. Sorrowful to look upon, pleasant to look at, such as the East I have read about adown my life time. The Padre said after his forty years of experience, "The East is East & the West is West, and never the two can blend". So said Kipling.

7-30 p.m. waiting for dinner, which will be partaken of sitting at a table with Professor Watson of Adelaide & Chaplain Nye from Melbourne.

Thus endeth this chapter.

Goodbye. Regards to M. M. Joseph & her people. To you much love & heaps of kisses from

Your lvg & afnn Faree
John B. Nash

Sister M. Hyacinth.
West Maitland
N. S. Wales

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Lieut. Col. Nash

Indian Ocean
S.S. Kyarra
1 Jany 1915.

Mollie dear:/

Today we begin the A.D. 1915. Let me hope that for you and your order each day of it may be filled to overflowing with good fortune, & that each member of your community may be blessed with the best of health & strength.

Ceylon, that land flowing with milk and honey, in the form of cocoanuts, breadfruit, rice, and other tropical products, wherein live and thrive upon its 25000 square miles almost as many people as now occupy the whole of Australia. A jolly lot they look too! Even those who constitute the human ladder, that lifts the bags of coal, about 110 lbs in each, from the junk set step by step to the opening in the ships side wherein it is emptied, are as happy in appearance as children. Each pair of them catches the bag by its open end lifts it to the next too [two] giving it a shove from beneath, thus sending it onwards and higher at each move. Those constituting the ladders at the Kyarras sides commenced work about 7 a.m., and went steadily on until 2 A.M. next day. There were short intervals for food. This being a powdered rice or meal of some kind moistened

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

with some fluid like soup. The purveyors of the meal bringing it in a boat where in a boiler warmth was kept in it. The people on the island are interesting to the stranger. The colour varies in all shades of black & copper. Did I write you all this before? I think so.

Westward is our way being ploughed through the waters of the Arabian Sea, where from time immemorial the Arab has sailed and plied his trade with his enterprise and business capacities. With his dhow, a well tried trusty battler against the stress of tide & storm. Even today would he bring slaves from Africa to Asia or vice versa were it not that the warships of the British Empire say him nay. He probably at the present moment is carrying guns & ammunition across the ocean delivering them to some of the combatants or would be combatants around the Persian Gulf or on the Red Sea littoral.

Many We hope some day to be within site of Cape Guardafui, the most Eastern point of Asia, and thereafter the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb whose narrow entrance is bestrewed on either sides with the bones of many a good ship, whose crews and owners have shed tears upon the brown rocks that rise thereat from the splashing of the Salt sea waves. How far back in history the Straight deserved it

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no one knows, nor does any know how many and how oft have good ships made effort, with disastrous to climb the stony barriers. The last ocean liner reaching such climax in her history was the P. & O. mail boat China, Sydney to London, which midst the joyment of a dining crowd raced high on to the land called Perim Island, standing sentinel for the Red Sea at the straits narrow mouth. Let us pray that no disaster awaits our ship Kyarra, were it otherwise you would be amongst those who shed tears over the this well known waterway.

In religions Ceylon is well catered for. All sections of Christians are represented in Colombo, their God with Christ as his prophet and the Bible as His book is spoken of and disseminated by Catholics to Salvation Army. The Buddhists spread knowledge of One God, Buddha or Gotamma [Gautama] as his prophet and the books of the Veda as his teaching, originally twelve, six or seven are still extant. The Mahomedans with One God, Mohammed his prophet, and the Khoran as the holy book wherein is stored up the wisdom upon which has been constructed the preachings of the teachers. There are many sections of the two latter as of the first named. When one asks in rambling round – What are mean the markings on that man’s forehead, or that ones? – reply is made – They serve to show his religions sect.

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The human mind is much alike in its primitive and educated states, no matter what be the colour of the skin that compasses it the body to which it ministers. From all standpoints the Study of Man is full of interest for those who care to look at the creature as he is. You in the schoolroom can note the variations, mental & physical, that pertain to the children that pass in review before, and if you keep your eyes, ears and other senses alert you will have food each day for thought sufficient to satisfy the most exacting in search of subjects wherewith to keep up interest in the daily round of life. For those of us whose duties bring us into touch with a larger and a wider field, he must be made of poor stuff indeed who can keep abreast of all the interesting material that constitutes the passing show. The Fathers have written much of what they saw, and all of what is interesting, speculative and non speculative, has observation for its basis, but for them the world was a much smaller place, its limits were more circumscribe than it is for us. But few years ago, though its mouths had been known for thousands of years, the sources of the river Nile had not for us been definitely known. One might mention hundreds of subjects geographical and other which have found solution during the last 100 years.

When you were waking for the 1st day of January 1915, our people on this ship were bidding goodbye to 1914 & welcome to his successor. You are were 6 hours

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hours ahead of us. We thought of and spoke about our relations and friends in Australia, and we were sure that they had thought of us. When shall we meet again? Echo answers – When? How fares it with the girls? They’er all right! They have each grit enough within to pull through any weather.

Several of our senior men have been sick during the forty-eight hours and even at this moment some are not recovered. Why? Too much food, some variety not being suited to their interiors. However none is seriously ill and with care the inconvenience will soon be gone. Good fortune has been with me. It may be that my moderation serves me in good stead. Many of those round about me eat more in one meal than I could in two days, and in greater variety than has been consumed by me in all my life.

When letters may reach me from any of you again I know not, if any had been posted to the S.S. Kyarra they might pick us up at Port Said. We shall hope for this.

2-1-15. Are you at Waratah or at Moss Vale? The latter would be the greater change. Mother Mary Joseph should take every care of you young people, because there is much educational work ahead of you, amongst the Australian girls. Education is becoming a more serious portion of public work than daily as the standard to be attained by the highest and

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and most lowly placed is on a much higher plane than at any anterior date in history. The teaching of the teachers to fit them for their positions has been a problem of much concern during the last twenty years, and it is still one of the most pressing for consideration by those who have the working out of the problem. The teachers may be, in the highest class, born not made, but in the average they must be taught the essentials of their art that they may know how to conserve every moment in the year and impart in proper manner the most knowledge possible in a given time. The position of a nation amongst the peoples of the earth will in the immediate future depend largely upon the schoolmaster.

2-1-15. 11-30 p.m. Star gazing a few minutes since, from the upper deck my thoughts flew to Maitland and Sydney. To the Maitland of today and of long years ago, when your mother & your Aunt Eliza were being taught their lessons by Mother Theresa & her colleagues, then did the learned lady take them on clear nights, beyond the limits of the covered walk, and point out to them Orion, the Pleiades, Musca, the Southern Cross, & their lesser fellows that shine so brilliantly in the canopy of the earths heavens which o’er tops Australia. The two first named were almost straight above a position about 9° north of the equator. It is said that towards day break the Cross is visible, while the Ursa Major stands out as the brightest of all the figures way towards the North pole, the pole star standing as a sentinel over the regions of perpetual ice.

3-1-15 – Sunday. This morning M. M. Josephs Missal was again called into requisition for the Mass prayers

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About fourteen of the Nurses are Catholics. Perhaps fifty of the men are the same. To night we shall say the rosary & a litany. The doing of these shows the other sections of the ships company that we are as mindful as they of our duties as Christians.

Major Barrett this morning played the piano during half an hour for me. He plays music. The extracts were for the most part from Wagners operas, the Valkyrie chiefly. I enjoyed it. Reminded me of Melba’s company, and the one whereof the old German from Dresden was the conductor for the legendary works taken mainly from Norweigan and Saxon folk lore. One of the effects of the present war will be to throw back for half a century studies of the higher intellectual order. The German mind was well suited to this class of work, but the Prussian Junkers have given the minds and bodies of the Empires people other tasks to perform, and even if they win in the war, which is not thinkable to us, the cost in brains and treasure will have been so great that long years must elapse before the tangled skein of industry and learning can be straightened and set running in its proper spools. The history of the world and of man upon it, has been of such kind that just at the moment when all appears brightest, when the acts of ruling chiefs tend most to peace, a bolt from the blue rushes forth & all is chaos. The Lord appears to so ordain. Hence is it so?

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Can any one make reasonable answer? Books might be written upon the subject and when one reached the end of reading them no answer would have been found. ’Tis like unto the earthquakes, the volcanic eruptions, the tidal waves, the cyclones, and heaps of other phenomena, for which there are physical explanations, treating of the happening. But why do they happen? What power is behind all the phenomena that regulates all them? You of course have reply at once? "God". – Yes truly, satisfying as it is and best for you and your colleagues, others must be forgiven in their desire to probe more deeply for reply to the questions, or I should write to test in sofar how far your answer can be analysed.

5 a.m. 5-1-15. Since we came north of the Equator I have been anxious to view the sky in the early morning. Waking a little after 5 o’clock, I put on my slippers & kimona, mounted the stairs, reached the main deck, looked to the south and there saw the pointers and the Southern Cross, both standing out brightly in a somewhat clouded sky. The morning star – wabun anung [ahnung] –, was a particularly bright blue planet straight above me, Venus. The Northern heavens were too clouded for me to get a glimpse at the great bear, but some other morning this can be seen. It is now about 12-15 pm. on Tuesday with you. We pass Westward.

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’erfraught heart, and bids it break."
Macbeth IV – 3 –
Not always quite correct under all circumstances.

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6.1-15. Epiphany or as my dear Mother taught me 12th Day, i.e., Little Christmas Day. Mother M. Pius & M. M. Bertrand probably had the same instruction in the days of youth.

A.M. The Arabian coast is in sight. We are due at Aden about 2 p.m., about 8 p.m. on Wednesday with you. Advices say that our stay will be but for one hour, that a letter bag will be sent on shore, that no stamps are available, that orders are expected directing to our next destination. Would it not be awful were we sent South to Zanzibar? From such fate: good Lord deliver us. ’Twould be worse than New Guinea or Rabaul.

You each day have news of what is happening by land and sea throughout the earth we know nothing from port to port. However we must be content and try to perform a worthy part in the great game.

Good bye now my dear.

To M. M. Joseph & her worthy Sisters my best wishes and a request for a membrance in their prayers.

To you, heaps of love, loads of kisses, and desires that your life may be useful long and happy.

From
Your loving & affctnt Faree
John B. Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth Divine
Dominican Convent
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales

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Lieut. Col. Nash.

S.S. Kyarra
Off Aden
6-1-15.

My dear Car Joseph Kitty:/

11-55 p.m. with us, 5-5 a.m. on 7-1-15 with you. The Kyarra dropped anchor in the outer harbour at Aden about 3-30 p.m. The O.C., Captain, with attendant officers, went ashore on official business, and returned about 6 p.m. The important news brought by them concerned the sinking of a large man of war in the English Channel, The Audacious said to be her name. One of the largest and latest of the British fleet. Bad fortune. Many lives of good and well trained men no doubt were lost with the ship.

Aden is an odd looking outpost of the Empire. The serrated crest of the steep hills which form a background for the English settlement look as if not long ago they had been thrown straight up out of the ocean, and no alteration has taken place in the contour of the sides and peaks as the result of age and storms. The buildings, and the many signal stations perched on the most outstanding points, bespeak an importance derived from other source than the land. How different from Colombo & Ceylon where the land was overflowing with milk & honey. Here no trees no grass no verdure. Yet there is said to be a large native resident population away beyond the area occupied by the garrison. For untold ages on the shores of the Bay of Aden there have been traders with Arabia and Asia as their background and the Coast of Africa, Somaliland, Abyssenia – just across the water. The gate to Asia it must be from this point of the Compass. Those officers

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

of the army or Navy who by accident or design are stationed on this outpost, must needs have within themselves much adaptability to forbidding physical circumstances if after the tour of duty their bodily and mental vigour is in good condition. Just think of it, that in the streets of even the European quarter fresh water is carried round on the back of a camel and is sold in small quantities in such manner as is milk with you in Sydney. Washing in fresh water must really be a luxury within the purse compass of the rich alone.

Many boats came out to trade. Cigarettes, tobacco, ostrich feathers, turkish delight, and other small goods, lay spread out in the stern of the craft, while blackness in excellsis called out in sounds meant for the English name of the article with its price. A somewhat superior man of colour reclined in the boat’s stern where ostrich feathers were on offer. Our people are very short of money because there has been no pay since the ship left Fremantle, therefore the local merchants reaped but a small reward in return for the enterprise of pulling across the water. There was no diving for pence or swimming. I read somewhere, that even within the harbour proper, the youngsters are not now allowed to exhibit their diving and swimming abilities, because, on several occasions, a shark has come along and done harm to some of them.

At 11 p.m. the Captain blew his whistle, ordered "Heave away there". Soon the anchor was being hauled up & in reply to his further orders the engines and the steering gear were set got going, the prow of the ship was set on

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on the course for Perim island, 96 miles away at the entrance to the red sea. While I write the engines are pulsating, the screws are working, most of our crowd are asleep and we are well started on another stage in our long journey. The Captain told me that twelve armed cruisers, merchantmen of the Empress class, patroll the Red Sea, and that the Empress of Russia left Aden harbour ahead of us. This precaution has, no doubt been rendered necessary by the participation of the Turks in the war, on the side of Germany. The sympathy of the people who inhabit the Red Sea littoral would be with their suzerain, Turkey, did they believe that she is on the side which will triumph ultimately. History, religion, race, and personal interest, should strongly incite them against the members of the Triple Entente, who are white, Christians, and for the most part not friendly to Islam. Such being the case small sailing or stam [steam] craft might issue from any bay to plant mines or attack the unarmed. To such work the Arab is much inclined, as he is, and always has, been a man of enterprise prepared to take great personal risks & discomfort in pursuance of business or as a matter of war.

As we were leaving the port two search lights shot into the darkness the great pencils of light which originating at the lenses every extends its cone searching for many miles, fifteen have been mentioned to me, the surface of the sad sea waves. How great must be the impressiveness of these great lights presently? Could there be aught more likely to impress greatly the minds of those

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whose minds as yet only receive the lore and legends of an ancient and backward civilisation. What must each one think of the men who can controll a something which cannot be seen yet from which is cast into the air a light which falling upon their houses their sailing craft or themselves, at a distance of many miles brings them into full view of the observer? Its impres resulting impressions must give a high degree of fear of the men who do it, and cause respect for the Empire of which they are the representatives. This is probably the first time in the history of the world that the searchlight has played so important a part. Every moment of the twenty four hours must coincide with the switching on of the electric current to a lamp belonging to the British race. Will The great pencils of light salute the darkness, as it enfolds each part of the earth.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

"The true nature of Home – It is the place of Peace; the shelter not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt, and division."
So wrote Ruskin in Sesame & Lilies. Home should be thus. Is it always? Ours might have been! How could it be with such a woman at its head as we have always had? A warning to other women not to risk becoming as did my wife and your Mother. Nothing more dreadful in life have I ever seen.

7-1-15. 9 a.m. The first daylight sign of war has been with us since the sun rose.

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over the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, in the form of several warships patrolling the waterway. The searchlights piercing the darkness denoted something out of the common order, the guns of the ships of war, and they ready for action, give pause to the onlooker for serious thoughts. The island of Perim still stands sentinel to the southern end of the Red Sea. One of my hoped for experiences was, to have chance to note how numerous are the bones of ships that have shed tears at the narrow part of the straight, but the pall of night was upon them as we passed, therefore mental comparison could not be made between the mental impressions of 1898, 1883, & 1815 A.D.

8-1-15, 9 a.m. with us – about 2-20 p.m. with you.
Yesterday a strong wind blowing towards the north followed us, helped us on our way & kept the air cool, this morning its velocity has somewhat lessened, the result being that the air is warm and moist, and oppressive. Yet we should not complain as the gods who govern sea and air have been to us kind.

About 44 days out from Sydney today, we are nearly mid way on the road up the Red Sea. Why is it called Red? Do you remember the anecdote of the young Scotch sailor, who, returning after many years of voyaging, told his old Mother of the wonders he had seen by land & sea? The old lady exclaimed – Sandy my lad. Had I a thought that after lang years awa you could come back to tell your aud Mither such a pack o lies, I had na a let you gang! – He thought then said – Well Mither one day we were anchored in the Red Sea. Several of our men whiled away the time fishing, some with large some with small hooks. Fish were caught in plenty. One man felt something heavy on

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the line. He pulled, called a mate to help him. They pulled and near the water’s surface saw a peculiarly shaped object. On examining it on deck it was found to an old wheel of a chariot. Yes, Mither we were anchored over the place where Pharoes hosts were smother by the waves of the Red Sea when they tried to follow the Israelites. Good boy Sandy that is something that I can believe.

My little comedian friend has recovered his appetite. His elbow rises vigorously with each dose of soup. Were it not for fear of spilling the liquid, my head would forcibly strike the upraised elbow. It is a sight uncommon to watch him wolf the different articles of diet, lick his fingers, spit out the unpalatable particles, clean the plate with the digits of his right and or left hand, accumulate mountains of meat, piles of fruit, mounds of nut shells, with masses of cheese. He who is satified with but little wonders how it is done.

Your photos still hang above my berth. A morning salutation greets them each morning day about 6.30 o’clock. The calendars are stripped as at home, the quotations read & the dates noted. As I get farther from Sydney these are more fully suggestive of home.

Last evening I was lecturing again. It was hard work because the wind was blowing hard through the adjacent canvas. However all went well, and I did not notice anyone of my audience go to sleep.

This evening I opened up another parcel of French newspapers which were put together for me by M. Chayet or Mr. Quinn of the Parliamentary Library. I have written to both thanking them for their actions. The newspapers & journals are much sought after. You may thank them personally please for me.

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Still Northward do we go. The Southern Cross has left us. The pole star is in full view. The great bear takes his place, each night, as a brilliant setting in the Northern sky. Monday evening, more than eight weeks out from Sydney should find us at Suez. Thence through the canal will not take long. At Port Said much the greater part of the voyage will have been negociated.

You should have seen my comedian at dinner tonight. After soup and minor material he had jugged hare with r.c. jelly, when the plate was emptied of solids in went a finger of the left hand then one of the right to sweep along the remains and transfer it to the mouth to be licked off the digits. As another course he had chicken with sauce, the fowl being gone his fingers made several attempts to reach the surface of the plate, only one did so, it was interesting to note the tendency displayed by the hands, then the plate was removed by the Steward. It appears difficult for him to restrain his fingers. I would be more comfortable were he further removed from me.

A cold breeze from the north today has given us the first suggestion of the Northern winter. The cold in France must be great where the men have to stand to their guns in view of the enemy’s forces. The game of war is a savage dreadful affair, but it makes men great and races to change places on this planet.

Good night! One wakes about 6 o’clock here. I must to bed 11-50 p.m.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

[A block of Xs and Os.] Car. [A block of Xs and Os.] Joseph. Kitty [A block of Xs and Os.] and Kitty.]

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10-1-15. The anniversary of the introduction of 1d. postage in 1840 A.D. by Roland Hill comes once more upon an obliged world today. My Little Comedian has midst the knowledge with in his brain a legend about the event which he has repeated many times since our cabin has been No. 7.

10-1-15, 10 a.m. – Our morning radio, is as follows:/
"Wireless from Pharos. 5-40 a.m., 10-1-15 Enemy bombared [bombarded] Soissons south of Laon. Increasingly fierce fighting in Northern France. French artillery destroyed huts concealing machine guns and afterwards cleared mined trenches. In the region of Bois Delly and Bois Leprece we have maintained our positions despite high German reinforcements.
Russians report great successes in the Caucasus, and have captured field artillery stores & ammunition."

It makes one rather sad to read "Soissons", because it is but 50 of our miles from Paris. For five months it has been the bone of contention between the opposing giants, and neither appears to have power to entirely displace the other There has been so much sameness in the French communiques, and the Petrograd bulletins, as published from day to day that the unthinking laugh at them, while others wonder what when will be the day upon which one side will have the balance of weight necessary to enable him to strike a decisive blow at his adversary. Training and arming of every available man must be going on at high pressure in the countries behind the leaders in the fray, such as has never been equalled in the history of the world. The striking power of both sides should by the summer time be greatly augmented. What will happen then God alone knows, but come what may our side will show its mettle, & we

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hope & pray that the biting of the dust at the last ditch will be for those who are against us.

I enclose for your amusement a few pleasant anecdotes about Menelik, lately King of Abyssinia. At the time the one about, le flair des lions, may have had more in it than met the eye ear or nose of M. Klobukowski. He may not have known that there is one thing, above all others, for which the black man can never forgive the white. The educated black man is not slow at proclaiming it. He says out loud: "No matter what happens we shall never be allowed to forget the objectionable odour which is always with you, nor can we forgive it." Menelik may have had this in his mind when he "ajouta avec un sourire", the words about the Italian & his not being in correct uniform.

Adis Abeba [also spelt Addis Ababa] is in the center of Abyssinia. The country was just to the West of us as we passed through the straights of Bab-el-Mandeb. According to a 1913 map at which I am looking British & Italian land separates Meneliks country from the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, the Straight of Tears, and the Red Sea. This must be a sore point with the Emperor of Ethiopia, because the French presents and other goods to reach any part of his country must pass do so by the leave of the English or French rulers. An anterior King of Abyssinia was taught a severe lesson by British troops led by General Napier, when in April 1868 they stormed Magdala, a mountain fortress believed at the time to be impregnable, and to which, in the Northern portion of the country the authorities had retired. The leader was afterwards created Lord Napier of Magdala. Memory takes me back to the illustrated papers of the day upon the pages of which there were reproductions of the stronghold built upon a rock and of the soldiers of Britain as they surmounted the walls and planted the Union Jack upon the battlements. When you have read the anecdotes you might send them on to Molly, she may be amused at by them.

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Abyssinia is about one fourth larger in area than N. S. Wales and has a population of about eight million persons.

Why is this sea called "red? Because it is bordered by the country which the ancients called Erythrea [also spelt Eritrea] (Gr. [Greek] eruthron – Red) hence the Red Sea, or the sea near the red land.

11-1-15, 6.35 a.m. Dr. Kennedy has just put his head through my cabin door and said – "See there Sir?" "What is it?" "Mount Sinai in the distance."
Quickly said do these two words stir to action the cells and fibres of the brain whereon are impressed lessons of early youth, given to the Christian child by his parents or his other teachers. Dr. Ken. always takes a kindly interest in me. He is a nice lad.

Jerome in reply to a question said – "Mount Sinai is the place, or mountain, upon which the ark rested when the flood waters were subsiding". – Then my Comedian’s valet said – "Noah, the old chap, sent out a raven which did not come back, then some time after he sent out a dove, which returning with a green leaf he judged that the waters had subsided, and that he might safely open the door or make a hole in the wall." Jerome knew the story too.

As soon as I jumped from bed, a bible was obtained from His Reverence – Col. Ney. – who lives next door to me, therein the 8th Chapter of Genesis was soon found and the valets were advised to read about Mount Ararat, and the ark. Each of them did so & was enlightened. Taylor rather crowed over Jerome saying – "I knew that it was not Mount Sinai, but I did not like to speak against what Jerome said." Good.

10 p.m. – Most of the day has been used by me in reading about the piece of the world through

[Private John Henry Taylor, No 766, 23, a horse driver of East Sydney, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital and served as batman to Lieutenant Colonel John William Springthorpe.]

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which we are travelling Northward, in a book that narrates the day to day doings of people who travelled through it close upon four thousand years ago. Just think of it four thousand years? The account still holds good. The Israelites, under Moses, started from where Cairo is now, being desirous to get away from the bondage under Pharoah, crossed the Red Sea, travelled up & down the Sinai peninsula, and through countries to the north of it, ultimately after forty years, arriving at Jericho in the promised land. Mirabile dictu! Did they, any one of them, in his wildest dreams imagine that as he marched through these barren lands he was helping to make history that would be read by those passing near for centuries & centuries and centuries? I have written more fully to Mollie upon the subject, and if you be interested she will let you read her letter.

Are we in this ship helping to make history for those to be after us in the centuries and thousands of years that are to come? Will the records of our great treck be lost in the story of the great war? Individually we shall all be forgotten, but in the annals of Australia there may be a place wherein will be kept some remembrance of the undertaking in which each plays a humble part.

The ship is coming to an anchorage off Suez, where it is likely we shall remain during the night.

The S.S. Malway from Australia passed us at breakfast time, the wife & daughter of one of our colleagues is on board; a bag of mails from Australia is also in her post office, this will be left at Port Said, where we hope to learn once more something from you and Australia. Let me hope? Every one is on the deck excited at the sight of lights on the land, and they are congregated about an Arab

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dealer in cigarettes and post cards I send you a sample of his wares.

This will be finished in the morning and sent from Port Said on its journey south.

Canan 12-1-15, 12-30 a.m. We are off again under orders for somewhere else. Suez is as when you looked upon it a few years. All the modern houses have sloping red tiled roofs, while those constructed anciently have flat roofs. The new part of Suez mostly on the island constructed by the canal company out of the silt elevated and tipped during the construction of the adjacent portion of the waterway. The springs of Moses to the left of the town and behind it from where we look, are the source of a luxuriant growth of palm trees, forming a green belt across the desert. It is said that on many areas fruit and vegetables of many kinds flourish luxuriantly.

When fairly in the canal the third sign of war at once came into view. Viz. soldiers on active service fortifying areas on either side, some here some there, constructing earth works digging trenches, rifle pits, gun emplacements, wire entanglements, &c. Their rifles are piled close handy, giving an appearance indicative of the seriousness of the work which is in hand. I asked one English officer at one point – Who are you? He replied – The 26th Punjanbies. [possibly Punjabies] – Good. The Oasis of Chalouf, on the left hand side of the canal was a strip of green some miles in extent. On the Arabian side is the desert of

3-45 p.m. We are in the Bitter lakes. It is through these that Moses is supposed to have passed when he was followed by Pharoes hosts who were enveloped by the waters & destroyed. The waters, opened for the Israelites, formed a wall on either side of them.

[Page 64]

The site is not mentioned with accuracy in Exodus, therefore some doubt surrounds it.

9-30 p.m. We are abreast of Ismalia & expect to be at Port Said about 4 a.m. 13.1-15.

The banks of the Canal are closely guarded by soldiers from India. Every yard, about, of it has armed men ready to pounce upon any one. All sorts of rumours float about the ship in regard to an attack by arabs. How much or how little of truth is in them no one knows. I have been told, & believe it to be true that we go from Port Said to Alexandria. If so it will be a new place for me to see. It may be that my next letter will be from there.

Good night, & for the present good bye my dears.

Please give my best wishes to Maria, and my other friends.

To yourselves go heaps of love and loads of kisses. Often are you in my thoughts & do I pray for you.

Your loving & affecte. Faree
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[A block of Xs and Os.]

[Page 65]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

Lieut Col. Nash

S.S. Kyarra
Bay of Aden
Arabian Sea
7-1-15.

My Mollie dear:/

A word with you before retiring. A few pages have been written to the girls, one day has passed into an other as the words flowed on to the paper.

1-5 a.m. 7-1-15 with me, 6-15 a.m. with you on 7-1-15. As I am thinking of seeking sleep you are probably stretching your waking limbs preparing them for the duties of another day. The vicissitudes of fortune are making the leagues between us more numerous moment by moment, while I chase the setting sun, for you he comes from the same outlook day following day. For long series of years may he shine upon you, warm you, bring you good health, and see you & your order endowed with good fortune.

We arrived at Aden at 3-30 p.m., dropping anchor in the outer harbour, several miles distant from the settlement. A more forbidding barren and picturesque piece of the Earth’s surface ’twould be hard to conjure up, than that which meets the view of him who sees the Arabian coast as he comes upon it on the line Socotra to Aden. One imagines that the jagged steep hills and peaks had but yesterday been thrown by a giant effort from out the ocean where stand they as if not yet set into permanent form. The modern buildings of the British garrison nestle on the foot hills, lighthouses dot the coast line, & each highest

[Page 66]

elevation has as its summit a signal station or a fort. On the flat land in the distance are the homes of the people to the manor born, who have been in these parts for countless ages, the sons of the gate of Asia whose business instincts and enterprise led them into distant parts of Asia and across the water to Africa. Short lived is our business history as compared with theirs.

Just think of living in Aden? Where fresh water is carried round on the backs of the Camels, and is sold much as milk is with us.

Boat loads of black vendors of tobacco and other small goods came out to the ship, with intent to take away from her the shillings, sixpences, and pence available.

At 11 p.m., 6-1-15, the anchor Captain called from the bridge, "Heave away forard!", and in response the anchor was soon weighed. A few other fitting directions were issued, then the engines began to pulsate the steering gear to act, & our a course was set for Perim, 96 miles away at the entrance to the Red Sea. We should be there in the early morning, when a turn Northwards will set us on the road to Suez.

The searchlights of the British Empire, like unto the bugles of the king, during this war greet at every moment the coming of darkness upon the earth. The great pencils of light shoot out into the air and for 10 or 15 miles light up the surface of the water, to such effect than an observer, unseen, can survey every yard of it. A profound effect must be produced by these great lights upon the coloured races, be they Arabs, negroes or others, of mankind, & their

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power & brilliance must help us much in Mohamedan countries by frightening the semi-civilised to greater respect for those who can work such wonders.

From here to Suez the waters are patrolled by twelve armed cruises, probably to prevent those who might sympathise with the Turks from working evil deeds against British or friendly ships.

Now to bed. Good night from me to you, or rather should it be good morrow to you. All is quiet around me and this nib slips pleasantly along the paper, yet must it now cease from its enjoyable function.
Again good morrow to you & your colleagues. Prayers for me and then good night:/
"Prayer –
Which pierces so, that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults."
(Tempest. Epil.)

7-1-15, 9-15 a.m. Many war ships surround us at this moment, & they have been with us since the sun rose over this narrow waterway. Sign are they, the first we have seen since leaving Sydney, by day that some serious business is astir in this & other regions of our earth. The search lights piercing the darkness have been a sign by night. The island of Perim still stands sentinel inside the straight of tears today, as it has done since man has had cognisance of this world. The remains of the good ship China still lie upon the southern aspect, a warning to all marriners that the caring for the safety of a ship is of far more importance than the celebrating

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of the birth anniversary of any lady, be she a Mrs. Freeman-Thomas or other, & that champagne, or alcohol of any kind, has as one of its first effects, the blinding of the human mind to responsibility and respect. Great Bacchus, god of wine, for how much have you been responsible in the way of crime & disaster from the days of Noah, till A.D. 1915? Echo answers – How much?

8-1-15. So indicates the calendars as they hang near me stripped for Friday. Another Friday soon to be amongst the days left behind us in our wanderings. Such ones as have not been likened in the annals of history. The Odessey of Homer and the Iliad of Virgil still stand as litterary records, of the first class, of the Trojans and the Greeks, yet are they but circumstances of brief voyages, when compared with that which will be on the records of, let us write the Queenslanders, by the time their unit reaches the seat of war, not to think of the day when once again, the remains of them may set shore upon the land from whence they came. A great record will be, let us hope, at every step, much to their credit. May the good God provide, as a recorder, some one, exceptionally capable, for writing about it that their children and their children’s children may read of them through the ages that are to come.

"894 miles to Suez" the record card issued issued from the Skippers office, at noon on 8-1-15 has told us. At the rate of say 270 miles per day, we shall not reach the Southern end of the Suez Canal till Monday night, and if we be not permitted to go through the canal during darkness we shall not be at Port Said before Wednesday afternoon. Yet must we be content and make the best of what falls to our lot, remembering how well

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off are we compared with those brave men, who fight for our land and our liberties, even for our very right to live as a free people.

The atmospheric conditions today have been on the sultry side, this cannot long continue, there is bound soon to be a rush of cold air from the north to balance the atmospheric the tension in the air.

9-1-15. In the early morning the change came, the cold waked me, and search was made for the blanket to increase my comfort; during the day the wind blew strongly against the prow of our ship, causing some of the women-folk to wear jackets, and others of our people to taste once more the effect of mal de mer. At this moment 4-45 p.m., deck hockey is being vigorously contested on the starboard portion of the main deck.

11 p.m. No. 1 General Hospital were the victors by one point.
Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!

"Remember, that the happiness of your life and its power, and its part and rank on earth or in heaven, depend on the way you pass your days now." Sesame & Lilies – Ruskin.

10-1-15. You may tell M. Mary Joseph that her gift was used again this today. During the morning I read out of it for the R.Cs. on board, who attended in the lecture room, the "Ordinary of the Mass" prayers, and at 8 p.m. the Litany of the Virgin Mary and suitable prayers. For the Rosary I used another book. She will be pleased to learn that her present is being made use of.

We are today well north of the tropic of Cancer. Meca [Mecca], the sacred town of the Mahomedans

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in Arabia was passed some thirty-six hours back. Every good Mohammedan hopes to visit Mecca ere he dies, that he may pray at the shrine of the prophet, having done so he has right to wear a special head-dress, which indicates to all and sundry that he has made the visit.

11-1-15, 6.35 a.m. – Dr. Kennedy, who takes a kindly interest in me, has just put his head through my cabin door, and said – "See that Sir?" "What is it?" "Mount Sinai can be seen in the distance." – I was at the moment putting some French words into my brain. For Christian people Mount Sinai, as two spoken words, sets in action those cells and fibres in the brain, whereon are stored the impressions left by teachings and readings of early youth.

Jerome, my Batman, in reply to questions said:– "Mount Sinai is the place upon which the ark rested after the flood", - and Taylor Col. Springthorpe’s man said – "Noah, the old chap, sent out a raven to explore which did not return, some time afterwards he sent out a dove, which returning with a green leaf he believed that the waters had subsided and took it as a sign that he might with safety open the door of or make a hole in the ark." – Then the animals came out two by two &c. Such is legend as woven round the people and the acts long since departed from our world. I have just told the two men, that the fame, of their biblical knowledge, will be put into the post, at Port Said, from whence it may, with fortune’s favouring breeze be some day read of in Sunny New South Wales by more than one set of people.

I fear me that the knowledge of biblical lore is not great for it is written in the 8th Chapter of the book of Genesis Ver. 4 – "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month upon the Mountains of Ararat" – Thereafter to the 22nd verse, end of the chapter, is told the history of the subsidence of the waters.

[Page 71]

A most interesting piece of water are we on the bosom of this morning, or rather have been all the morning, the clock’s hands now indicate 12-20 p.m. It is one of the regrets of my life that you had not opportunity to be here before you shut yourself up in a Convent.

This strip of sea and the red barren land on either side of it is so close to the home of the first people referred to in any history that to the thoughtful it commends itself for study, especially when as a man he has reached beyond the 50th year of life. Should I get safe back to Australia ’twill be my utmost endeavour to get enough money together wherewith to sen my Kafoline to see this & other parts of the world.

If we go no further back than the year 1491 B.C. we can note how then the Israelites, under Moses, set out from Rameses, (practically the present site of Cairo), where the Nile breaks up into the various channels by which it finds its way, to the and then found its way, to the Mediterranean, or Great Sea. And follow their route onwards, not through the land of the Philistines which lay between them and the promised land but along the devious roads mapped out by The Lord, "through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea" – Exd. xiii-18. –, "going up by five in a rank (harnessed) out of Egypt the land of Egypt" – idem – reaching at "Etham the edge of the wilderness – idem 20 – The Lord led them "by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire" – idem 21 –. They turned south at Baal-Zephon – idem xiv-2 – near the Sea. Under the same guidance "Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea" – xv-27 – and "the Children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the waters; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. – idem. 29. – And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horse men, and all the host of Pharoah, that came into the sea after them; and

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there remained of them not so much [as one] of them." – idem 28. – According to the map which is at the end of the book which is alongside, the track plotted out as being that of the Israelites is on the land well above the northern limit of the Red Sea. Strange.

Through the desert of Etham "they wandered, forming an encampment on the shore of the Red Sea just opposite where we are now (1 p.m., 11-1-19[15].). Still onward through "the desert of Sin", coming to the country called Horeb. Here at Rephedim [Rephidim] the people commenced to murmur for want of water – xvii-1. – Close by at Massah or Meribah (Tentation) Ex. vii-7 – "Moses in the presence of the elders smote struck the rock", with his rod. The Lord having promised: "thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink": – xvii-6. – In chapters 19 to xix to xxxii is given the history of the talking on Mount Sinai between Moses & The Lord, during which were given the ten commandments, the instructions in all manner of laws and customs, which unto this day are fully observed, or rather are supposed to be observed in their entirety, by the children of Israel, such as our quondam friend Little Hyman & his fellows – "And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the Mount testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written". – xxxii-15. – "And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. – idem. 16. – Joshua was with Moses. – While Moses and Joshua were at Mount Sinai the Israelites became restive and angry and returned to idolatry under Aaron. When Moses was sure of this, coming nigh to the camp, seeing seen "the (golden) calf and the dancing": – idem 19 – Moses anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and

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"break them beneath the Mount" – idem. 19. –

As written before, we were abreast of Mount Sinai about 6 o’clock this morning; since when the level land, between, or rather sand, between us and the Mountains of Arabia, over which the forebears of present-day Jews wander has been with in view on our right hand. Interest in the barren lands in the ancient story and in the belief that I shall never see it again, must be my excuses for writting to you so fully. If you be pleased I am repaid. If you be bored of your charity forgive me for being a nuisance.

Heaps more could I put together for my own instruction and pleasure, but from Mount Sinai, the travellers crossed to the other side of the Sinai peninsula, away from us, on the Eastern shore of the Gulf of Elath – modern Gulf of Akabah [also spelt Aqaba], – Northward by devious routes they marched through the countries of the Midianites, the Edomites, the Moabites, ultimately crossing the river Jordan north of the Salt Sea, halting at Jericho in the midst of the Promised land.

Good bye. Good bye. Good bye.

[A line of Xs followed by one of Os]

From Faree.

Mount Sinai is 7375 ft. high, nearly as high as Mount Kosciusko. On many of the highest peaks today we have seen snow. The weather here is sharp.

11 p.m. – We are anchored off Suez. It is not probable that we shall enter the Canal before the morning.

I sent a message by wireless tonight to Dr. Pierro Fiaschi wishing him good luck. He

[Captain Piero Fiaschi (1879-1948), 35, medical practitioner of Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 23 September 1914 on HMAT A27 Southern with the 1st Light Horse Ambulance.]

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is with the Australian troops who are encamped outside Cairo. I know that the message has been forwarded but I do not know whether he has received it.

10 p.m. We are just dropping anchor outside the town of Suez, where we shall probably be during the night. Every one is on deck viewing the lights on the land & on the ships which surround us. An arab dealer has been allowed on board, he is doing a big trade in cigarettes & post cards. I shall purchase a few with a view to sending them to the girls and you in the morning.

Suez is a very ancient town, being represent so long ago as four thousand years. Even then fresh water was flowing along a canal which starting from below Cairo went across the desert to where Ismailia lies today and then went south to Suez. It is said that up the Nile from the mouths and thence by the canal, boats could sail from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. The people who built the pyramids, (ca. 2850 to 2700 B.C. – IV Dynasty – Kings Snofru [also spelt Snefru], Kheops [also spelt Cheops], Khephren [also spelt Chephren], Mencheres [possibly also spelt Menkaure]), would have but a small work to cut a canal through the desert. It is believed that in the days of some of the Egyptian potentates more than 4000 years ago a salt water canal almost on the same line as the present canal served for salt water to flow between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. However that may be the fresh water canal that was built during the Middle Empire some 2000 years before Christ, still serves for the flow of fresh water to Ismalia and the towns along the Canal from Port Said to Suez. It fell into decay at times.

12.1.15, 12-30 p.m. The anchor is being weighed and we shall be off again in a few minutes. I send you some pictures of Suez. It is not yet a large town. The new houses having sloping

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roofs covered with tiles, the old are the flat roofed buildings, the walls of which were made from sand or mud bricks. Old age is writ large upon every one of these.

The springs of Moses can be located by the palm trees which are a feature extending for a long distance through the desert (Two miles perhaps).

We are now in the canal. I am sorry that you have not seen it. Like a hugh serpent, it looks in front of us as if our ship was going up a gentle incline of water. On either side is a desert, though for the first few miles on the Egyptian bank there is the Oasis of Chaleur [possibly Oasis of Chalouf, referred to on Page 63], where the palm trees and the green patches mark out the fresh water areas.

Here we come upon the third sign of war. Soldiers, from Hindustan, are encamped on either bank, and distribute themselves along these. They are actively engaged building mounds behind which they can lie or stand in case they be attacked. After night fall there is a continuous line of these men drawn up close to the water’s edge. The strip of water is apparently very closely guarded. There must be some good reason for this. All sorts of rumours are afloat about arabs, & others preparing to make a descent upon Egypt, the crossing of the canal being an incident on the way.

The Bitter lakes consitute a large expanse of water which is about 25 miles long, after these had been filled a channel was dredged

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was dredged through them. Lake Timsah some ten miles long is a second sheet of water, at its northern extremity is Ismalia, half way from Suez to Port Said. Lakes Balah & Menzale [also spelt Menzaleh] are other extensive sheets of water on the road. Our ship travels all night, & 4 am. on 13-1-15. should see us at Port Said. Two days there coaling. Onward again, with I have been told Alexandria at the most Western mouth of the Nile as our next port of call.

Good bye for the present my dear. Sometimes think of a p.o.m. who is a long long way from you, & who thinks of, & prays for you often. When shall we meet again. God alone knows.

My best wishes to M.M. Joseph, & my other friends, her sisters. Heaps of love & loads of kisses to yourself from

Your lvg & affte Faree
John B. Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
West Maitland
N. S. Wales

[Page 77]

Lieut. Col. Nash

S.S. Kyarra
Mediterranean Sea
Off the Mouths of the Nile
13-1-14 [15]

My dear Girls

Off again on this great treck. As no lunch was to be obtained on board, a strike for some reason or another, I went on shore about 1-30 p.m. Rambled round Port Said by myself, first in one direction then in another. The town is growing rapidly. Soon the whole of the available land will be occupied. The houses are of many stories, 4, 5, or 6, in height, the roofs flat, the windows of varied pattern. They do not look substantial nor expensive. In the main streets there is room for carriages and other vehicles. Plenty of the former are available for hire. The other streets are only lanes. The hotels are of varied class. The largest ones have some attractiveness about them. Some of the shops are large & well stocked. The natives are black, of the Arab class. Nothing picturesque about them, far otherwise than are the Cingalese & others at Colombo. Those who put the coal on board have not shining skins, they are simply black of skin & black with coal dust. The canal works, the coaling of the ships, & the passengers of all classes bring the income to the town, they are all increasing in importance so the town grows apace. Where the Arabs live the streets are mere lanes, there is little idea of cleanliness about the people or in the streets, men, women, children, goats, pigs, donkeys, sheep, fowels wander indiscriminately; in the houses they must be packed like sardines in their tins. Flies abound. Sore & disfigured eyes are everywhere. The food is carried about for sale. If there be aught in what modern sanitarians teach, then all these black people should die before long, yet have they lived during the ages that have passed, & under worse conditions than those of today.

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Carrie [A row of Xs followed by one of Os.]

Joseph [A row of Xs followed by one of Os.]

Kathy [A row of Xs followed by one of Os.]

Mollie [A row of Xs followed by one of Os.]

[Page 79]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Rails, about 18 inches apart, serve for what represents a tram car, drawn by a mule & donkey, or such like team.

Trees, other than palms, grow as if it they did not belong to the place.

The Europeans drinking coffee & other liquids at the cafes were not much to look at

5-30 p.m. – Leaving for Alexandria. As I have not before been at any one of the mouths of the Nile I look forward to the call with interest.

14-1-15, 9 a.m. – Alexandria in sight. Our good ship is bearing up towards the city. Masts & funnels indicate the presence of a large number of sailing vessels and steamers. Smoke from stacks chimney stacks bespeak work shops or factories.

10 a.m. At anchor. Once more in touch with civilisation as can be noted because the steamers have the coal poured into them by machinery. The water cannot be deep as the screw at work stirred up mud from in large quantities, noxious mud too, much to the delight of the sea guls, which picked tit bits from the surface of the ooze.

11 A.M. – Mail bags aboard & Joe dear from you a letter dated 11-12-14, addressed to Fremantle. Many thanks for it. I thought that all my letters had gone on to London in the Malwa. There would hardly be room for an oak tree in the estate outside our window. Glad to learn that you were all well.

The advance of the Turks upon Egypt, the visit of Sir George Reid & Mr. MacKenzie to Cairo & other parts of Egypt, are the chief topics of interest here.

Colonel Martin has come to Cairo and we wait here is [his] return, when he comes we may know the next move to be played in our wanderings.

I fear me that Dr. Paton is not a good prophet. Wish he was. The war has not yet come to any of its great stages. When the Summer of 1915 is opening we may expect to meet with the commencement

[Sir George Houstoun Reid (1845-1918), 12th premier of New South Wales and, after Federation, first Leader of the Opposition (1901-1903) and fourth Prime Minister of Australia (1904-1905), was appointed as Australia’s first High Commissioner to London in 1909. From December 1914 to January 1915 he and Thomas Noble Mackenzie, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and New Zealand’s High Commissioner in London, visited Australian and New Zealand troops in Egypt. (Thomas Mackenzie was knighted in 1916.]

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of the big battles in various directions and look for results which will push one side or the other back. My mind is still in doubt as to which of the participants will win during this year. We must win in the end or be decimated. It must not be forgotten that as we are preparing with all our might and main for the day when the weather will allow renewed efforts to be put forth, so are the Germans and their allies. Both sides have lots of men, heaps of resources, plenty of food, while these last they are bound to fight. Stick to these ideas as guides when you wish to be a prophet. The men at the University Club, upon the war starting, laughed and were angry with me for anticipating a long war, most of them now must admit that when they said "the end in three or six months" did not grasp the facts of the position.

I hope the next letters from you will be of much later date and bring me good news about everything, of yourselves & your intersts particularly.

This letter will be dropped into the box at once that it may be sent away at the first moment, to take its chance of some day finding Australia.

The air is sharp, the sun shining, the Arab traders shouting their wares from bats [boats] alongside, while the Australians, money burning big holes in their pockets, are sending pence, sixpences & shillings in hand bags to the boats from whence is returned oranges, cigarettes, post cards, dates, &c.

Our French tutor, brought from the Belgian Consul yesterday for his class, presents of Rosary beads, sacred heart badges, Atlasses, & books. He has given me the sacred articles to distribute to the R.C. people. I shall do so on Sunday.

[Page 81]

Give my love to Maria. Yesterday I posted cards & letters at Port Said which should find you in due course.

While in Port Said, with some nurses I was at the Egyptian Government Hospital. It is managed by the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. The OReilly of Bathurst is a member of a branch of the same Order for men. The Order is French. The Chief at Port Said is an English woman. The working dress is blue, with white collars & cuffs & a large spreading white head covering. The two Chiefs of the Order, we meet with, are very well condition, others varied from fat to lean. The Chief has been in Egypt for nine years. Should you see Father OReilly, you may tell him that we were talking about him.

Plenty of Turkish women, with partly covered face, are seen in the Arab quarter in Port Said. Mahommedan may be more correct than Turkish, probably they were Arab women. I may have written in another letter about them. The Nile, if you will look up a map, has mouths which open along the Mediterranean shore, from Port Said to Alexandria.

I wrote to Dr. Peck, & posted the letter, I think at Colombo.

A telegram reached me from P. Fiaschi, who is in camp at Cairo, yesterday.

Good bye my dears. Thank you again Joe dear for your welcome letter.

My best wishes to all my friends. Heaps of love & loads of kisses to my Car Joseph & Kitty. Send some on to Molly when you write.

Your ever loving & affectnt Faree
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales

[Page 82]

Lieut Col Nash

S.S. Kyarra
Alexandria
18 Janry 1914

My dear Girls
My colleague in a voice that is that of the typical larakin is reading from French into English the speech of Cardinal Mercier (Pastoral letter) to the Belgian people. The same sentences he is reading for a second time, why I do not know. "It is not true that the state is a Moloch upon which the people must be slaughtered. That the State is omnipotent … No the civil life is peace ordered …" And so on. My French is bad indeed mayhap. "The best of our children are entombed." Words brought upon the Author the roughness of the Kaiser’s government. "Belgium suffers cruelly." He has stopped again and says things which cannot be written here. The best of her children are entombed in our forts, on our fields of battle, in defence of our rights. Soon there will be no longer in the whole of family, one family who is not, who has not had some one killed. Why O God all these sufferings, I myself have seen ruins, ashes, surpassing imagination. Schools, churches, char. insts [charitable institutions], hospitals, convents reduced to ruins or rendered uninhabitable. Entire villages have practically disappeared. The State is not a Molloch upon whose altar all lives are a legitimate sacrifice. The brutality of pagan manners & the despotism of the Caesars

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

created this idea, which modern militarism tends revives, that the State is Omnipotent. Christianity says no. Civil rights are peace. This war is a crime. Belgium was held by her honour to defend herself – she has kept her word. Powers ought to respect the neutrality of Belg. Germany has broken her oath. Great Britain has been faithful to hers. Germany, this power has no authority. In your hearts you owe her neither esteem, affection or obedience. The King alone is the legitimate power in Belgium. The representatives of your Nation, & your Government represent authority. These have a right to your obedience."

Springthorpe says of himself "In a voice trembling with emotion and a throat affected with catarrh I have strained my throat larynx to speak aloud these magnificent sentiments which he I endorse as if they had been the product of my own brain cells, which is the greatest compliment he I can pay to Cardinal Mercier." Ye gods & fishes, great and small, think of mixing my Comedian with a member of the College of Cardinals. He is the berth below me and I sit with this pad and pen, highly amused as I hope you may be on deciphering these letters.

Yesterday my day for the most part was spent on shore. Starting from the ship as I wrote, with the nurses, I set them on their expedition. At the Khedivial Club I asked two officers to join me in afternoon tea.

[Page 84]

I met one of the Jesuit fathers, with him and a friend I went to the school owned & managed by them. The building is four stories high, occupies three parts sides of the square. The entrance, the saloons, the stairways, the gates, the grounds, & aught else that pertains to oriental magnificence impressed me. There is no school in Australia comparable to it. For extent of ground Riverview & Hunters Hill may surpass it. So spacious rooms could not be built with us the cost would be prohibitive.

18-1-15. Today was used up visiting hospitals. The morning at the Casino, San Stefano, about 9 miles out. Widely extending buildings face the Mediterranean Sea, the waters rolling up almost to the building line. Doctors of the Indian Medical Service are fitting up 1000 beds for the reception of troops, belonging to their country, who wounded in war will be sent on here from Europe. Then to view the Ambulance train. A series of carriages, some with 20 beds, in two tiers, others with less. Officers quarters, mess quarters, offices, dining saloons & other conveniences pertaining to a first class train. The sick & injured should be comfortable in it.

Lunch with Dr. Morison, the leading British Medico here, and his wife. Thereafter with Dr. Wilmot Morrissons assistant, to the Deaconnesses hospital. A private concern run by an Association of German Sisters, not in as rigid a combination as the Mercy & other Sisters of the Roman Church, but devoted to nursing. The building cost £70000 here equal to practically £200000 in our country. The frontage, three sides of a square, the corridors, stairs, rooms, wards, operating theatres are on a scale of magnificence unequalled by anything in Australia. Patients are 1st, 2nd, & 3rd class paying from 12/- to 3/- per day. Operations extra, the money going to the Sisters. German doctors before the war were attached to the hospital, now the

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above named Britishers do the whole of the work. I entertained Dr. Wilmot to dinner at The Union Club at 8 p.m., the hour for dining here.

I enclose you a set of surcharged postage stamps, Indian, place them with the others, they will grow in value, the 1 rupee one especially. I got them from the post office at the San Stefano hospital.

We expect to be leaving here tomorrow. I send on also a newspaper, which is published daily at Cairo and is distributed here.

The weather in this place is ideal. It appears that 8 in of rain falls per annum in Alexandria & none in Cairo. At Bourke in N. S. Wales the fall equals 9 in. per. ann.

My next letter will be from Cairo. The first part of this letter was written to amuse you.

The Military people here must look upon us as a lot of silly tourists. Officers, who should be monished go out with walking sticks, no gloves, cameras on backs, & such nonsense. It grieves one sadly. However there is no attempt at discipline, there never has been. Suppose it cannot be helped.

Goodbye now my dears. May the best of Fortune’s gifts be with you now & always. Heaps of good wishes to my friends. Especially to Maria & the Watt family.

Love in loads & kisses in abundance to Car, Joseph, & Kitty from
their loving and affect Faree
John B. Nash.

P.S. What language do the resident doctors talk here? English, Arabic, French, Italian, German, Maltese & others. What think you of that? J.B.N.

The Misses Nash
219. Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales.
Australia.

[Page 86]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
2 Feby 1915.

Mollie dear:/
An Australian mail was delivered here this morning, and not a letter or paper for me. I suppose the girls have written and addressed the letters in such manner that they have not come here. Seven days ago yours, dated Moss Vale 29-12-14 were handed to me. However any will be welcome when they come.

"Every action down to the drawing of a line or the utterance of a syllable, is capable of a peculiar dignity in the manner of it." – Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture – The writer of these words was probably thinking of the more of the drawings made by the architect than of the speaker, yet they bring vividly to my mind the word of the best reader my ears have listened to; his name The Revd. Golding Bird, one time Dean of Newcastle, now, if my memory be correct, Bishop of Kalgoorlie, W.A. When Aunt Maud – R.I.P. – was buried, I heard him read the prayers in the Anglican Cathedral at Newcastle. He could have gone on for long time & my ears and mind would have been fascinated listeners.

This is Candlemas. Was it a more important day when I was a youngster that it is in the year 1915 A.D.? Many times did my dear Mother take me with her to Mass, both carrying a bundle of candles, that the priest might bless and distribute them. Those we had were not most probably not "created by Thy command to come by the labour of bees to the perfection of wax", though I have some recollection of my Mother telling me that the candles

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to be correct should have been made from wax, that "the prayer of the just Simeon" might be fulfilled, and the festival of the blessed Mary ever Virgin devoutly celebrated. After being blessed faithful Catholics were accustomed to keep them stored away for solemn occasions, such as happen to every family in the form of serious illnesses and deaths. Hence ’tis asked "That thou wouldest vouchsafe to bless and scantify [sanctify] these candles for the use of men, and the good of their bodies & souls, whether by land or by water; …. who desire to bear them reverently in their hands, and to praise Thee with their hymns". As the wax from the bee was commanded to the service of The Lord, so "Moses commanded that the purest juice of the Olive should be prepared for the continual entertainment of the lamps burning in Thy sight."

Plenty of operating work here for the surgeon. My list was 7 operations yesterday, 2 today, 4 for tomorrow. The less severe cases are sent on rapidly. Motors and trams are the prime causes for serious accidents. A man was brought in last night with severe injuries to his chest involving his right lung, he came into contact with a tram in some way or another, he knows nothing about it. Alcohol, as usual, being the contributing cause.

2-2-15, 5-10 p.m. As I write a severe dust storm is raging, from the desert, beyond the pyramids the wind is bringing great clouds of dust, which when thickest obscure the trees and houses as does a dense fog, though the door of my room is closed, the particles are coming in depositing every where and being breathed by me & others. One will soon get his peck of dust here.

6-30 p.m. Night, black night is without, the disappearance of the sun and the dust have resulted in

[Page 88]

in such obscurity that there is no great pyramid, the trees & houses have no more existence upon my retina than if they were not a light here & there is the sole sign that without there is life, growth & buildings. The voice of my colleague, the little Comedian from Melbourne, fills the passages with sounds disagreeable as could the human sounds be. He will never grow up. Perhaps ‘tis good for him, because amongst the attribute of youth is a cocksuredness which knows no error. He has it to the full. Even when shown to have spoken incorrectly he admits it not. Were he ever in a place, like the Legislative Council, where a president would keep him to his points, & members would could criticise by disdain or by word of mouth, he had need to change his mental attitude and his voice or be voted early in his career a nuisance not worth the listening to.

6.55 p.m. The moon & stars have no chance in our atmosphere tonight, the desert sand is above and around all & no light less powerful than that from Old Sol has chance to reach the surface of this part of Egypt.

I must to dinner. To be late, 7 p.m., is not permitted under Military rules. Goodbye. [A row of Xs and Os – see image for details.]

9 p.m. The wind has ceased, the dust has fallen & is once more at rest, on the white covering of my table as in every other flat surface. Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

3.2-15, 6.50 p.m. Have I scaled the Great Pyramid? Yes, about 4-15 p.m. accompanied by Taylor, Col. Springthorpe’s orderly I set out from my room at Mena House, crossed the five hundred yards of sand to the base of the great structure, and stepped on to the first block of sandstone at 4-29 p.m. On the road across we were, as every one here is, importuned persistently to let

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a donkey, or a camel, have the honour of carrying our bodies and spirits. I refused for both of us. Not so much on account of the piastres (Egyptian money) that needed to flow to the animal’s driver, but because the beasts look dirtier than the owners, and that is going to great extents in this particular regard. The same remark applies to the camel. When a big man sits astride a small donkey, the following sentence comes to my mind, - Get off and carry the beast! –, learned in youth no doubt.

With Abdul Haleen Mahmund Salam as conductor we stepped from stone to stone, ever upwards reaching nearer to the sky, pausing for breath first when about one third the way, from here looking out upon Cairo, the Nile and the surrounding country to the North and East, not neglecting the desert and green lands in the foreground. A village inhabited by native Egyptians lay immediately below us, our eyes looked upon the roofs of the structures called houses and into the spaces comparable to small yards; the living places are but square box-like appartments, looking as if made of dried mud, with a covering of all sorts of refuse from the cultivations, dried corn stalks and the like; mud walls as high as the wall of the living places separate one yard from the other; in these spaces were walking about or stationery men women children goats sheep donkeys and fowls; just think of the dirt and wonder how people can live midst such surroundings. In this vast space of sand, where square feet look to be of no value and the cold at no time of year is great, the natives are huddled in such manner as you cannot imagine. Arguing from an Australian stand point, one would expect an epidemic of some kind, – plague, smallpox –, to come and sweep the population to another world. Perhaps such does happen. Yet have these same class of

[Page 90]

human beings been living in these parts for six thousand years, working and doing the business of the land, and as Herodotous [Herodotus] wrote performing natural functions in public which other peoples prefer to keep private. The sphinx was at foot to the East.

Resuming our climb from rock to rock still upwards did we go. The small, thin, barefooted, flowing-robed, (white) bright faced, brown, talkative lad hopping smartly step after step; Taylor with heavy slow precise motions following him; I, a good third, was given a hand, now and then, as help to reach my foot to reach the thicker stones. A second rest was taken about two thirds the way up. From here the waters of the Nile close to the city of Cairo could be mapped out as a silver streak stretching in winding manner with stream flowing from North West to East (So the lad said). Beyond it the Citadel of Cairo, with the great Mosque as its most prominent feature, was sillouhetted against great sand banks, looking truly what its name implies a place from which the city and country near can at will be dominated. A great striking contrast is the desolation of the desert and the green lands of the river. On the one hand, desolation in excelsis. On the other, water in plenty, green clover, with one-hundred-and-one other growths, which are the milk & honey, giving food and wealth to the twelve million people who live and die in the twelve thousand acres of cultivable land in Egypt. Mirabile dictu! Mirabile dictu!

On again. The ascent became easier yard by yard, the height of the sand blocks is less therefore the more comfortable, to raise the foot from one to tother. The summit is an irregular surface, a flag pole, carrying a black flag rising in situ medias res. The

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thoughts. Well this is the top of the great Pyramid of Egypt. A rough stone square without rail on any side. Why is the battered rag representing a flag black? There is to the West and South the great dessert of the Sahara known since childhood’s days as a waste of sand on the map of Africa. From whence came the tales of the Bedouins, of the camels, of the Caravans, of the sand storms, of the mirages, of the oases, and much else, that filled the brain of my youth, stirred its fancies, and left impressions which this evening were revived in manner unexpected and strange beyond expectation anticipation or belief of but few months last when you & I held converse in Sunny New South Wales.

Turning to the North and West, what other recollections of foretime mental impressions, called education, crowd one the other, there Cairo and the Nile, as real as my brain can percieve them, occupy portions of Egypt. Swift do the thoughts fly through time and space – Alexandria, the Phonecians, the Aenid of Virgil, Grecian history, Roman history, the rain of Abyssinia, the valley of the Nile, lakes Albert Nyanza & Victoria, Nyanza, travellers Burton Speeke [Speke] Livingstone, Stanley, Kings of various dynasties Gordon Khartoum Berber Waddy Halfa Suakin Assouan [Aswan] the British & now Australians. Any one of these names or subjects would serve me as text to write you sheets of words, which would be pleasure to me to set down, but might not be so satisfying to you to have to read. When you grow older you may, as I do, wonder what an incomprehensible living structure is the brain of not only a distinguished member of the human family but of the ordinary unit. Again does a train of thought tend to lead the flowing ink from out this nib.

[Page 92]

Many a time & oft has my body accomplished a more physically difficult task, than to climb the four hundred and fifty one feet of the pyramid. But standing on its summit my brain cells and immagination had more rein than at former period of my life. This the result of the congenial tasks, which geography and travel records, have, during more than fifty years, been my portion.

Abdul the Active, with his English words in Oxfordian drawl, skipped down before us saying, – "I can go down in seven seconds minutes" –, Taylor followed, & I came after. No need for rest on the descent. The weight of the body threw no extra work on the heart, foot after foot with ease reaching from stone to stone with ease.

Can a lady climb the Pyramid? Without trouble, if her skirts be not too tight and a guide assists on either hand. You might find the descent more inconvenient than the ascent, not so were you wearing a knickerbocker suit.

Please send this account to the girls in Macquarie Street as I have used up a little time in constructing it, they will like to read it mayhap to show it to some of their friends.

About 9 p.m. I fell asleep on the sofa, woke at 1-15 a.m., walked to the hospital, chatted with Sister Johnson [Head Sister Julia Bligh Johnston], had tea & cakes, came here, wrote to you, and must now 3-40 a.m. to bed, because I have an operation at 8 a.m.

Six operations kept me busy during the morning of the 3rd inst., the moments are now of the 4th Febry, Thursday, your photograph as a Dominican is in my hand, while Ruskin has written – "Men say their pinnacles point to heaven. Why, so does every tree that buds, and every bird that rises as it sings." Good night? [A row of Xs and Os.]

[Head Sister Julia Bligh Johnston, 53, Ambulance nurse, Department of Health, Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra as Matron with the 2nd Australian General Hospital.]

[Page 93]

"Men are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep". Tempest IV. 1.
Again, good night! Good night!!!! Good night!!!!!
So must it be with me to round off this twenty four hours with enough to sleep to store within me energy enough to perform my share of the worlds work for another day.

4-1-15. When you see Sister Mary Rose that when I was climbing the great pyramid I thought of one a poem which is to her a favourite, "The ladder of St. Augustine", wherein ‘tis written,
"The pyramids, when closer seen,
Are but gigantic flights of stairs."

Rather a neat joke in these war times is in London Punch of Jany 20th 1915. A clergyman is seated on a chair with catechism in his hand. In front of him stand six boys of the working class.
"Vicar:/ Now children we are to love our enemies. That isn’t easy, is it?
Small boy. No sir.
Vicar: Well, how are we to do it. (Dead silence.)
Vicar: Yes, we must love even the Germans. How are we to do that?
Boys: (Each stiffening his sinews, clinching a fist, and leaning forwards.) By giving ’em wot’s good for ’em, Sir."

The girls in Macquarie Street will see this, but it is not probably that M.M. Joseph has for your perusal and education recent issues of the Punch.

I enclose you a postcard which will

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give to your mind some idea of the house where I sit writing and the country which surrounds it. It does not suggest the romatic or attractive, yet it has been sufficiently so to draw from all corners of the earth the highly placed & richest of men & women not only in our time. The eyes of covetous monarch rising in power & opulence have been cast on Egypt, and soon as power was sufficient each essayed to become dominant in the valley of the Nile, coming hither from South, East, and North adown all the ages of historical time. This peri-pyramidal spot is the Meca of the tourists and the room I occupy, & those on either side are the ones of choice because on each flat the occupiers can gaze at the pyramids through a window. The fertile valley of the Nile lies to the left and in front, while the plateau from which the pyramids rise are is to the right front. Kings princes & lesser folk have slept in these rooms, where now impecunious medicoes, all the way from Australia, nightly lay their weary heads seeking sleep after a day of work.

This letter comes to an end. It will be compassed by an envelope, dropped into a postal box, given my benedictions to start it on its long journey from here to you.

To Mother M. Joseph and her colleagues, Mother M. Bertrand, Mother M. Pius, M.M. Thomas, & the other Sisters please come my best wishes and kind regards. The same to Mrs. Reynolds and my other friends. To you fly fast heaps of love & loads of kisses.

I am,
Your loving & afft Faree
John B Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth Divine
Dominican Convent
West Maitland
N. S. Wales
Australia.

[Page 95]

P.S.
Taking up a small edition of Hy. [Henry] viii by William Shakespeare, it opens at converse between the Lord Chamberlain and Anne Bullen, maid of honour to Queen Catherine:/

[Act ii, Scene 3, Lines 57-73]
Chamb:/
You bear a gentle mind, and heavenly blessings
Follow such creatures. That you may, fair lady,
Perceive I speak sincerely, and high note’s
Ta’en of your many virtues, the King’s Majesty
Commends his good opinion of you, and
Does purpose honour to you no less flowing
Than Marchioness of Pembroke; to which title
A thousand pound a year, annual support,
Out of his grace he adds.

Anne:/
I do not know
What kind of my obedience I should tender,
More than my all is nothing: nor my prayers
Are not words duly hallowed, nor my wishes
Worth more than empty vanities; yet prayers & wishes
Are all I can return. Beseech your lordship,
Vouchsafe to speak my thanks and my obedience,
As from a blushing handmaid, to his highness,
Whose health and I royalty I pray for."

Note how simple and straightforward each is made to speak, as bearer of a gracious message from one most highly place, and one poor in worldly wealth returning thanks.

J.B. Nash
11 p.m.

[Page 96]

P.P.S. 5-2-15 – Oft times thought during the day is with me – an anecdote for the girls. One told to me yesterday:/
Not infrequently ’mongst the protestant congregations, comes up the question of uniting the various sections. At the end of one of the discussions ’twas agreed amongst the chiefs that a visit seeking information, should be made to the Patriarch of the Greek Church at Moscow. In due course several Anglican bishops and others arrived in the Russian capital. The Patriarch listened attentively to all that was spoken and then said:– "I know much about the heretics at Rome, but of you I have never heard before. Please give me time to investigate and think."
Such is fame!

"Man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority
…
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep."
Measure for Measure ii-2.

Not another word before this is closed.
J.B. Nash
12-20 p.m. 5-1-15

[Page 97]

Lieut. Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
6-2-15

My Mollie dear:/

If by the ears, we here had the man or men who have stopped the coming of our letters, he would be torn to pieces. We know not whether you receive ours or what has become of those posted to us. War or no war we have just right to receive letters and to have them delivered to us for us. Do those I wonder, who are dressed with a little brief authority, believe us to be disloyal? If we were, why have we sacrificed so much of life to come here. Are they superior to us in judgment of what should or should not be read and written? Those censors I know in Australia were not endowed with brains, in that regard, which commanded my confidence. At least one of them was as narrow minded a man as ever was of my acquaintance. In these modern days I fear there is little belief in the descent of a new holy ghost on the head of a man who is by accident or design placed in a post which anteriorly he had not been trained to fill, he may,

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

if he have the capacity, in time come to know his duties and to perform them well. It almost makes me angry. If I am spared to return to Australia I may have some words to speak publicly on the subject in due course.

When looking out my window during the day I saw on the sands a human figure clothed in a white habit and black flowing coat. "Ah Mother M. Bertrand!" was my mental sentence. The Dominican habit is simulated by many Egyptians, who with stately walk pass to & from upon the sands about the pyramids. Should you have chance read this sentence to M.M. Bertrand, thereafter send to me verbatim her remark. It might also amuse M.M. Joseph. A picture of either or both of them comes before my perception when my eye lights upon a procession of Egyptians moving forth with stately walk and slow.

Was it in your letter that I wrote recently about the Egyptian women carrying loads on the head. This is the common way for taking water from place to place. When looking through a graphic of twelve months ago, there were two pictures, – "the Old and the New" –, of Egyptian women; "the old" being she who carried an earthenware jar shaped as a caraffe, the new being a her sister with an ordinary kerosene oil tin. This morning where three women were crossing the sand one had the jar, a second the tin, and the third a basket and

[Page 99]

a baby in her arms. The head carriage necessitates uprightness of body & steadiness of body neck and shoulders, which gives to the women here a special appearance, due to the walking movement being one entirely of the legs. Each of these women stepped up on to two walls while I was watching.

To you good night. Afterwards with the girls in hope that they may reach them some day.

Father McAuliffe of St. Mary’s Sydney lunched with me today. He is in good health and spirits and was asking about you, I showed to him your photograph. Might I ask M.M. Joseph to have some one photograph you that a picture may be sent to me? Again good night.

7.2-15. Heard Mass at 9 a.m. Padre McAuliffe. Visited his tent afterwards and read a portion of Anthony and Cleopatra, he having brought with him a volume containing Shakespeare’s plays & sonnets. I have some of the plays but in separate small books.

I called on some of the Battalion Commanders who come from Sydney. Col. McGlynn [McGlinn] from Maitland is at Heliopolis, the far side of Cairo from here, when possible I shall pay him a visit, as also some other officers who are well known to me, Beeston, Burnage, Bean, &c.

Father McAuliffe has taught the men to sing hymns, those for this morning were "Jesus’ Heart all Burning" and Faith of Our Fathers. According to the Epistle for Sexagesima Sunday, St. Paul had many a bad time during his missionary work. If the Jews and others left marks upon his body, his spirit has left an indelible mark upon history and the fate of this our world. He was human as are we. The strategy of his time was much as is ours, because did was he not "through a window in a basket let down by the wall, & so escaped from the city of the Damascenes, though the governor

[Reverend Father Edmond McAuliffe, 33, clergyman of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 18 October 1914 on HMAT A8 Argyllshire.

Major (Honorary Lieutenant Colonel), later Brigadier General, John Patrick McGlinn CBE VD CMG OBE (1869-1946), soldier and electrical engineer, was selected by Colonel John Monash in September 1914 as Brigade major, 4th Infantry Brigade. He temporarily commanded the Brigade while Monash was absent on leave in October/November 1915. He later served with 5th Division HQ in France.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Lievesley Beeston, 55, medical practitioner of Newcastle, NSW, embarked from Melbourne on 22 December 1914 on HMAT A35 Berrima with the 4th Field Ambulance, 4th Infantry Brigade.

Lieutenant Colonel Granville John Burnage, 55, merchant of Newcastle, NSW, embarked from Melbourne on 22 December 1914 on HMAT A38 Ulysses as Commanding Officer of the 13th Infantry Battalion.

Captain John Willoughby Butler Bean, 34, medical practitioner of Randwick, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A14 Euripides as Senior Medical Officer with the 4th Infantry Battalion.]

[Page 100]

"of the nation under Aretas the King guarded Damascus to apprehend him". Today the troops of King George the Vth of England are drawn up along every yard of the bank of the Suez Canal yet many Turks have manage to reach this side of the waterway. Some did so in a boat which had been brought in sections across the desert where which interim as, along the Mediterranean litoral, between the Holy Land & the Canal Zone – the desert of Et Tih. The desert was formerly peopled by the Philistines, who being a warlike crowd stood in the way of the Israelites, when nearly four thousand years ago they desired to get from Cairo to Jericho; Cairo was then called Memphis the chief city of the Pharoes.

The Padre is a good man for the soldiers. Clean, young, fair to look upon, bright, simple in manner, direct in speech, industrious, and anxious to assist each one in all directions.

8-2-15 – 12.25 p.m. – My morning’s work in the hospital has ended. While waiting for the luncheon hour, this letter shall be ended, and it will be placed in the post office box immediately afterwards. Ruskin’s quotation today is as follows:-
"Perfect taste is the faculty of receiving the greatest possible pleasure, from those material sources, which are attractive to our moral nature in its purity and perfection" – Modern Painters.
The sentence contains much of true religion and practical wisdom. Were one critical he might think that for, replacing of, in the first line, would be an improvement in the English wording and the sense. This is the anniversary of Ruskin’s birth 1819

Good bye! My soul shall cry for blessings on you. May you live long years, doing good work and leaving an honoured name behind.

To M.M. Joseph & your Sisters, my best regards. To you much love & heaps of kisses from

Your loving & affectnt Faree
John B. Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales

[Page 101]

Lieut Col Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
6-2-15

My dear Girls:/

No letters yet. If we of No. 2 A.G.H. had the man or men here who are blocking our letters there would be little left of them to do more work. What a senseless thing it is not to send on our corespondence from either end. If there were cause to doubt our loyalty we should not be here. Be there room for doubting our judgment then we have no right to our commissions as officers. In Sydney many of the censors were of my acquaintance, and they had no more right to be judges of other men than we had to be of them. It almost makes me angry to think that letters are being blocked. You know nothing of what is going on except what you gather from the newspapers, & that is the property of the whole world before you get, therefore there can be no valuable information in your envelopes, even if you had such may we not be trusted with it. Just as much as the censors anyhow. We have no information to give to you or Turks or any on else. It has been published in all the Australian papers that the troops from the Commonwealth are in Egypt and camped around Cairo. The Germans, Turks & others saw it before you had chance to read of it, therefore in this regard we can enlighten no one. We are within a few miles of the

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Suez canal yet each day you know hours before we do of what has happened, and I have no doubt that you are more fully informed. The composition of our forces and everything about them is not of our knowledge more fully seized than ’tis of people thousands of miles away. However a soul here must be possessed in patience with hope that some day my eyes may light upon your writing once again. A day of reckoning will come for those who are blocking the letters.

During the last few days I have had a letter from Dr. Peck. "My girls got a letter from your Carrie … and will reply", is written in one paragraph. Many of the Peck relations are in the war. I met one of them here a Captain Finch. His letter took from the 30th Decbr. to the 5th Febry to come from England to here usually a five or six days journey.

Another letter reached me today from Dr. John B. Murphy, of Chicago, U.S.A., it took from the 25th Novbr. 1914 till the 4th Febry 1915 to find me. Usually a twelve days voyage. He is the most distinguished surgeon in the world. I do not know what the B. in his name stands for.

Father McAuliffe, of St. Mary’s Sydney, lunched with me today. He is fat and looks well. He desired to be remembered to you. He comes from Bruree, Co. Limerick, and knew Br. Neil McDonalds people in Ireland well, the two families lived close to one another. This is Saturday night, I must hear the padre say Mass in the morning.

We have not been so busy in the hospital for

[Page 103]

a day or two. Medical and surgical affections & incidents always come in batches. The medical officers along the Suez Canal are said to be fully occupied with wounded Turks. If I can manage I shall try to get a trip to the fighting line. It is a nuisance to be so near and yet see nothing of what is happening. Fancy hears you think or say – Oh Faree may see enough of fighting before long – Perhaps. One never knows his fortune in this world, nor the luck that will be with him. However one can always hope for the best and try to deserve it.

Yesterday afternoon – 5-2-15 – I was in Cairo for a few hours. Visited Heliopolis for a few minutes, dined at Shepheards with Major Barrett Col. Ryan & others, saw General Birdwood, some ladies, and left for home about 10 p.m. An early hour for Cairo. The concerts and amusements begin at 9-30 p.m., lasting, so I have been told, till 1-30 a.m. No suitable companion was with me hence my early return. Another reason was my being somewhat weary. Of Heliopolis, the City of the sun, I shall write to you later.

You may remember about one year back seeing a picture, in one of the illustrated papers, depicting Egyptians girls carrying vessels on the head. "The Old and the New", the former showing a water bottle of earthenware poised on the head, "the New" being an oil tin similarly carried. This morning the originals were before me crossing the sands. There was a third woman in like manner carrying a basket, and on her left arm a baby. The custom necessitates an upright habit of body. Were the movement when walking, other than of the legs the load would fall. The stoop

[Colonel Charles Snodgrass Ryan, 61, medical practitioner of Orange, NSW, embarked from Melbourne on 21 October 1914 on HMAT A3 Orvieto as Honorary Surgeon General and Director of Medical Services with Headquarters 1st Australian Division.

General William Riddell Birdwood (Baron Birdwood) (1865-1951), soldier, was appointed commander of the forces raised by Australia and New Zealand in November 1914, and arrived in Egypt on 21 December.]

[Page 104]

or movement of the body and hips such as is not uncommon with Sydney girls would be fatal to the bottle and its contents. Each of the three females when before me crossed two walls without removing the loads.

I must write to Peck tonight. Goodnight! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

7-2-15 Padre McAuliffe said the 9 o’clock Mass this morning, he had a large congregation. None of the senior officers, except myself, appears to be a Roman. This is usually the case in the Military.

How silly it was of me not to bring a copy of Shakespeare’s Anthony & Cleopatra with me. Alexandria and this Country is the part of the world wherein the lady played her part when Caesar, Anthony, Brutus, and the rest dominated the world from Rome. The Padre McAuliffe is a student of the plays of the immortal William, and in his sermon this morning referred to the asps (venomous serpents) in these parts. No so long ago you (Car Joseph) and I saw Lily Brayton, with Oscar Asche, representing Cleopatra, & memory has in your brains pictures of the wicker basket of fruit in which were the asps and how the Queen took one & then another of the poisonous reptiles and allowed each to bite her, death following soon thereafter, and of her faithful woman attendant killing herself in the same way before the arrival of Caesars agents. Did I inform you in an earlier letter that one day when we were laying out the Camp part of our hospital two snakes were killed one about 18 inches long, the second about 9 inches, the former was said to be venomous, if so it may have been of the same family that was used as a suicide agent some two thousand years ago. I must purchase a copy of the play.

8-2-15 – 9 a.m. At 9-15 a.m. I commence to go round my wards, this to fill up the intervening period. Without my

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window some 300 yards away, is an Egyptian & a saddled donkey. I watched the saddle harness removed from the beast which was then taken a few yards along, several directions were given which made me think – "Oh! He is bidding the donkey to lie down" – after a few moments the animal prostrate made attempt to roll, he did not get over, sundry gentle kicks were applied to him but he made no further attempts.

9-5 a.m. The beast is up again & is being rubbed with a cloth by his driver. A docile donkey you will remark to one another. No doubt the saddle will be placed upon his back directly, & mayhap the owner who is twice as big as the animal will be carried up the hill. The command always rises to my lips when a big man riding on a small donkey passes me – "Get off and carry him!" Col. Bird wishes me to go to the pyramids of [blank] ten miles away. Asked how we were to travel, he replied – "On a donkey." – "Oh, no thanks, would not ride on a donkey." – "He is quite a pleasant beast to carry one." – "Not for me anyhow." – Must to the hospital.

This is Monday with you 7-55 p.m., you will probably be upstairs after dinner. With us 12-20 p.m. My hospital round has been finished, and as far as I know at present, 1 p.m. for lunch is the next item on the day’s programme.

No letters. Many of us has threatened to make a sacrifice of one of the clerks in the office unless within few days we receive our letters

A new field ambulance has arrived. Between my window and the village, half a mile distant, the wagons are drawn up, the horses are tethered, the flags are flying, some of the tents are in position, & all is bustle on the piece of ground alloted to chosen for them.

Send me copies of your photographs should you have them taken.

Good bye! Good bye!!! Good bye!!!!!

Shall post this immediately after lunch with the hope that despatch to you may be early.

My soul crys for blessings upon. May each of you live long doing much good in the world, leaving it with an honoured name.

My best wishes for my friends. To Maria my benedictions. To each of you heaps of love & loads of kisses.

From your loving & affectnat. Faree
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
Macquarie St.
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 106]

[See image for drawing of Hugs (Os) and kisses (Xs) for Joseph, Car and Kitty.]

[Page 107]

[Envelope]

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
West Maitland
N. S. Wales
Australia

From.
Lieut Col. Nash
No. 2 G.H.
2nd A.I. Expd. Force
20-2-15

[Page 108]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
14th Fevrier 1915

My Mollie dear:/

And did you hear that this year of grace is a bad one for the people of Egypt on account of the war? If you have not and you do then remark. This may be so in regard to the places where the individually wealthy of the world do, in times of peace, sojourn, but it cannot be correct when applied the actions of less gilded folk. Why do I write thus. Because my eyes are looking at the Grand Pyramid, and see there the forms of the Australian adults, in the prime of life, on the gigantic steps of stairs and the flat top, in numbers such as to suggest flies around a honey pot. People who have gained the reputation in these parts for letting money flow out in such stream as has not be equalled before. If those who are accustomed to take £s per day from the visitor are doing less well than formerly, it appears certain that those that usually take but piastres – 1 piastre (PT) = 2½d –, such as guides, interpreters, lower grade cafes, & restaurants reap just now harvest unequalled in any anterior year. The average Australian deserves the title, improvident, because there is no necessity in a country where food is in such plenty, to lay by store for a rainey day. Here he keeps to his reputation because the money he has or gets is freely poured forth on the humbler people and the mockery of the country. Did ever invading host behave as does the present one? On their first few days in Alexandria the inhabitants of that ancient port, were made to think that each Australian was a gold mine in himself, and

[Page 109]

that the yellow metal was so common in the Commonwealth States that none need to have care in using it. The same wonderment possesses the people of Cairo. The guides In both cities the price of all things to the stranger were driven up, while even the residents had some complaints. It may be the Cairoites speak in such manner as did Doctors & others at the sea board, but I have not had time to find out their views. I may do so some day. Every group of men one sees this afternoon, going towards the pyramids, has a dragoman as a guide, he leads them about and tells each one the history, dimensions, position, & such like of every object see during the tour, & if desired takes them to the apex of the stones.

Colonel Martin is away this afternoon & he asked me to stand by during his absence. It was my intention to visit the zoological gardens and Gezeira [also spelt Gezira] after luncheon, but as he is away I cannot be. Just before the mid-day meal I had to perform a serious operation, & with such a crowd behind our hospital my services may be required at any moment.

Father McAuliffe said mass at 6.30 a.m. today, in the Nurses dining room here, I was present, the reason being that all the nurses might have chance to hear at either 6.30 o’clock or 9 o’clock. The day is Quinquagesima Sunday and St. Valentines day. Close on 1900 years ago St. Paul spoke to the Corinthian’s of Charity and his words are as applicable today as they were then, for "there" still "remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is Charity" – Ep. 1 Cor. 13-13 – "But we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture". The way in which Jesus Christ healed is of an entirely other order than the methods which are enjoyed by the healers of our time. Modern methods practice does not admit of so great celerity when enabling the blind to see the lame to walk and the deaf to hear.

[Page 110]

It did not occur to me to ask the Padre about Ash Wednesday & the lenten time. The station for the Ash Wednesday is at St. Sabrinas.

Much to do this afternoon therefore cannot write more now. During the week letters have come to me from Car, Joe, Kitty, Doffie, Mr. Bridge, and Dr. Peck. Replies are ready for posting to the first three and will be posted tonight or tomorrow morning. Good bye for the moment.
[A row of Xs and Os.]

14-1-15 – 8.30 p.m. This is the anniversary of the death of the great navigator who in October (?) 1870 [should read 1770], at La Perouse, claimed Australia for the British people. He was killed at Otahiti in the Pacific Ocean in 1779, having traversed more miles of all the oceans than any man before him. Captain Cook was a native of Yorkshire England, and missed not one great Ocean from North to South, East to West, yet he never commanded a ship of more than 500 tons burthen. A mere cockleshell compared with the floating palaces of our time. He was buried in a small church yard on the outskirts of London. Such is fate & glory.

17-2-15, Ash Wednesday.
Another opening day of Lent has come, and with it you will face the season when there are some limitations as to diet in the fare of those who subscribe to the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. Without trespassing on the theological view of fasting, a medical may be permitted to write that he thinks the weekly or annual alterations are, when properly applied, good for the individual and they have a salutary effect upon the race Upon these subjects none have ever known better, or more thoroughly considered them, than the Jewish Rabbis who or Chiefs of Israel, Moses as the

[Page 111]

greatest of them all, who laid them down in the first instance. Most of the basic principles of for our modern and of our present civilisation were brought by Moses when he descended from Mount Sinai. How strange ’tis to ponder over this and to think of what great amplification the Mosaic commandments and laws have been capable, adown each age that has intervened between then and now? These Such thoughts as these flood the mind of an Australian when he is located, so unexpectedly though it be, at the in proximity to the very starting point of the wanderings, which took the Israelites to the mountain of the peninsula during the mid period of the forty years they were travelling. The revellations on Mount Sinai have truly left a large imprint on the history and the acts of mankind compassed by the kinetics of the descendants of Adam and Eve. "To the Ninivites, doing penance in sack-cloth and ashes, didst the Almighty and everlasting God grant the remedies of His pardon." Not sack-cloth and ashes are demanded of one now, but that each act and thought in a busy day may be performed in such wise that it may be ad majorem Dei gloriam [to the greater glory of God].

18-2-15 – 2 p.m. – Letters bearing date 22 & 29-12-14 reached me a few minutes ago. They came from Car, Joseph, Kitty, and Mr. Macdonald – The spelling being with the "Mac" and the small "d". I must reply to each of them, during the next twenty-four hours.

You should receive this letter on Easter Sunday if not before. Membrance did not warn me that my letters arriving from today till holy Saturday or its following day might not be given to you. If not they will keep, and your eyes may be glad to follow the words though they have been set out at a long anterior date. For the present good bye.

[Page 112]

20-2-15. Here we are again. With heaps to write about, but as at the end of lent you will have many sheets of my penmanship, it might be called by some scribbling, this page will see the close of my words for the present.

The letters date the 22d & 29th Decbr. 1914, received from the girls two days ago have be answered and posted, and given God speed on their journey. Plenty of work here for me, operating and treating all sorts of surgical cases and accidents, this suits me and keeps me from mischief but is not conducive to sight seeing, however ’tis the former and not the latter for which I came.

Look out of my window just now, my eyes lighted upon an erect figure in a cream uniform, words to this effect were formed in my brain:– Ah there walks Mother Mary Joseph! How did she get there? – Such is the way that suggestion reproduces in the human mind the form of one who is of one’s acquaintance.

Sir E. Holden one of the men in London who has a high reputation for being conversant with finance in the world speaking in London a few days ago ended his speech with these words:– "We must make up our minds that there will be no cessation of this war on account of the gold position in Germany, at all events within twelve months, and it may be longer" –
"All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens."
Richard II 1-3.

Good bye my dear. To Mother M Joseph and her colleagues the best of wishes that can go from me. To you all the thoughts for good that can be conjured up go to you from one who loves you dearly.

John B. Nash

Sister M. Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales

[Sir Edward Wheewall Holden (1885-1947), Australian industrialist and politician, was managing director of Holden’s Motor Body Works Ltd, designed the body of the first Holden car, and was instrumental in developing the relationship between Holden’s and General Motors.]

[Page 113]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
19 Febry 1915

My dear Car. Joseph. & Kitty:/

Letters from you date the 22nd & 29th Febry [December] 1914, reached me yesterday. Many thanks for them.

If you were to purchase a block & arrange for each of you day about to make an entry of current events political, personal, medical, atmospheric, social, &c., each would be of much interest, and would keep me in touch with what is doing in Australia. Unless you do this I cannot understand the occasional telegram which appears in the Newspapers at this end. There is no leisure to go through files of back papers midst my numerous duties, and a little time given to me each day by one of you would save me a lot of trouble. No words scribbled off while waiting for dinner, or the post, or when on a visit to Neutral Bay, or other place can contain what I want. Your letters are very welcome but if they were an earnest of some time devoted to me daily they would be still more valuable as well as being instructive for me. Tell me of course about yourselves & how you are managing, what the doctors are doing, the local prospects strikes, military, besides the above mentioned. You have a wealth of material which can only be utilised by doing a little daily. Again do I ask it, hoping that one or all of you may acceed to my request. The morning newspaper or converse with your friends will provide you with much that will be of great use to me. Let me know too how you are managing financially?

[Page 114]

An hour is being seized out of a busy day during which to make effort to answer your letters.

Car dear, yours of the 22-12-14. first:/
The Bridge and the Macdonals were very good to invite you for Xmas dinner, you would have been a merry crowd. Mr Macdonald in a letter bearing date 26-12-14 & written at the Sydney Exchange told me that you had been with them. Good!

I hope that you replied for yourselves and me to the cards sent to you by Mr. Anderson and Mr. Carmichael & the others, I shall write to the latter, I have already done so to the former.

The entry of Mrs. Fraser, & Lilian, has been made in my note book, also Reg. Bridge. I shall write of Mr. Travers & Mr. McIntosh for being so good to you.

My regards to Mr Moroney when he calls again. Jimmy Roach is a good boy, my regards & thanks to him for carrying out my Christmas commissions so well, he said that he would give the purchases to Maria for you. Good boy. He will miss Florrie, in his bad fortune she acted correctly. Should you see her wish to her & her husband every happiness during life. Congratute Hamish & Gertrude on the arrival of a son, Dr. Paton will be proud for a grand son. I had a note from him today, to it I shall reply at once. He expected you to go to Blackheath.

I thought the £8 to the Lady would relieve you from that obligation for a month. Glad you liked the photos. I shall write to Mr. Walsh thanking him for sending the papers to you. Now & then I see some of them, they are sent to the patients & when my eye lights on them I bring to them to my room. Be sure & read the speeches made a few days ago in London by Lloyd George & Winston Churchill, each

[Page 115]

is of the best in its own way. The Australia may have chance in time to do brilliant work, none can tell when opportunity will gone come his way in the great game that is being played. Did you notice the Mr. Lloyd George said recently that by the end of December 1915, the Allies will have expended £2,000,000,000 millions? Such money was never compassed by the wealth of Ormuz & of Ind. We are, in these days, far ahead of the dreams even of those who lived in the ages that have passed, where oils and spices gold & silver from unexplored countries gave to them the significance of the unknown, people then did but estimate now we know. Croesus was a name for one man’s wealth, midst the people and the nations of his time, in our time the original of the name would sink into insignificance before the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Portlands and others.

My health is of the best enabling me to do my sixteen or eighteen hours in comfort daily.

Of 29-2-15 [29-12-15]. It was good to divide yourselves on Christmas day, and to meet in the evening. Mrs. Macdonald was very good to you as was also Muriel. My best wishes to both. The framed photo of me will remind them now and then of an old chap far away who is much obliged to them.

My regards to Maria too, let me hope that she is happy and comfortable at Macquarie Street, it will be a change from lodgings, please ask her to convey my regards to Andy and his family. Mrs. Franki & her family also, kindly messages from me. Smart girl she is. Tell Jimmy that were I at home some of his ham would have been eaten by me. Good boy again!!!

[Page 116]

Sorry that you were without maids.

Joseph dear:/ Your letter bears date "21st Decbr. 1914". Glad to read that "everything is going favourably". Good that the Neutral Bay air improved my Tabby! Many thanks for your prayers. You are never forgotten in mine. I told Dr. Kennedy that you expected Nan in January. I have not had a letter from Ted lately. Everyone in Australia would have been pleased to see the rain. Looking through my window the banks of clouds above threaten rain, and were I with you, the water would be falling heavily in a few minutes, no so here, though this has been the wetest season on record in the valley of the Nile. Jupiter Pluvius has in all time had his principal habitat not many hundreds of miles from Egypt, but for some reason he threatens but does naught else in these particular regions. Thunder, lightening, and a deluge should be here in brief span, if it comes the record will be set out on a following page.

The shelling of Scarborough was a daring piece of work, but the attacking of unfortified and civilian areas does the Military spirit of Germany no credit, nor will it do aught but diminish the respect for the Kaiser and his people when the shooting has been ended and the talking commences again. Even British people remember such incidents for a space sufficiently long to make them demand reparation. Thanks for your "good luck & prayers". No rain yet.

Kitty dear:/ Neither of your letters bears a date. From the references being to before and after Xmas, one can be separated, in time, from

[Page 117]

the other. You may have seen Dr. Seede, from Perth, before now. The windmills give Fremantle and the neighbourhood a something that I have not seen elsewhere. The contrasts between one place and others, or some characteristics of a locality are what I look for. Many writers of the first class have continued their good reputation by heading an account of a country by a catching & appropriate headline, e.g., the late G.A. Sala styled N. S. Wales the "Land of the golden fleece", a title which the country deserved before but which no one had given it out loud, he struck upon something, in the same way, for each colony he visited. Tabby would not have written what you might have had you sat at a table for half an hour each day with block before you and pen in hand telling me of the happenings of Australia and N. S. Wales in such manner as you would were I seated at the opposite side of the table from you. It is thus my nib runs over the paper because it is my intent to chat with you, to give to you any information that has been stored in my skull & that indicates its suitability, by coming as a thought, to be written.

What a gay theatre going lot you are becoming. What with the Williamson’s and the MacIntosh’s you are in the very thick of the theatricle crowd. The Niblo people have had a long run in Sydney, it might have been imagined, that the incidence of the war had made money so scare [scarce], as to preclude ordinary persons from spending money it upon shows. The country must be a prosperous one wherein people can afford it.

I hope that you enjoyed Jimmy Roach’s ham. Please tell him that were I at home it would have been done justice to by me. He is a good boy to bring sweets, strawberries and the like to my Car, Joe, & Kitty. Buddie told me in her letter that you had sent to her goodies, which were much appreciated, for the Xmas time. Her letter was dated 30-12-14, and took but 27 days to get here. I hope that you have seen her.

[Page 118]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Lieut. Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
20th Feby. 1915

My dear Girls:/

Today the post received a letter from me in reply to yours written at Xmas time & the end of December, with hope that they may reach you safely and in due course. Others went to Mollie, Mr. Macdonald, Dr. Paton, and Dr. Peck.

The whole of today has been occupied with operations and ward work, but half an hour was devoted to walking to the top of the sand hill and back. My fifty third operation since coming here was completed at 9.40 p.m., these are enough to keep one man occupied! Dr. Grey has had almost as many. One might not expect so much to happen mongst the men of a standing camp.

There are rumours that in the course of some weeks we shall be moving across the mediterranean sea, every one will be glad when we get a move on. This place is right enough, yet we desire to reach Europe.

German Bill promised that yesterday he would make the seas around Britain a place of terror for all ships, perhaps he wont. Whether or no it is not a genial or friendly threat to make, and it may be that some day the said Bill will be sorry. I enclose for you rather a neat poem in French about him. Let me hope that it will amuse you. "La Navette". My right arm is somewhat weary so good night to each of you.

Car. [A line of Xs and Os.]
Joseph [A line of Xs and Os.]
Kitty [A line of Xs and Os.]

21-2-15. When you see the Sphere of issue Janry 30 – 1915, and come to page 122, your eyes will light upon three photos of the part of Egypt near Mena House. The top picture takes in part of the Australian troops, who are encamped on a sandy plane three quarters of a mile

[Page 119]

distant from where I sit writing. The pyramid to the left is the Grand Pyramid (Cheops) the one to the right the Great Pyramid. Note on the latter just below the top an irregular edge crossing each of the two surfaces, this marks the only remains of a smooth covering of alabaster, with which each is said to have been originally encased. The ridge running from left to right intervenes between the pyramids and the camp, it is sandstone rock covered with loose sand. Mena House was shut out of the view of the photographic plate by the left end of the elevation. Sometimes I leave our abode & cross the hill to get to the encampment, the way is across deep sand, but from the top there is a widespread view of all the stationary troops, of the desert near and far, and of the Nile valley, of Cairo and of the ridges way to the North & East of the City, one can, on a clear day note the various suburbs & the principal features of the buildings and landscape along the sweep of the Nile. Midst the green of the lucern & such like low growing crops, the date palms rise loftily and form a forest, which maps out the areas near the river where their roots can be midst the moisture all the year round and their heads for most of it in the blazing sun, thus fulfilling their requirements which are – "feet in a swamp, head in a furnace" –. The infantry, artillery, engineers, and medical corps, occupy the various sections of tentage, making a goodly show, ready to meet the Turks here or preparing to try a fall with those fighting in Europe.

The small picture is a section out of the one above designed to exhibit the red ensign – the "Union Jack" on a red ground – floating above the troops. I cannot pick out the officers personally, though one better acquainted should easily recognise the fat man on the horse to the right. The sides of the pyramids in view are the North & West.

[Page 120]

The third picture from above is of, in the foreground, the Temple of the Sphinx, in which there are large blocks of red & grey granite said to have come from up the river at or near Khartoum, some of them are very large are still retaining the polished surfaces in good condition, and are in the positions where they were placed so many thousands of years agone. Next the Sphinx with face looking to the North, the neck, the bust, the head-dress, and the portion extending South, being a massive stone structure cut out of the solid rock, not very hard, by craftsmen who lived in bye gone ages, little thinking when doing their chiseling of the effects that have been produced upon after coming ages and people. Drifts in the sand & hills, along the road across which you can see the people walking, and on the plateau the Grand Pyramid, this time its Eastern & Northern faces. The heaps of stones to the right is one of the lesser pyramids. The crowd is composed of the ordinary trippers who make annual pilgrimage to these parts.

The bottom picture is of the Indian troops awaiting the coming of the Turk, he has been & gone, wonder will he come again.

I have seen some graphics and spheres of recent date, but no punch [The Graphic, The Sphere and Punch – illustrated magazines], the aeroplane, the zeplin, the war ships, and soldiers are the prevailing subjects, and any person who follows them from week to week, will know as much about the war as ’tis possible to be in possession of, and far more than any of those persons who are playing an active part in it can ever know.

This afternoon – Sunday – Jerome went with me to the Zoological gardens, half way between here and Cairo. The greatest attraction consists of

[Page 121]

the giraffes. Brown, a bright shade, is the chief colour, white forming a contrast here and there and being on the extremities. Aforetime my idea was that black & white made up the covering of the skin. Ungainly beasts is each of them with the tuft of the tail directed to the ground and the tip of the nose when the neck is erect and stretched out looking towards the sky, head comparatively small, neck very long, body compressed into a short space, and legs of greater length by twice than the neck. All irregularly shaped ungainly creatures truly. For what purpose did God create them?
The monkeys made a goodly show.
The lion cubs were interesting.
The foot-paths made of cement in which small water worn stones, black and white, from the desert were stuck to form patterns, interested both of us and we stood for some time watching an Egyptian workman who was constructing a piece of it, it is mosaic-like but the stones are not fashioned to fit closely one another. Much patience and industry is required in the building but with completion the effect is pleasing.

I must to be [bed] so good night. Good night. Good night.
[A row of Xs and Os] Car. {A row of Xs and Os] Joseph. [A row of Xs and Os] Kitty.

23-2-15, 2 a.m. – Not been quite well for two days but this morning am recovered. Been very busy with heavy cases. Not able to keep writing.

Much suppressed excitement about the camp, orders have been coming through telling the different units to get all together ready to move off at once when required. This means that another stage in our wanderings is to be initiated. Where to? Time will tell It may be that my letters will of necessity be shorter during the coming time, and when we get to the war zone

[Page 122]

postcards will need serve the purpose for communicating with you. From April onwards according to my judgment the fighting in Europe will reach proportions before to which all that has gone before will pale into insignificance. Would to God it could be avoided by [but] no hope of this is probable. This is a marvelous world we live in, and the happenings in our day are such as have no precedent writ upon the pages of history. Will human kind stand the strain? Will it be of such extent as to break the hearts, destroy the minds, and sink the people in despair, to so great effect that there will be an epoch comparable to that which was followed by that slough of despond which historians have called "the middle ages"?

The illustrated journals will keep you well abreast of the war, and if you look through them & read the descriptions of the pictures and the maps you will be able to talk intelligently in the best of company about what is taking place.

To bed! That refreshing sleep may fit me for the work of daylight.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

May Fortune bestow of her best upon each of you now and allway, and may all the places that you come to be ports & happy havens.

[See image for design of blocks of Xs and Os.]
Car. Joseph Kitty
Hurrah! Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!

[Page 123]

This evening I saw a letter with Captain Storey, son to David Storey, member of the Legislative Assembly for Randwick, he told me that it had been delivered to him during the evening. I therefore look forward to tomorrow with the thought that an Australian mail having arrived there may be letters for me. Oremus! [Let us pray]

I have been nearly quite well today.

For Friday evening next I am bidden to dine with a doctor Adam Scheuber, a Russian, who practices in Cairo. He has a chalet close by Mena House, there I visit and talk with him. He is an interesting personality, midst his books and collection it may be that my evening will be enjoyable, he is a stamp collector, directing his energies in this regard mainly to those issued by the Countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, he has filled nine volumes, which I am to see on Friday. More anon about him & his place. It has been told to me that his appetite is large. If so then he will have a poor competition in me. Mine is sufficient for my necessities, but it is small when compared with the men who are seated at our table at each meal.

His automobile is to be here at 7 p.m., which is to my mind very decent & considerate.

5.30 p.m. No letters have yet come to me, they have been dribbling into the house all the afternoon, my expectations have run high at times.

There is so much talk of our moving at an early date, that I have used up all day, endeavouring to complete some articles that have been in the making for a couple of weeks.

I posted to you some post cards and views of these parts that you may like.

A short letter was run off & posted to Sir J. Carruthers.

There is Mother M. Joseph on the sand beyond walking with stately stride, clothed in a cream coloured gown & black robe. An Egyptian dressed a-la-mode oft reminds one of a member of the Dominican Sisterhood.

1-30 a.m., 25-2-15. No letter reached me. A copy of "Table Talk", a Melbourne publication came, from whom,

[Sir Joseph Hector McNeil Carruthers (1856-1932), landowner, federationist and free-trade politician, solicitor and businessman.]

[Page 124]

I could not find out. An item of news in it was the death of Mr. Trefle. I shall write briefly to his widow.

Another piece of information was given to me by a man upon I operated about one week ago. He had a letter in which ’twas written that a son had had come to Belle Moxham. Won’t she & Herschell be proud? Quite an event in the Moxham and Harris dovecote! Please convey my congratulations when you have opportunity?

The rumours of the last few days are assuming shape, and it is probable that within brief space now we shall pack up our traps and be on the road for another spot in the world upon which to play a hand in the great and wonderful game. If it be my fortune to return to Australia sound in mind and body much that is being stored in my mind will flow forth from day to day for the information and instruction of you and my friends.

Early this evening I was reading in the Times history of the war about air ships and aeroplanes. How rapidly have they grown from the experimental to the practically useful stage? It is but 5½ years since the first flight of public consequence was made in the world that wherein a man flew across the Straits of Dover from Calais to Dover. The newspaper account of it is fresh in my mind. It was Bleirot [Bleriot], a Frenchman who did it. His machine landed with good fortune in a field behind the English town, he being thereby made the hero of the hour, and his ship, a biplane, the wonder of the age.

9 a.m. No letters. It is strange that two letters from Moss Vale & a newspaper from Melbourne should arrive here in less

[John Louis Trefle (1865-1915), politician, farmer and newspaper proprietor.

Lawrence Herschel Levi Harris (Lawrence Herschel Levi), known as Herschel Harris (1871-1920), radiologist and army medical officer, volunteered in England soon after the outbreak of war. As a Captain with the Royal Army Medical Corps, he joined the Australian Voluntary Hospital. He was promoted to Major in 1915 and was transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos. He was invalided home to Australia suffering from X-ray dermatitis in early 1916.]

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than one calendar month, yet other letters take 8 or 9 weeks, it shows knowledge of how to carry out a simple duty by one man, & want of ordinary sense, to accomplish the same end, in others. The person who sent the newspaper, no indication of identity was apparent, put my address at "Mena House, Egypt", which was smart because we only arrived here on the evening of the 28th January. It may have been Senator Delargie [Senator Hugh De Largie] who posted it, he would know of my whereabouts soon after our arrival. There was a paragraph referring to two of his Scotch nephews.

2-35 p.m. Letters have been coming in all day but for me none has yet come.

Work stopped with us. No new cases will be dealt with unless they be of extreme urgency.

I enclose a few sheets of thoughts that the Daily Telegraph might like to publish. When you have read them send the manuscript on to the paper, and should it be published you might send me a copy, and also cut one out that it may be there when I return.

My best efforts are being put forth now to clear up my writing and other work, because when we reach our next halting place we may be in the theatre of the great war, then there will be no time for writing other than a brief note on a post card or such like.

In regard to your letters I hope that you have noted my request to have a block upon which one of you may write notes of current events to be posted in ample time to be brought by each mail. It may be presumption on my part, yet do I think that I have claim upon your time

[Senator Hugh De Largie (1859-1947), miner, trade union official and politician.]

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during each week for more than a few scrappy minutes devoted to me at Macdonalds, or Bridges, or home in a race with the moment when the letter box is to be closed.

On this sheet shall my pen stop for today, the envelope will surround it and its fellows, the post box will receive them, that with the first opportunity they may be on their way to the South & you.

I have written to Sir Matthew Harris, Hyman, & others. The slackness of the day has given me the opportunity.

"After Summer succeeds
Barren winter with his wrathful nipping cold;
So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet."
2 Hy. VI, ii-1.

"Whatever is great in human art is the impression of man’s delight in God’s work."
The Two Paths – Ruskin.

Good bye! Good bye!!! Good bye!!!!!

May Fortune of her best smile upon each of you, & may all the places that you meet be ports & happy havens.

"Heaven from thy endless goodness, send prosperous life, long and ever happy to" Car, Joseph, Kitty, and their sister Buddie. So wishes their affectionate & loving Father,

John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Sir Matthew Harris (1841-1917), alderman and free-trade politician, was president of Sydney Hospital from 1912 to 1917.]

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Stamps enclosed special

[See image for blocks of Xs and Os]
Car Joe Kitty 25-2-15.]

[Written upside-down at the foot of the page:]
Stamps enclosed

[Page 128]

[On letterhead of Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo]

24 Febry 1915
6.45 pm.

My dear Girls:

A day in Cairo and now here for a few minutes awaiting the dinner hour, for 7-30 p.m. Jerrom came with me as escort.

We found Dr David Dunlop, Education Adviser to His. Ex. the Minister. With him I had a chat on educational matters in general. He handed me over to a Mr Daniels, an intelligent Englishman, an inspector in the department, he took us to a primary school, and with the teacher we inspected the various classes, English, geography, writing, drawing, &c., from the lowest to the highest forms. All was interesting. The arabic writing is twice as expeditious & half as laborious as ours. The school rooms were spacious in every respect and the corridors wide high lengthy. The lighting & ventilation were such as to give pleasure to my eyes & opinions on healthy breathing. The lavatories, bath rooms, water supply of the highest standard. The dormitories spacious & not too crowded, but the iron bedsteads & wire mattresses were cheap & paltry. It has been

[Page 129]

arranged for me to visit a secondary school some day, & on a third occasion to go on to the University. The time to be at my convenience.

The Continental hotel for luncheon. Met Mrs. Teddy (Dr.) Stokes & eat at the same table with her. Mrs. Newmarch was not about.

Met Jerrom again. We went to the Christian brothers school, in a street off the Moushkie, and stayed for a little promising to come again, & then to address the boys.

A trip through the Manufacturing part of the City around the Moushkie was full of interest. All the work is done by the natives with their hands. Brass work. Furniture. Enamelling. inlaid ivory & pearl. Much of the most beautiful. Did I buy anything? No. The good stuff was to expensive. Did I wish to purchase? Yes, and were my funds ample enough nothing had pleased me better than to send some specimens on to you. The will is with me the money absent.

Cannot now be help. My opportunities in life for becoming rich, & there were many crossed my path, have been missed. To them Amen. Please send this letter on to Mollie. Adieu. Heaps of love & loads of kisses.

Your afcte Father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
Sydney

[Mrs Teddy (Dr) Stokes: Major Edward Sutherland Stokes, 45, medical practitioner of Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A14 Euripides with the 1st Field Ambulance.]

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Lieut. Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
27 Febry 1915

My dear Girls:/

Yesterday there was delivered to me from Australia a New Years card from the Australian Trained Nurses Association whose office is in the Equitable Building, George Street; also a letter from Dr. H. L. Harris dated, "Australian Hospital, Wimereux, France, 5/2/15". Herschell appears to be in good spirits and flourishing, he wrote that: "Eames is A.1. Dick is alongside of me while I write in the Golf Club. We all get on well together and are very comfortable. Was in London for 96 hours. Have had a couple of letters from Carrie, she gives me all the news." Won’t he be pleased on learning of the arrival of the nephew?

A notice in the morning paper – "Sixty-five bags of mails from Australia were distributed to the various camps during yesterday." I hope that amongst the letters will be some for me.

Yesterday evening I dined with Dr. Schuber. He is a native of Riga, the capital of the Baltic Provinces, Russia. I enjoyed the dinner better than any meal since leaving Australia. The cooking was of English kind. The soup was a little greasy. The fish was served with a slice of good lemon. The fowl & parsley sauce were O.K., the peach Melba was just correct. I passed the curry. The doctor is an educated gentleman, with a well stocked library of surgical books, a collector of stamps from places along the Mediterranean littoral. Some of his specimens are valued in the books at £50. He is a batchelor, and if appearances be judged correctly by me a rich man. He and his housekeeper have been very kind to me.

The number of our patients is rapidly diminishing and we shall be ready for any orders in a few days.

3-15 pm. No letters have come so far for me. Some one posted to me a copy of the Bulletin dated the 14 Jany. 1915

[Lieutenant Colonel James Adam Dick (1866-1942), surgeon and army medical officer, embarked with the 3rd Australian General Hospital under Colonel Thomas Henry Fiaschi on 15 May 1915 on RMS Mooltan. He served at Lemnos and then in France in various roles, being promoted to Colonel in 1917 and placed in command of the 1st Australian General Hospital at Rouen.]

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

in which a full sheet picture is of "In Pharoe Land". Norman Lindsay depicts two pyramids, on each of which ascending and descending are to be seen men and horses, the former with guns, boiling a billy, with band instruments, camels, stretcher-bearers, with the face & head of George Reid after the manner of the Sphinx in the top right hand corner. The donkey was neglected, Lindsay’s mind had not got so far as the Egyptian donkey. The picture is clever as a skit upon the way in which the pyramids are patronised by the kahki clad division. It was probably Mrs. Knowles of Melbourne who sent it to me. It was good and thoughtful of her. I shall write to thank her.

Mrs. Fraser sent me a copy of the Daily Mail, London, of date, not the D.M. but the Weekly Dispatch of date Febry 7th 1915. I shall write thanking her too.

The Colonel is away this afternoon or I should have gone for a trip somewhere, however cannot be helped, shall rest instead.

1-3-15, 2 a.m. No letters have reached me it was mentioned at dinner tonight that a mail had reached Cairo from London this morning and that letters might come to us tomorrow.

For some reason or another, I have not been well for about a week, and this afternoon I felt wretched, however a sleep from 8 p.m. to midnight has left me better than I have felt for many days. I trust that God will keep me in good health that a few more years of strenuous work may be added to my life’s output. Of course if it be ordained otherwise, then His medicine must be taken gracefully, & my remark will be content.

As a few days hence my opportunities for sending on letters may be prevented, I have run off short notes to Dr. Paton, Dr. Arthur, Jim Roach, Mr. Bridge, Mr. Hurley, Dr. Fox, George Reid, & R. Arnott, each of which carries my hopes that it may be delivered in due course.

Troops have been leaving Camp all day, bound for somewhere on the Mediterranean shore whence they may be shipped for a place near to the

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theatre of war in Europe. My mind, as my eyes were upon them, could not help formulating the question – How many of these brave men with their horses and guns, will see Australia? – Few there be who realise the gravity of the struggle into which they may shortly be launched. For months they have listened to the booming of guns, have seen the smoke of the powder, and have been told the effect of the exercises. But none of them has been hurled against them, from the guns of an angry & well trained foe, shot & shell, designed to land amongst them carrying death and wounds through the atmosphere. It is well that they are, "absent minded beggars who have heard their country’s call", because were they otherwise mentally ballanced the gravity of the task before them might render less happy the remainder of their lives. In me there is every confidence that when the Australian soldier is tested ’twill be found that the mettle of his ancestor is in him and that he will ring true to his breeding. God bless him!

The happenings of the past two months lead me to the following conclusion: – German Bill & his generals have endeavoured to deal a steading blow against the Russian with the hope that by it his hosts will be so paralysed that the Teuton strength may be moved to the Western theatre of war, there during the coming summer months to be applied with full vigour against the fighting men of England and France. – You know with what respect I have always held the Kaiser and his trained armies. Not that I love him but because the length of their training and their finished appearance, has always impressed me, with the fear that our side have underrated his aggressive and staying powers. Of course our Empire must win. But when?

[Page 133]

Never has a shadow of doubt dimmed my consciousness in this regard. But so far I have not been able to see the end. In each of his letters to me Dr. Paton has written:– "The war will soon be over & you will be on your way back to Australia". Time will tell. Ere this letter reaches you, mayhap you will be in a position, if you read the morning papers, to form a judgment as to what may happen during the summer period of 1915.
This afternoon I paid a visit to the Museum of Antiquities on the other side the Nile from here. It is full of the products in statuary, toombs, coffins, mummies, ornaments, clothing, figures, boats, and such like, which tell the story of this land adown the thousands of years during which human beings have lived, worked, and died upon its fertile lands, and been buried midst its sandy wastes. The size, the crudeness, and the variety of the collected specimens, bespeak a simple and numerous people, who during ample food from the fertile areas devoted their surplus energies to the preparing themselves, at differing epochs in various ways, for the future which each expected after death. The eyes in many of the figures suggest the glass eye of our time, but an instructor told me that they were made of crystal, and that they were placed in the figure when the artist shaped it out of stone. This is one of the many impressions which could not be conveyed to one’s mind by a picture. A curious point, about the various coffins, is that on one side two eyes, with intervening space, are painted, the face of the corpse was turned towards these, on burial, with the idea that through them sight might be obtained beyond its limits. Much time must have been devoted to the painting & decoration of the coffins. The custom survives

[Page 134]

today ’mongst the Chinese, in that the ambition of every young Chinaman is to be in a position to give to his parent a suitable coffin in which at death he may be buried.

In a place called Sakaraha [also spelt Saqqara], which was the burrying ground of Memphis, – this being the name of the City, which existed, on the banks of the Nile near here, before Cairo was, – under one of the ancient dynasties, ’twas the custom to encasket sacred bulls. Each of these had for himself a toomb magnificent in its proportions & grand in its decorations. "My Commedian" who nine times out of ten is wrong in his statements & opinions, said at breakfast that the bulls had been removed from the toombs to the Egyptian Museum. I therefore asked the Curator during my visit:- Where are the sacred bulls from Sakaraha? He replied:/ "I know but of the existence of two of them, and they are in New York. When Mr. Roosefelt [Roosevelt] was here he asked me the same question & when I told him that the two were in New York he nearly fell against the wall, & on recovering said, "Oh! I must look them up on my return to the United States, that they may be set out in some public place for general inspection" there are none of them here. – I do not know whether the bulls were buried in the flesh or by representation, probably in the flesh, becoming in due course mummified.

Some of the mummy figures of Rameses and other Kings of Egypt, were interesting to the student of anatomy, & had my leisure been more ample and my health better I would have learned more about them, but the place closed at 4-30 p.m., and I was wretchedly sick while wandering round, reading & listening to the curator.

[Page 135]

Please send this letter on to Mollie, as I shall not be able to write to her in time for post in the morning and it may be I shall not be able to send forward any more correspondence for some time. She can of course return it if you so desire. The remarks about the Museum might do for some of the newspapers, D. Telegraph or other.

Father McAuliffe said Mass in the Camp at 7 A.M. & 9 a.m. today. The last day of Feby. And the second Sunday in lent.

On these moonlight nights people come from Cairo in motor cars to visit the pyramids. A jolly crowd has just rolled past 2-30 a.m., if ’mongst them be ambitions and enthusiastic spirits they may climb to the top of Kheops and from his summit peer through the moonlight into the surrounding country. Coffee will be ready on the top, prepared by natives with the hope to gather piasters from the visitors.

Last evening I dined at the Chalet with Dr. Scheuber at 7-30 p.m. Dr. Buchanan, a young man formerly a resident at the Sydney Hospital, came along for a few minutes about 10 p.m. The Chalet is a small building on the top of the sand hill above Mena House. It belongs to the doctor. He, the Russian, from Riga, about whom I wrote earlier.

And now goodnight. May Fortune of the best be with each of you now & always, and may you in thought and deed ever be a credit to your father. To Mollie please send haps [heaps] of love & loads of kisses from me. To my friends give kindly salutation and say that some day I hope to meet them in Australia.
To you each goes love in abundance & kisses in plenty from

Your lvng & affn Faree
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel August Lyle Buchanan, 24, medical practitioner of Marrickville, Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 18 October 1914 on HMAT A8 Argyllshire as Captain (Medical Officer) with the 1st Field Artillery Brigade. He served in Egypt, with the 3rd Field Ambulance at Gallipoli, and with the 5th Field Ambulance in France.]

[Page 136]

[Envelope]

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
West Maitland
New South Wales
Australia

From
Lieut. Col. Nash
No. 2 G. H.
2nd A. I. E. F.
1-3-15

[Page 137]

Lieut. Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
1 March 1915

My Mollie dear.

This to salute you for the Easter time. May all God’s blessings be with you and your desires. Be careful that these are not narrow and selfish as such are the great dangers of the monastic life, they will lead in the future as they have done in the past to trouble for the orders. Do not misunderstand my statement, they are not made, as by a hostile critic, but by one whose business it has been for more than thirty years to study human kind mentally & physically, & who has found that ’tis necessary for each one of us to keep a guard upon himself lest within his own narrow sphere he may be so compassed round that he loses the perspective which is occupied by others of God’s creatures. It is a real danger which you may come to recognise some day if you will but keep your eyes & ears open to what is happening momentarily round about you.

As I have not been in good health for a week, work with my pen has been limited, therefore when finishing the letter to the girls last night, I wrote that they might send their’s on to you for perusal, requesting that it be

[Page 138]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

returned if they so did wish.

My work here is almost ended, all my patients will be gone by tomorrow, then I may have a few days relaxation, which may, if I keep all right be devoted to sight seeing. About midnight I became much improved and this morning 8.45 o’clock feel well. I did not give in during the week but my body oft called upon one to cry enough. With God’s help, and it so please Him, I hope that ’twill be my fortune to see this business through and speak with you once again in Australia.

We are entering upon the serious phase of our business almost immediately, leaving here for some where nearer the fighting area midst the lands of Europe. A Herculean contest ’twill truly be during the coming summer in this hemisphere, each party to the fight is bringing up its reinforcements to the best of its ability, they will be hurled against one another in such numbers and in so great weight as has not before been dreamed of on Old Earth. Just think of it and shudder. Yet, thank God, we shall not shirk the combat, nor from the General to the private show a piece of white feather in our host. Doubtless German Bill & his soldiers will strain ever [every] nerve with a mighty effort to beat the English and French armies and he may temporarily win, but we British must and shall come out triumphant in the end. It was the seeing of this coming war and estimating its magnitude, that determined me, adown the years, to keep myself prepared to play a humble part in the struggle.

Goodbye now. I must away. To Mother M. Joseph & your Colleagues the best of wishes for their blessings & welfare. Ask of them an occasional prayer for me. To you my dear those & heaps of love with loads of kisses.

Your aff Father
John B. Nash

Sist. M. Hyacinth
Dominican Conv. W. Maitland N.S.W.

[Page 139]

[See image for rows of Xs and Os.]

[Page 140]

Lieut. Col. Nash.

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
1 March 1915

My dear Girls:/

This begun at 2-10p.m. At 9-30 I posted a letter to you, as also a brief one to Mollie. Something will be written hereon & on after following pages as they will be the last that can be sent on without my pen being subject to the censor.

My wards are practically empty, almost all of the patients having been moved to another hospital this morning. Tomorrow, if arrangements can be made, I shall go to a place called Sakarah, where tombs of various kinds are to be seen. More of it anon.

This is St. David’s day made famous in English history as being the one, upon which, the Welshmen fought well near Agincourt, under Edward the Black Prince, in the beg in the middle of the 14th century, and the fight being in a field where leeks grew, each Welshman had a leek placed in his Monmouth cap, and ever since then the leek is a badge of good & valliant service worn by loyal Welshmen upon the 1st of March in their caps or hats. Henry the V is made by Shakespeare to say to Llewellyn Fluellen:–
"Flu: ..., and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Davy’s day.
King Hy: I wear it for a memorable honour;
For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman
Flu: All the water in the Wye cannot wash your Majesty’s Welsh plood [blood] out of your pody [body], I can tell you that. ..."

The sun shines bright and all is fair without. I may run into town later on.

You should just see a tiny girl her elder sister crossing the sand beyond, each carries a basket on her

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "girls".]

the elder, without removing the basket, bends in curtseying-like fashion to the ground, picks up stones, throwing each into the basket, which was not touched during the manouvre with either hand. They carry the baskets & their loads with much grace. Two older girls are coming this way, a strong wind is blowing across the sand, yet only now and then is the hand raised to steady the can. I can judge the wind by the way in which the clothing is being blown about.

1-3-15. Another anniversary today is that of the Prussians entering Paris in 1871. They expected to be in Paris in 1914, they nearly were, but the hope of realisation was short lived. A wonderful feat of arms it was to prevent them, one which will ever redound to the credit of British arms and valour, no matter how long the world may last. What may be the ultimate outcome of this war is not now apparent to me, but even if it be against us temporarily, even such pause will not detract from the magnificence of the stand which, in Champagne and Flanders, the few British fighting men have made against the best equipped and most highly trained soldiers every launched for fight against an enemy. Despised for their fewness they were by German Bill and his officers and he tried to smash them by weight, but his was not quite enough to destroy them, he pushed them back, but in the doing of it he exhausted his strength, whereupon the British at him in true bulldog style pushing him to where he now stands fast. The coming summer what will happen? Wait and see.

No letters so far this week, Wednesday. We were raised in hope yesterday, but the alarm was false.

Yesterday I arranged a trip to Sakkara from here. There were of the party eleven nurses, Jerrom, & me. A guide to look after us Hassan by name. Twelve donkeys and two camels were ready about 11-15 a.m., we having mounted & starting about 11-30 a.m. You should have seen the cavalcade. The girls were a sight. Some wore but ordinary skirts, astride the donkey these curled up above the knees, those with long gaiters, to the knee, were all right, those without arrayed overcoats to hang each side, those with divided skirts & able to ride were correct

[Page 142]

just looking comfortable. Jerrom the heaviest of all rode a small donkey. I did not think that the little beast could carry the weight but he did, & came home quite friskily. The guide & one of the girls, sometimes two of the girls rode the camels. We went past the great pyramids, posing for a group photograph alongside the Sphynx. Should it come out well you will receive a copy.
The donkeys heads were turned eastward along the line where the sands of the Libyian [Lybian] dessert, (just beneath the plateau of the same dessert), and the fertile lands meet; at times we got on to the lucern patches. Several grave yards were between us and the plateu. Sand to the right of us green feilds to the left of us for every foot of the eight miles. Date palm trees dotted the space between us and the Nile singly and in groves, with villages as brown patches in the landscape, the river marked by more palms, Cairo beyond it, and the commencing plateau of the Arabian dessert in the farthest distance, made up a picture discernible at every point owing to the perfect clearness of the atmosphere.
The sun air and earth were in such jointly satisfactory relationship that all agreed in the opinion that no finer day could have been chosen for the outing. After a time the donkey, Telegraph, taught me that he knew more about the sands and the journey, then, resigned to my fate, he walked or cantered as was his will. But one of his clan kept ahead of him, "Whiskey and Soda" ridden by a girl with long gaiters and no covering for her legs, her steed was challenged many times for the lead but, the gaiters & the donkey would not be supplanted. If you had but seen us. You would have laughed. No one takes notice here. One becomes resigned to both classes of carrying animal, though when he comes first he thinks that nobody will ever see him on a donkey.
The pyramids of Abusir were passed on our way. A pyramid is always begun on the plateau. All near here rise from the eastern end of the plateau of the Lybian dessert.

About 2 p.m. we arrived at our destination. Before lunching were taken into the Tomb of Thi. He a minister of one of the kings about the end of the Vth dynasty. It is a sepulchre fitting for a great man; in the anterooms

[Page 143]

the walls are covered with outlines of Thi and his wife, and figures representing all sorts of pastoral objects, men and women, beasts, birds, fishes, crocodiles, rhinocerous, grain, reptiles, and what do you think an outline, here & there, of a handbag such as the ladies carry to day in Sydney. It must have been a great period for presents because rows & rows of people are depicted as bringing gifts to Thi & and his lady. You might see a plan of the tomb in one of the encyclopedias in our library.

The oldest pyramid in Egypt, the Step Pyramid, is close by. Called Step because it is built in six sections set upon one another like steps of stairs. It is accepted by authorities generally as being one of the most ancient monuments in Egypt, going back to the first Manethonian dynasty.

We walked to Marette’s [Mariette’s] house, a few yards away, unpacked the luncheon baskets on a table, sat on forms to eat. The hotel people had given us sandwiches of tongue & cheese, coffee to drink, and oranges. I was wretchedly sick as to my food-pocket but hungry, and managed to swallow a few of the tongue sandwiches. Bread thick, lingual organ probably from an ancient donkey, no salt, no mustard, no butter. The cheese beyond me. It was agreed that if any house in Sydney presented such goods to a customer they would be refused. Nothing else to be obtained where we were.

Mariette was a Frenchman who started excavating in these parts in the 1870s or some time before. He was last at the house in 1880. Egypt owes much to him. He made discovery of many monuments, learned to read the hireoglyphics, translated into understandable words the pictures and signs which were found, had the museum of antiquities commenced, wherein to place collected specimens. His work for Egypt, the Egyptians, and the rest of the world, from an historical, and financial point of view cannot be estimated in money.

The places of which I am writing today were constructed about or before 2800 B.C.

The Serapeum or subterranean tomb of the

[Francois Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (1821-1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities.]

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Sacred Bulls was our next objective. We went down a passage, to a gate in the sands, which opened into a large tunnel, a short distance along a downward incline it was obstructed by one of the Sarcophagi, which were told Mariette had essayed to bring to the surface that it might be placed at the museum in Cairo, he ceased his endeavour before daylight was reached, now the hugh [huge] granite block and its lid lie blocking the way. On the right and left of the main passage are chambers each of which contains a sarcophagus, no two chambers face one another.
"Some of the monolithic (cut out of a single stone) sarcophagi, 24 in all are in Synite [syenite – similar to granite], some in bassalt, and others in limestone. They are from 10 ft. to 14 ft. in height. Their length varies between 14 ft & 18 ft., with proportional width. The weight of one of them with its lid on, has been estimated by Linant Bey at nearly 70 tons. Just think of it a block of granite heavier than any railway engine you have seen. Inside it was placed the embalmed body of a sacred bull, then the lid was placed over it. These blocks and lids were fashioned from the granite quarries near Assouan, five 500 miles up the Nile river from Cairo, more than 2500 years B.C. each of them was moved to the river, embarked, brought down stream to near Memphis, (the City of the Pharoes) here the craft were brought to the bank, the load disembarked moved across the sands to the plateau, placed in the prepared chamber, & in due course received the sacred bull.

How did the people of that period do it? It is said that the land part of the moving was effected by round logs placed beneath on which the blocks were rolled onwards. How were they got into the chamber? Supposedly somewhat in the same way. Several of the sarcophagi are adorned with lines and figures of all kinds. You might see a drawing of the Serapeum and the Sarcophagi in one of the encyclopedias at home. Of all that I

[Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds (1799-1883), known as Linant Bey or Linant Pasha, was an explorer and chief engineer of Egypt’s public works, including of the Suez Canal.]

[Page 145]

have seen in Egypt these caskets and their adornment have impressed me most. My mind had formulated no conception of their size, weight, hardness, the or the place in which they are to be seen. Mariette failed to move one to the daylight, the Egyptians of some 5000 years ago handled them and moved them over a distance of more than 500 miles by land and water.

Our ride home was as pleasant as that outwards. Three of the nurses had falls over a donkeys head, but ’tis not far to reach the ground from the back of the steed, no harm resulted. I was deadly sick on dismounting, my food-pocket rebelled against the rest of me and any contents on my uniform Jerrom tucked me in, about midnight a good samaritan brought me plain biscuits and tea. To undress, bath, and get to bed did not take long. This morning found me fairly well and during today my condition has much improved. In hope do I live that everything will be right henceforth.

The Colonel is in Cairo this afternoon & the fort is held by me. Nothing doing as the hospital is almost empty.

Please send this account of our trip to Sakkara to Mollie, she can then return it to you.

Father McAuliffe has just had afternoon tea with me, he looks well. He told me that Dr OHaran is on his way to Europe, and that Mr L. A. B. Wade, of the irrigation department, died when about to go to Mr Trefle’s funeral.

I did not tell you what became of the mummies taken from the monolithic sarcophagi

[Leslie Augustus Burton Wade (1864-1915), civil, hydraulic and irrigation engineer and public servant, was directly involved in the planning and construction of major public works, including those of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.]

[Page 146]

at Sakkarah (I may have done so in a former letter, the one about the museum). It will bear rewriting. The Romans some 2000 years ago removed some of them. The Curator of the Museum in Cairo told me last Sunday that he knew of the existence of but two of them, which are today in New York. When Mr Roosefelt [Roosevelt] was here, a few years back, he asked the Curator the same question, and when he received like reply he nearly fell back against the wall & said:– "When I return to America I must look into the matter of have it made known that such material is in our own country".

Dr Purchas of Auckland, a major here with the New Zealanders, with his wife and a niece had morning tea with me this morning. He & his ladies look well and they are enjoying Egypt.

I enclose you a receipted account for odds & ends which has at the head a picture of Mena House before the gum trees grew. The pyramids Kheops & Kephren are well shown in the back-ground.

The pyramids are but tombs which began in modest form thousands and thousands of years agone, grew bigger & bigger as each following potentate desired to go one better than the rulers before him. From a simple heap of stones they reached a climax when Kheops or Cheops made the larger of the two reach into the atmosphere more than 450 feet. Truly a gigantic flight of stairs.

Tata for the present. May tomorrow add to these pages, and then give them to the post office.

[Page 147]

Enclosed you will find a few stamps from the Sudan. Major Grey had a supply today & he gave a specimen of those whereof he had duplicates. If I can get into Cairo tomorrow I shall make an effort to purchase some others or some unused samples. In the coming year or two there will likely be great changes in this part of the world, with them will come alterations in the printing and the wording and styles of the billet-de-lettre.

Just had dinner and wondered if a trip into town for an hour would might be improving to me. Have decided to wait until tomorrow, when with a start in the afternoon, more time will be available to visit the Citadel and other sites that so far have not come within my itinerary.

Dr Scheuber, called at 6.30 this evening to enquire and see about me. Last evening he had bidden me dine with him at the Chalet, but I was too unwell to go, therefore he called. Was it not good of him? He & Mrs Underhill, his housekeeper, have been very kind to me, and to some other Australians temporarily residing in these parts. He is a big man. Should think that he weighs 17 stones.

Father McAuliffe told me today that Dr MacNamarra of Limerick County in Ireland, a man who was well known to Mr Macdonald, is dead, he having died recently. He married a girl whom I used to call the Big fat lump. How indiscreet and unkind of me. Sorry now. But it was not nice of me to be so bold a lump. Sorry again.

Not going to town tonight: no congenial soul with whom to go. Instead shall write a few lines to Molly, and perhaps a few more to you before becoming tired or falling to sleep. "Ignorance is the curse of God
Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven"
2. Hy.VI – IV-7.

[Page 148]

Joe dear:/ 4-3-15. 10p.m.: A letter came from you today. It was delivered to me about 1 p.m. Many thanks for it. The heading is "219 Macquarie St., City, 15-1-15., the journey therefore occupied about seven weeks. The address on the envelope "Lieut Col J. B. Nash, (S.S. Kyarra), No. 2 Gen Hospital, A.A.M.C., c/o War Contingents Association, 72 Victoria St., S.W." Some one had placed a printed slip, over the end words of your address, on which was from c/o to W. Printed on the left hand end of the slip you will see a reference from The Agent General. A very round about way truly, just shouldering the responsibility to the soldiers of Some one else. "Via America" at top of the envelope is somewhat mistifying. The course was not apparently by the U.S.A.

It is good of Mr Moroney to call to see you, but rather shabby of you to make use of him to take a letter to the post.

Nan, no doubt had a pleasant holiday with you.

Dear Buddie has not sent me a letter for some time, mayhap one is seeking me somewhere between West Maitland and Sydney. I hope that the change to Moss Vale has given her store of mental and physical strength that will stand her in good stead for her teaching duties during the whole of A.D. 1915.

The two sisters would have appreciated the visit to Sydney’s busy town. What a contrast to the quiet within the Conventual walls.

Maria would have enjoyed the chats with May at Santa Sabina. My love to both.

L. A. B. Wade has done some good work for the irrigation settlements. R.I.P. It is to be hoped that a capable man will get his position. The work to do is of great importance for the country.

You will have seen before now in the illustrated papers pictures about the earthquake disasters in the land of the Aboruzi [Avezzano earthquake, Abruzzo], Italy. Had it not been for the war they would have loomed large on the mental horizon of civilised people, but before the magnitude of the great war, such events pale

[Page 149]

into insignificance. The Editor of the A.M.G. has not thought to send to me copies of the paper. Still sick but hoping to be better. We shall soon be away from here then I may be right.

Your letter is like all from home, a hurried composition run off at the last moment in hopes to catch a supposed post (that you have read of or heard about from some one who has taken more interest than you in the mails. I hope You, or Car, or Kitty has remembered to have read in my earlier letters that the best way to write a letter, is to do a little each day, & when events have been set out in sufficient number to put their narrative in an envelope, drop this into the post sufficiently addressed, the postal authorities will do the rest. Remember how they delivered letters from Buddie to me here in 28 days on two occasions!

The moon is at the full in the Northern Hemisphere, rising from the Eastern sky, it is now 10-45 p.m. high in the heavens, and seen through my window, from where I sit, is as a ringed flat surface of variegated pale blue, the size of five shilling piece, shedding clear unwarmed rays upon the pyradmids and all the land of Egypt, round about these parts.

The length of this letter has reached limits sufficient to do for a single envelope. Therefore once more good bye, good night.

May heaven from its endless goodness send to each of you, prosperous life, long, and ever happy. With kisses each take my blessing, and love that flows to you, from

Your loving & affectionate father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St.
Sydney
N. S. Wales
Australia.

[Page 150]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
3 March 1915

Mollie dear:/

Just did the question come into my mind. Forgetest thou on the 19th & 24th days of February 1915, that once again came round the anniversaries of the birth of my Carrie and my Mollie? Why even at this late hour racing from me, that midst first class mental and physical health, each of you may see many and many more anniversaries of the day and the hour when in Wallsend the light of day was first apparent to you, and the moment when each was launched on the sea of life to guide a bark through the seven ages; that you might steer it well & keep ’t from off the shoals and rocks has ever been the prayer of one who loves you as he thinks a father ought. Long life, good luck, God’s blessings all, fair thoughts, bright looks, sound sleep, and dreams that sometimes mindest you of me.

One is apt to forget, when residing in these parts, that the parents of Our Lord were once resident in the vicinity of Cairo. When, chatting with someone today he referred to Mary’s well near the Citadel, and to the house where she and her family lived while in exile from Jerusalem. Itent [Intent] was mine this morning to jaunt to those places and others during the afternoon, but at luncheon the Colonel asked me would I be at home during the till the dinner hour as he had business in Cairo. This stayed my departing, and made the time between lunch & dinner to be used, for the most part in writing a letter to the girls.

My wards are practically empty, but no

[Page 151]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

word has yet come naming the day of our departure hence. The Colonel may know but he does not confide in me, & it may be that he has no information. However I cannot be sure as he sometimes tells the wrong officer.

Father McAuliffe, he formerly of St. Mary’s Cathedral staff told me, when partaking of afternoon tea with me, that the nuns of the Sacred Heart have a school for girls in Cairo, the Prioress of which is an Irishwoman. Must pay a visit to her some day.

In the letter to the girls goes forward an account of my ideas formed at Sakkara, the burial ground of Memphis, the chief city of the Pharoes of Old, when they ruled in such pomp and circumstance some 7, 6, 5, & 4 thousand years agone. How brief the span, of an a human life, appears, when one is in these parts? The monuments built thousands of years back were constructed by the hands of humans who, as we do, played a part upon the stage, strutting on, walking in varied fashion across, and stepping off the ’tother side, leaving not trace, having come from God alone knows where, and dissappearing into that obscurity, from whence no traveller has every returned, & where ’tis God alone also knows where. The skein and web of living, weaves into pictures, varied as are the thoughts of the spirit to whom the guiding function pertains.

The solution of the mystery of life is not yet, and to me it appears, not possible in the future for the human mind to discover it. The ego cannot solve the ego. Mind you this is no cause why efforts should not be made towards deciphering the solution, the fascination of the work is sufficient in itself to repay the labourer.

It is very little that we can ever know either of the ways of Providence, or the laws of existence. But that little is enough, and exactly enough." But thus wrote Ruskin in "The Eagle’s Nest".

[Page 152]
 
The eyelids, that keep this nib in correct line across the white sheet of paper, are at odd moments meeting edge to edge, the image of the objects is blotted from my brain, the pen loosenes from the fingers, progress is stayed. Therefore must this frail body and its spirit seek repose upon the couch which is invitingly close to my right hand.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os]
GOOD NIGHT

4-3-15: 11 a.m: All my patients have gone. The operating room equipment, the instruments, and drugs, are being placed in their cases. These movements indicate an early departure hence for us. To whence I know not, but my belief is that France will be our next landing place. However time will tell and they who read the newspapers in Australia will be informed before we are.

On the sand about 300 yds. beyond my window a boy is causing his donkey to roll while a photographer has his machine set, that a picture may be taken for some cinematograph show. Thus are records kept, in modern fashion, of the momentary happenings in various parts of the world.

"One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin.
T. & C. iii. 3.

"It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;
 But vows to every purpose must not hold."
T. & C. v. 3

T. & C. = Troilus and Cressida by Shakespeare

"All places that the eye of heaven visits
 Are to the wise man ports and happy havens."
Richd II – 1 – 3 –

[Page 153]

The letter to you was in promise to be but a few lines, yet this pen, has such tendency to run away from my mind’s intent, that it has already wandered over three sheets and the piece that I added to page 2. The pleasure is mine to write, while your letters have shown appreciation of my mental output, doubly pleasing are the moments devoted to the caligraphy. Sometimes methings [methinks] Mother M. Joseph or some other critic may deem me a nuisance and say of me: "Oh, he has a disease known as Cacoethes Scribendi" [incurable desire or itch to write]. Si, pardonnez moi?

This reminds me, (We are in the country whence came the stories of the one thousand and one nights), that we may be in the fair land of France ere long, and that, more time should be given by me to studying French grammar and words (which may be of use amongst the people of that country. Of Her Shakespeare made the Duke of Burgundy say, when Hy. V of England visited the French King & Queen in A.D. 1420, to pay court to Katherine and ask for her hand in marriage:

[Act V, Scene 2; Lines 33-40 and 54-56:]
"What rub or what impediment there is,
Why that the naked, poor & mangled Peace,
Dear nurse of arts, plenties & joyful births,
Should not in this best garden of the world,
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
Alas, she hath from France too long been chased,
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps
Corrupting in its own fertility.

And as our vineyards, fallows, meads & hedges,
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness,
Even so our houses and ourselves & children

[Page 154]

[Act V, Scene 2; Lines 57-58, 68-71 and 95-97:]
"Have lost, or do not learn for want of time,
The sciences that should become our country."

"King Hy.
If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,
Whose want gives growth to the imperfections
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our just demands

"... Our cousin Katherine, here with us,
She is our capital demand, comprised
Within the forefront of our articles."

How true today of the fair land of France? But a German is the devastor and the aggressor. No sequel will follow of a German King or Prince making demand for a womans hand as a sine qua non wherewith to stop the war.

The same fertile feilds, as so oft before in the centuries that have gone, are the place of carnage where grim visaged war holds sway. Alas in this 20th Century man is as ever, prepared to fight for right or a grand mistake, for women or territory. There be some good people, in Sydney they were but few months or years back, who formed themselves into a Peace Society, their act of faith being:– "Men & women are becoming too civilised to ever again make war, or kill one another for any purpose". The leaders were that dear good lady, ever ready to fight for a cause, named Miss Rose Scott; and Mr Holman, champion fighting politician and statesman. Many a time did I amuse

[Rose Scott (1847-1925), feminist, pacifist, law reformer and women’s activist, was born in Singleton, NSW. She was a founding member of the Women’s Literary Society (1889) and founding secretary of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales (1891). David Scott Mitchell, whose collection forms the basis of the Mitchell Library, part of the State Library of NSW, was her cousin.

William Arthur Holman, MLA (1871-1934), 19th Premier of New South Wales.]

[Page 155]

myself by chaffing them about their vaunted advocacy of peace, the time they both were warriors, armed cap-a-pie with words and arguments doing battle for a side. Each parried my thrusts by saying what meant:–
"Big words do not hurt like war clubs,
Boastful breath is not a bowstring,
Taunts are not as sharp as arrows
Deeds are better things than words are
Actions mightier than boastings."
Longfellows Hiawatha

When talking with them never did thought lie in my brain that my body should be bound for the fair land of France as a member of a military expedition.

A telegram was published in todays issue of the Egyptian Gazette: "Mr Holman, Premier of N. S. Wales is prepared to pledge the Credit of New South Wales to the last sovereign to fight this war to a successful issue". A peaceful premier truly.

This fountain pen has again run away. But not another word for the present.

10p.m.: A letter from Joe reached me today. It was written in Sydney on the 15th Janry 1915. She wrote that "Next day we are to visit Buddie at Strathfield, she will like to be told all about you". The letter has taken a long time to reach me, but one is satisfied to receive one at any time. I must reply to it at once. Good night.

10-50p.m. Joe’s letter answered.

Shall conclude this. If you & they so desire you may send it to them as it is not similar to theirs. Good bye my dear may life prosperous lay happy and useful be to you. My blessing with love & kisses for you. To your good colleagues my good wish

Your lvng & afft father
John B Nash

Sister M. Hyacinth
W. Maitland
N S Wales

[Page 156]

[Pages 156 to 164 and 170 to 171 are of an 11-page letter, dated 8 March 1915, from Dr Nash to his "Girls". The pages are out of order and the letter is transcribed here in the page order in which it should be read. See individual images for detail.]

[1 – image 170]
Mena
Egypt
8-3-15

My dear Girls:/

Letters & photographs were posted this morning to Mollie, Miss Garran, Dr Armitt [editor of Medical Journal of Australia], and You. Do not forget to take one of the photos to the A.J.N.A. [Australian Journal of the Nurses Association] at the Equitable buildings, in George St, near to Palings.

My interior has quite recovered and today three good meals have been satisfactorily disposed of, at the present moment, 9.30 p.m. writing to you, my mental and physical condition are at the normal standard.

Most of our hospital material is away from here, but personal marching orders have not been delivered. I should have liked a day in Cairo but so far it has been convenient for me to leave, there has cropped up something for me to do surgically or otherwise. If we were all relieved from duty for a few days the respite would be much appreciated by some of us.

It was announced yesterday that an Australian mail would be distributed to those in the Camp today. As far as I have been able to make out the rumour was a false one, as no one here has been favoured. Good night. Good night. Good night.

10-8 [3]-15. Keeping O.K., eating well, sleeping well, able to get about with comfort. Hope all will be right for the future.

A horse came for me a few days ago. Yesterday morning at 7 o’clock I went for a ride across the sands. The weather was as it has been during our stay, of the best, air clear, no wind therefore no dust, the sands to

[2 – image 171]
the South East and West rolled away in hillocks and valleys, far as the eye could see, the cultivated lands to North, West, & East gave relief to the sight when one faced the North; Cairo & the plateau of the dessert beyond formed a back ground making the horizon. I thorughily enjoyed the outing. I was by myself at dinner the evening before I told the Colonel and Colonel Springthorpe that I was ordering my horse for the morning, neither of them was ready to come, so it is probable that they were not as anxious as I was to look round. Several of the regiments were starting across the sandy wastes for a days drilling & manouvering upon the dessert.

During the afternoon, about 3.30 ’oclock I went to Cairo. At 5 p.m. I visited a school which is taught by the Christian Brothers, a French order, same as those who teach at St Catherines in Alexandria. The grounds are extensive, the school building substanial looking, the corridors, stair-ways, and rooms spacious & well lighted, the dormitors fairly well equipped and comfortably bedded without being crowded. Four stories in elevation, each story being about 18 feet high. A striking character of all good class buildings here is, to an Australian the spaciousness of the interior and the height of the rooms, it is a necessity, probably, resulting from the climatic conditions of the Summer time.

At the Palace, Heliopolis, at 6 p.m. Met Colonel Ramsay-Smith, Major Barrett, and Major Watson, and other officers attached for duty. Dined with them. After a talk went on to the Camp and there called

[William Walker Russell Watson CB CMG VD (1875-1924) had served with distinction in the South African War. On the outbreak of WW1 he commanded the Australian Naval and Expeditionary Force that seized German territories in the Pacific in late 1914. On 10 May 1915 he embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A14 Euripides with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 24th Infantry Battalion, 6th Infantry Brigade. He temporarily commanded that Brigade when it landed at Gallipoli on 10-11 September. He led the 24th Battalion at Lone Pine, and commanded the 6th Brigade rear parties during the evacuation, being appointed Commander of the Bath for his services on the peninsula.]

[3 – image 156]
upon Captain Fiaschi who was out of camp next upon Colonel Beeston, he looks well and is consuming, as all other Australians, much of the Egyptian sand. Found Colonel Burnage, Colonel McGlynn [McGlinn], his people live in West Maitland), and Colonel Monash, the first named from Newcastle, the third from Melbourne. Each is working hard getting a crowd ready for fighting when called upon anywhere at the seat of war. Good officers they are, who spoke well of the men under their command.

Col. Monash is of German extraction, a man of high standing in Melbourne, possessing, I was told, much money. He has been widely talked about on account of his name. It certainly is a handicap. During his earlier years he must have listened to much from his parents and others which would fix in his mind sympathy for the German race, because up till a few months ago, every Teuton had good cause to applaud, in all company, the great strides that had been made by those who were managing affairs in Berlin & other parts of Germany. It mattered not whether those advances were of peace or war, reputation was gained which compared more than favourably with the individuals of any other human combination. The only competitors they had in commerce, ship-building, manufacturing, education, government (State or Municipal), and the subsidiary matters attached to each of these, were the British Communities, and the United States of America. In many

[Lieutenant General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB VD (1865-1931), soldier, engineer and administrator, commanded the 4th Infantry Brigade at Gallipoli and later commanded the 3rd Division in France.]

[marked 5; actually 4 – image 157]
of the human activities included in this list the Teutons claimed, and perhaps justly, that they were set example for the rest of the world. As a proof. Immediately war began question arose as to how the makers of cotton & woollen fabrics could obtain aniline dies [dyes]. So with many important chemicals used in medicine, the arts, and the allied sciences. One might elaborate this matter in large extent, but the foregoing is enough for present purpose.

Colonel Martin is away this morning, while acting for him my pen is serving me to have a chat with you. It will next do me for a few words with Mollie & some others.

Where is the Australia? The last I heard of her was when she had something to say to a ship off the Southern part of South America. If you guessed the North Sea would you be right? If I were in a guessing competition I should guess the North Sea. Whether my guess would be right or not I know not. You may have more information than is in my possession.

Expecting letters this day. Hope they will come.

12-30 p.m. A letter has just come from Frank Fox. By Jove he is a brave man, to throw up the comforts of journalism & a good name, for the position of a Lieutenant of Artillery after he has been an eyewitness to the horors of war in Belgium during the German progress through that country. Did you read the article by him in the 19th Century, to which I referred in one of my earlier letters? Therein there were enough scenes of a terrifying order to keep any man from playing a part in the game which had devastated the fair land

[marked 6; actually page 5 – image 158]
inhabited by the Flemings & Walloons. His heart always was in the right place, and now he has shown it. Good luck to him!

10-3-15. 3-15 p.m. At 3p.m. a whole heap of letters came into the office, they have been sorted and not one from home for me. One came to me from the Minister for Defence in acknowledgment of one from me written when I had arrived in Egypt, it was addressed S.S. Kyarra Egypt, and bore a post mark Victoria 4 Feby 1915, any letter posted two days earlier in Sydney could have been here in the same mail. However what is the use of complaining. On these days one is glad to be alive, let alone be amongst the favoured ones who get more than enough to eat and clothing with which to cover his nakedness.

I have written letters to Mr Flowers & Jimmy Roach. I have asked the former to make the latter a Justice of the Peace for New South Wales and I hope that he will do so at an early date. I feel sure that he will do so. Jim must be now growing into a man of standing in the community, & by so doing he deserves an honour like a J. Pship.

Are your finances satisfactory? Let me hope so. Should you have any difficulties in making ends meet consult with Mr Finney, he will then direct you as to what is best to sell that you may keep the necessary accounts paid up & my property as intact as possible.

Dr Kennedy has just come in he has had no letter and looks disappointed. He is I think worse off than I, because he has had no letter of later date than the 28th Decbr 1914. During few days my mind has had within it several times question:/ Wonder do my letters posted here arrive in Australia in regular sequence? Wonder is it so?

[6 – image 159]
11-3-15. 3 p.m. A large parcel of letters and papers down stairs. No one for me. Bother.

No orders as to moving so far. We expect them daily, but when they will come I have no information.

Hot & dusty here today. The air is thick with sand to such extent that the pyramids are not to be seen through my window. It is said that the period of the Khamssie [Khamsin], (The fifty days included in March & April) is the most disagreeable in the year. The wind blows almost continuously off the desert, & being at times strong and gusty much of the sand is rolled in thick clouds & over long distances. The particles of sand here are rounded and it may be that the blowing of them about so frequently and over such long distances causes the edges to be rubbed off. The same physical reasons may account for the stones in the sand on the ridges having the appearances of waterworn pebbles; their surfaces cannot be due to water because there has been no water where they are for at least 8000 years, yet they are smooth surfaced pebbles. On the stony ridges too there is no sand, this too must be a result of the wind which keeps them clear from the particles where which everywhere else form a thick layer. You may remember in the pictures of antartic exploration that the rocky masses project being free from snow & ice midst fields of both materials, so here do the rocky ridges & precipices jut out as bare rock from the seas of sand.

13-3-15 – 10. a.m. Letters from you three girls and

[7 – image 160]
from Doffie. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!!
Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!!
Each bears the same date 12-1-15. i.e. 8½ weeks ago.

Car dear:/ It was good of Jimy Roach to send to you a ham. In these days when meat is so dear costly it should count for much in your large family. The cooking at the F. H. Ice Coy. is a novel idea. Ham is very nice when it has a slightly sweet taste, at least this is my idea, others may prefer it without the use of sugar in the preserving. I wrote to Jimmy a little ago.
I am very well still in the land of the Pharoes, quite recovered from the temporary indisposition which made me somewhat uncomfortable for two weeks. You were right not to reply to my cable by wire as our ship left Colombo before the New Year’s day.

Mail day is of course irregular, but I never wait for it to come round that I may write to you, I just write any time the fancy comes upon me & there be thoughts wandering through my mind which may be interesting to you, or which serve as the an excuse around which to build a conversation with you. "We write just as often as they go" is portion of a sentence in your letter, "they" referring to mails. My way should be a better way one than yours, because when my sheets are numerous enough they are enveloped, & placed in the post box, and are thus ready to be forwarded at the first opportunity.

Yes. Great excitement. In an earlier letter I asked you to convey my congratulations to Belle Moxham. Good luck to them all. Uncle Herschell could not refrain from sending a cablegram to express his joy. Good luck to him too!

Mr Trefle I wrote about some weeks back, & a letter has gone from me to Mrs Trefle.

[8 – image 161]
No one has sent to me a copy of the Melbourne Advocate. It was, I have no doubt, Mrs M. M. Knowles who wrote the paragraph. The festive Marion was always a great friend in childhoods days to the members of the Nash family. She has developed much facility in recent years for arranging English words in pleasing sequence. Did I see the paragraph a letter would go from me to her. It is a wonder that MacNamara did not send to me a copy. Not before has word come to me about Mr Cosgrove, he appeared to me, the last time we met in King St, to be growing more feeble that had been his habit. R.I.P.

My best wishes to Nellie Anderson & to members of the family whom you may meet. You & the festive Rene were gay in going to Manly so often. Mrs MacMurray is a real wonder. Fancy competing in style & good looks with Mrs Sep Levy? My best wishes to them when you next see them. Also to the Regans, the Phipps & others. I am struggling all right, & hope to continue doing so after we move on. The war is still as great as ever. My view of it is still that the approaching summer will be productive of great struggles on land & it may to by sea. Time the great exhibitor of all things will give some chance to see, list to, or read about what should be turning points in the histories of many nations.

Joseph dear. Glad you were pleased with my cable from Colombo. Compensation enough for having sent it. O.K. just now. Mails are irregular just now to all parts of the British Empire. A paper is to hand from Mrs Fraser this morning, I have not so far opened it. Did you eat Pecks acorns?

[9 image 162]
I shall look up Reg. Bridge if ever I get to London. The idea is prevalent that Clarrie has been in the North Sea for some time. Colonel Homes [Holmes] & his boys from Rabaul had a great reception on their return from the tropics. Good luck to them! I met one of the Milner boys, a Captain, here a few days ago, please tell his Mother that he was looking very well, & was doing his share of the work here.

Glad that you are managing all right. I shall look forward hopefully to the end of the first half year of your management. All your friends appear to be very king [kind], & to take an interest in your wellfare & happiness. Try to deserve well of them in the future as you have done in the past, then all will be satisfactory for and with you. There are none who do not look with admiration upon well conducted and careful women, no matter what be their age or station in life. The opposite kind of women are simply put up with & pitied.
My best wishes & kindly thanks to all your and my friends.
Glad to read that Andy Watt & his family are so comfortable in their new home. He is a good chap, and there is no more beautiful set of girls. Did Pat appreciate the letter which went from me to her? Maria will be wealthy beyond all dreams of avarice soon should her income be increased frequently. To her best wishes. Buddie whose letter to have about four weeks ago, and dated eight days later than the 12th Jany, told about your ringing her up for the Christmas time. She is now I suppose hard at work again teaching the young idea in Maitland how to shoot.

Good Kitty my dear. How I should like to see you all? Bad fortune was with Mr Trefle. He was a good man. R.I.P.

[Engineer Lieutenant Clarence Walter Bridge, born in North Sydney on 18 January 1890, a career Naval Officer, who served on HMAS Australia during WW1. He went on to have a long career in the Navy, retiring in 1952.

Colonel, later Major General, William Holmes CMG DSO VD (1862-1917), commanded the successful Australian Naval and Military Expedition against German territories in the Pacific. In March 1915 he was appointed to command the 5th Infantry Brigade, and landed with them at Gallipoli in August. He was temporarily in charge of the 2nd Division there at the time of the evacuation. In January 1917 he was promoted Major General to command the 4th Division. He was killed by a shell while escorting the Premier of New South Wales, W A Holman, on a visit to the Messines battlefield on 2 July 1917.]

[10 – image 163]
Sir H. Maitland. [Sir Herbert Lethington Maitland (1868-1923)] He is in fortunes way & was well repaid for the appendix operation he performed on young McGavan. My congratulations to her ladyship & the gallant Knight when you see them. I may write to him during the week.
Yes Uncle Herschell! Bai Jove!!!!! You too congratule Harry, Belle & the baby for me.

Rain in plenty will make up for the shortage just before I left, you did not write as to its being in the country as well as in Sydney. Some day may hap God may be good to me letting me see sunny New South Wales & Macquarie St. once again.

My regards to Dr Dunn. Thanks for the love & kisses, I hope to struggle on successfully.

Kitty dear:/ Dont look out for the mails just write post the letter ’twill then be ready for any mail that sets out. You should before now have had plenty of letters from me, if not ’tis not that they have missed, [through] my fault, any ship going your way.

Mrs Fraser is very faithful. Julie does not forget. Mary & Nell Johnson were thoughtful. I hope to see them all should I get to London. The tribute to Mr Trefle was well deserved. R.I.P. Sic transit gloria mundi. [Thus passes the glory of the world.]

Greystanes is a good name for the Watt palace. My kindest regards & love when you see the children or other members of the family. Plenty of amusement for all when the times count the pianola, & other accessories are available, it is wise of them not to entertain much, because such is costly and entails much loss of valuable time, for which there is not much recompense, and time is so valuable if one only occupys it usefully to some good end. Good, the papers have been appreciating Dr Harris. He is a decent man, cleanly in mind & body, & making his life useful.

[11 – image 164]

Yes Uncle Laurie v. Herschell. Glad to learn from you that you are managing "quite all right." Thanks for "lots of love & loads of kisses".

These replies to you, & a letter from Buddie will go into the post directly, hoping with their leaving my hands that they may reach you rapidly.

Orders have gone for every one here to pack up. Which means that within few days our hospital will be on the move again. The Colonel told me today that he may leave me behind for a couple of weeks to clear up this hospital & make ready to follow him. If so it may or may not be good luck for me. However in this sort of work one has but to obey and be satisfied.

Yesterday I was off for the day & became for twenty-four hours a combatant soldier again. Were I a few years younger, the rumble of the guns & the click of the rifle would draw me away from here, to take a hand in the more strenuous aspects of the war, not that the medical corps does not play a useful role but it is more sedate & much less stimulating than is the fighting area.

Good bye now my dears God bless each of you all the time, may holy & heavenly thoughts still counsel you, and time bring them to ripeness with you, upon you all a thousand thousand blessings. To my friends & yours kindest regards.

Your affnt father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 157]

[Page 4 (marked 5) of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

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[Page 5 (marked 6) of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

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[Page 6 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

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[Page 7 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

[Page 161]

[Page 8 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

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[Page 9 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

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[Page 10 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

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[Page 11 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

[Page 165]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
5 March 1915

My dear Girls:/

2 p.m. Letters for you and for Mollie were given to the post office this morning.

We are still packing up ready for a move when the orders come. To whence Whence? In an issue of the Sydney Mail, given to me this morning I saw the pictures of the trouble caused by the Turks at Broken Hill. The men were a desperate pair. In such a state brave men value at little the lives which God gave. This one of the phases of existence.

This morning I ate a good breakfast the first for two weeks. You will be surprised when you learn that sausages formed the chief dish. Porridge with salt and a little milk being the earlier material. At luncheon my food-pocket did well also, managing to take two quails, seasoned with port wine ordered as an extra, and one merangue, which was just to my taste. Quite a feast day, for my interior. I hate the vegetables, eggs, butter, salads, & made dishes, in use here. Obnoxious indeed are they.

6-3-15. 10 a.m. Jerrom is packing his goods & chatels in preparation for morning. Upon what day? I have no information. It will not take me long to get ready when the order comes. I have just finished the round of my wards. Simple cases of all kinds, medical and surgical occupy the beds. Our operating and other equipment has gone, making it impossible for us to do anything of consequence in this regard. Before we start I shall place what I have written in the post for transmission to you.

7.3.15. 10.30 a.m. Improved further and hoping to be in good fettle before we move off.

Yesterday was used for the most part in completing two articles, one for the medical journal

[Page 166]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

the second for the Nurses journal. A photo, of which I send you some copies, may be used in illustration for the second. The picture might have been much better but is up to the standard attained here as a rule. You will note on the back the names of those represented. The Sphynx, the plateau of the Libyan dessert, the second pyramid (Kephren), and beyond it one of the six lesser pyramids, form a background which is not obtainable in reality outside this region of the world. The whole forms one, amongst many where my records, which will become, in due time, a pictorial record of the great Australian treck, in pursuit of a grand ideal, with objects worthy, and determination to attain success.

The nurses journal is published monthly and has been delivered regularly at No 219. Should they care to publish the matter you could write to: "The Secretary, the A. J. N. Association, Equitable Buildings, George Street, Sydney", and in reply I have no doubt as many copies as you desire will be given to you. There may be within its limits some sentences that have not been in your letters.

This is Sunday morning, windy and dusty, the sand being driven in large quantities across the dessert by gusts, varying in strength, which come from the South. Everything is covered with particles of sand, one breathes them, eats them, but does not like them.

Yesterday morning Hassan, the guide in the photograph, took me to the house where he lives. Some remarks about it are included in the article written for the Medical journal. His father, his mother, and the four sons with their wives life in a house in Mena village. It is bounded by an outside mud wall, in the centre is a courtyard, around it is arranged the living rooms, the animals areas, and the

[Page 167]

store rooms. In the entrance hall is a divan upholstered in white upon which visitors are asked to sit. The occupants of the court yard and rooms are five men, from 75 years to 30 years; five women, one old and the others in the prime of life; several children, I saw six; sheep, goats, a donkey, a mare & foal, geese, goslings, pigeons, fowls, cats, and flies! Jerusalem Kruseos! You should have seen them! But one entrance to the place! Humans and animals having the same run of every nook and corner. Furniture? In the old man’s room, the door opened for me to examined, were bags and jars filled with corn, or butter, or potatoes, half the floor space raised about two feet, on this mats were spread, these designated the sleeping portion, while against the wall were old boxes and bags. Furniture, as we mean by the word, there was none. Just think? There is no drainage, where the cattle rested during the night, a layer of sand, brought from without, is spread each day. No sign of sweeping. No water and washing utensils, if any, not to be seen, nor evidence of their existence conveyed to one by the skins and clothing of the people, from the baby to the grandfather. Hydrophobia in excelsis appeared to me to be an appanage of these Egyptian arabs.

I was allowed to talk with the grandmother and to look at the other women. Why? "We do not keep our women so carefully secluded as do the Egyptians proper or the Turks. The arab women do not go out very much because their home duties keep them inside, the cleaning the cooking and other occupations are numerous."
Your father is an old man? "Yes a very old man, I think seventy-five years. He is a very healthy, a very clean man, he will eat only clean things, our women do all the cooking make the bread and so on."

Tea was brought to the grandfather and me. Two cups, loaf sugar, milk, spoons, saucers, a small tea pot. The materials had pretence to be clean. The whiteness of the sugar was in marked

[Page 168]

contrast to all else. A little was filled out for me. How to avoid drinking it? Pretence to sip. Happy thought, offer some to a wee daughter standing by. A fortunate act which I discovered was accepted as an act of high courtesy. She drank some and handed back the cup. Another pretence. Again request the lassie. The tea came from inside the establishment somewhere. Ye gods! And amid such circumstances they live, rear the families, and follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. "This is a very healthy place, not like Cairo which is an unhealthy place."

I was unable to be at mass this morning. A parade for all ranks was held at 9 a.m., the order was not made known to me till 8 a.m., the earlier mass was at 7 a.m.

The Village school is a crowded, dirty, insanitary room, where an aged man with assistants, teaches the youngsters, 5 to 10 yrs, to print characters, make figures, and recite verses from the Khoran.
You may have mentally formed the sentence:– what poverty stricken people these Egyptian Arabs must be? – Well, the family written about above, own according to the son, Hassan the guide in the photograph, at least 130 acres of fertile land, in blocks (at various spots) of three four and five acres, each acre of which is worth to sell at least £150 of Egyptian or English money. The wealth of the household then in golden English sovereigns if they sold the land would be 130 x £150 = £19500. Not so poor after all. Some people of good position in our country my estimate an estate of this magnitude as being wealth beyond all dreams of avarice.

Sun 11 p.m. Since dinner I have been dreaming with Joseph the son of Jacob as told in the book of Genesis, some of my thoughts have got into a letter for Mollie.

[Page 169]

She may send it on to you if you so desire.

The photos are being posted this morning please take one without delay to Miss Garran as at p.2, she is or was the secretary.

I am dropping these few sheets into the post before 10 o’clock this morning.

The flies when sent as a plague to Egypt must have been made lazy, that to move for them is but nuisance, you cannot imagine how persistant one of them is or how little distance he moves from the point of attack by a wave of the hand or anything else.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. To each of my friends good wishes & my best regards.

With you may be much honour prosperity & goodness, accompanied by my love & loads of kisses

Your aff Faree
John. B. Nash

The Misses Nash
Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 170]

[Page 1 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

[Page 171]

[Page 2 of a letter dated 8 March 1915. See page 156 for transcription.]

[Page 172]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt.
10 March 1915

My dear Mollie:/

3 p.m. A bundle of letters has just come in to the office from Australia. Wonder are there some for me amongst them. I shall possess my soul in patience for a few minutes. Then if there be none. Why then! Why this letter will be continued without having at this stage reply to sentences from you.

Today, this morning, a letter came from Frank Fox, formerly of Sydney to me He was in Belgium during the time that the Germans were hacking away though the brave people who so gallantly stemmed the onward rush of the well trained battalions of Emperor William III. He wrote an article in the "XIX Century & After" Magazine describing his experience, terrible as they were. Of one person, a demented young priest, driven mad by his experiences, he wrote that waking at night this young man’s face and form came up before him & recalled the dreadful scenes.

3.5 p.m. A letter for me. From you? No. From Senator Pearce, the Minister for Defence in Melbourne, dated Melbourne 3rd Febry. Is it possible that there is not one from home for me. Causes the thought:– Have they forgotten all about me in Macquarie St, & in Maitland.

All the letters have been sorted and not one from home. This is the 10th March. We may be away in a few days then a letter will probably be something unseen for months. However it is in the game & I suppose that it is of no use complaining.

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

Last night I saw Colonel McGlynn [McGlinn], brother to the McGlynn girls of Maitland. He is a Lieutenant Colonel, Brigade Major to Colonel Monash, an officer from Victoria. Jack Patrick (McGlynn) was looking well, as fat as ever. He is an officer of the first rank, who if he gets safe through will, I am sure, have a record of the best behind him. Good luck to him!

I enclose you a newspaper cutting, which interested me this morning, when I read it in the Egyptian Gazette. The uncorrupted Turk was a man of first class fighting quality whose prowess & powers made him a dominant factor in the world. The majority of those who now represent such men as live at Konieh are a degenerate lot who are no good for themselves, useless to others, & cannot command respect, and who must pay the penalty of their own misdeeds and for their departure from that mode of thought and action which become worthy men.

Just saw a bundle of letters laid on the table of the outer office. Hope within me rose at once. Are there any for me? "Oh these letters are the ones that have come here by mistake, they are for No 1 hospital, we are about to place them in a parcel that they may be taken to Heliopolis by motor car which is just starting from our door." Hope dashed to the ground once more.

Had not thought that you would be the recipient of another letter written by me anterior to our leaving Mena House, but as some one else disposes of my time & arranges the place in the world of my duties during these halcyon days of war, you may about Easter time or soon thereafter have these pages in your hands. Hope that you will like them.

[Page 174]

The history of this Egypt is intimately connected with the basis of the modern world, which as acknowledgment of the separation of the ancient eara [era] from our time, marks all events as before or after Christ. In the first book of the New Testament and the second chapter, the 13th to the 22nd verse, is told the story of the flight of Joseph, Mary, and the Child Jesus, from Bethlehem into Egypt. Even, unto this day, are persons shown the places where the holy family rested during their sojourn in this country. Just beyond Heliopolis, on the other side of Cairo from Mena, is "Mary’s Well", and other places which are called "Joseph’s House", & such like. It may be that if I can get away tomorrow I shall have chance to visit some of these places. How could they, simple & crude though they be to the eyes & imagination of a man, be but full of interest? Have not the actors of those days left indellible marks on the pages of history? Such as have been more fruitful of good results, than have followed the acts of any single family of all time. Strange ’tis that in Egypt, as elsewhere, the saying holds good that – "A prophet is of little use in his own country". Yet one might say the application of the sentence is not correct in this country. Because Mahommed, the prophet of the nine truths of the people here, for the building of the Khoran, took most of the basic principles, for the moral and civil code, from the bible and from the accounts of the life of Jesus Christ.

12-30 p.m. The wind called the Khamassene (Fifty days during march and April each year) howls without, sand comes into the rooms through every chink & crannie, it falls upon this paper while I write, the air is white with contained particles of sand to such extent that the grand pyramid, but few hundred yards away cannot be seen. It is common belief that many persons go mad during the prevalence of these winds. Their acute duration is from three to five days, becoming so at any hour during the fifty days.

[Page 175]

With the end of April, begins the summer for the valley of the Nile. Many of the residents of Cairo spend the evenings & the nights of the Season in tents on the plateau of the dessert, & they say that while the air is hot in the City, it is very pleasant in temperature and perfectly clear on the raised edge of the Lybian sands. People of sufficient wealth are said to visit parts of Europe, from the present date onwards, or take residences on the Mediterranean shore, such as Alexandria, Damietta and the like.

No letter for me this morning. Hope with me is still present, because rumour is about that bags of correspondence have not been sorted. With each passing hour faint hope passes into certainty, and knowledge that for a letter to come from Australia to me many weeks may elapse. Major Gray received one yesterday dated Lidcombe 9th Febry 1915, & some of the Nurses were given envelopes with 15-2-15 as a Sydney post mark. Why? Oh, Why?

"A happy nation may be defined as one in which the husband’s hand is on the plough, and the housewife’s on the needle." – The Two Paths" – Ruskin.
To my mind a neat way for expressing a trueism, which is not always appreciated. Like many other solid bases for action sections of the people of some nations are led by popularity hunters who are either so ignorant that they do not know sound principals or knowing them or so devoid of honesty that the acting up to them is not practised. In the medical profession there is an aphorism which reads: "More mistakes are made by not looking than by not knowing"; so is it in other the affairs of life; and oft times apparent self-interest weighs much in the balance against rectitude.

[Page 176]

I do not know if in an earlier letter I wrote that an article with a photograph had gone forward to the Nurses Journal, a paper published in Sydney, on a trip to Sakkara. Should it be published the girls might send on a copy to you.

13-3-15: 10 a.m. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!! Letters from Car, Joseph, Kitty, & Doffie this morning. Each bears date 12-1-15.

Car & Joe each made reference to your approaching visit to Santa Sabina and to a visit paid by all the girls with Maria Watt to see Mary at Strathfield.

Definite orders are contained in yesterday’s Corps Orders, giving notice to every one to pack his goods & chattels, & to hold himself in readiness for leaving at any moment. I have an inkling that I am to be left behind for a week or two to conclude matters in this place and that I shall come on soon after the remainder of our people. I had rather to be with them, but it cannot be helped, & one has but to perform what falls to his chance in a game of this kind.

Yesterday I took a day off & went to the brigades on the Heliopolis side & had a day on Manouvre. Colonel Monash was the brigadier of the troops with whom I worked. Jack McGlynn [McGlinn], brother to the girls in Maitland is chief executive officer with the brigadier while a younger brother, Joe McGlynn [McGlinn], is a junior officer. I met many men of my acquaintance. The day work was long

[Lieutenant Joseph Francis McGlinn, 40, telegraphist of Liverpool, NSW, embarked from Melbourne on 22 December 1914 on HMAT A30 Borda with the 2nd Divisional Signal Company. He served at Gallipoli and was invalided home to Australia in early 1916.]

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all being in the saddle for nine hours 7.30 a.m., to 4.30 p.m. The undulations on the desert make an ideal area for moving armies, from a spectators point of view because one can stand on one of the highest hills and see all that is being done for miles in all directions. More than 20000 troops were engaged.
About one hundred & fifteen years ago Napoleon I was in these parts, he fought a battle at Alexandria, & two here, the second that of Heliopolis made him master over Egypt; with 20000 French he defeated some 70000 or 80000 Egyptians and Arabs. At the time he built on the road Cairo to Suez towers of stone as landmarks to guide his people, one at every five miles; three of these, – 1, 2, & 3 – served for the troops moving yesterday to indicate positions around which the battle was to range itself. A wonderful man Old Nap, wherever he went he left marks of his genius & personality.
I returned to Mena House about 10 p.m. A warm bath & bed were very agreeable after the day in the sand and sun though a tempering breeze made the weather conditions agreeable to the individual & very suitable for men coming from Australia to work in. In our own land with such large bodies working, there must of necessity be dust, unless in those rare cases where grassed lands can be freely used. Were I but ten years younger I should still be on the Combatant – rather than the Med side.

[Page 178]

The girls letters answered. That from Doffie will be left till this afternoon or tomorrow. In a few minutes the envelopes addressed to you & Macquarie Street will pass from me to the post office, hence happy and speedy journey to Australia for them.

"The greatest virtue of which wise men boast
Is to abstain from ill when pleasing most." – Sonnet [Shakespeare] –
No doubt you, like others who know not Egypts desserts, think the surface of the inhospitable lands to be covered feet deep with sand. A truly erroneous notion, because when one gets to know, he learns that the loose sand is but few inches deep, except where drifts can accumulate, and that the dessert’s surface is for much part wind swept pebbles or projections of rock from whence every particle of light loose material is kept blown away. These rocky projections much resemble the black masses which one notes projecting from the white of the snowfields and the blue white of the glaciers which have been photographed for general information by Antarctic travellers.

Goodbye. To your colleagues my regard & admiration. May heaven send prosperous life, long & happy to each & every one of you.
To yourself much love & heaps of kisses

Your afft Father

John B. Nash

Sr. Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales

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Lieut Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
14 March 1915

Mollie dear:/

And do you hear the wonderful news that is being throbbed round the world, narrating the acts of brave men who are engaged in a herculean struggle on the battle fields of Europe for the supremacy of the world in ideals, in territory, in morals, in prowess, in politics, in culture, and in aught else that follows in the physical prowess, which means fighting power, of they who win. It is not commonly accepted yet it is true in every sense that the man who can throw you down trample upon or even kill you at his will can rule the Conquered as he desires.
We of the British Communities are sure that our ideals in all directions are as good if not better than those which pertain to the thinking apparatus of any nation under the sun, and in this twentieth century we are showing that amongst strong & mighty peoples we are prepare to assert the correctness of our beliefs by force of arms. Standing out strongly amongst us in exemplification of our agreement – (England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Burmah, West Africa, &c.) – with a sentence

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

in todays gospel Lu. 11 – 14 to 28 – "17. Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falleth." We were not at the commencement, in some respects, sufficiently armed but we are hurrying to correct defficiencies, knowing in time of peril that ’tis as true today as when the gospels were first written, aye adown all the ages of the world. – 21. When a strong man armed keepeth his (palace) court, those things are in peace, which he possesseth (his goods are in peace). – 22. But, if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him, he will take away all his armour, wherein he trusted, and distribute his spoils."

Might is right and every will be, because a dead man has paid his debt to Nature and he no longer counts as a fighting unit. Even so manifest a truth as is compassed by the foregoing sentences. Dear good people like Miss Rose Scott, Mr Holman, and others, who, when war is not in being, start peace societies wherein at meetings they discourse upon what high plane the mind of man stands, & how this in itself will keep him from ever again killing or submitting to being killed, and in next breath thereafter such a sentence becoming angry to fighting point with anyone who dares, just dares, yes really just dares, to think otherwise. Enough in itself to start a conflagration that might burn far and wide. I have at times noticed in so peace-loving a dear lady as Mother. M. Bertrand a tightening of the facial muscles, a firm closing of the lips, a flash from the eyes, & a raising

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of the hand when something is threatened which has not her approval. How then is it possible, that there will not be fighting of all kinds ’mongst the Sons of Men? Even so may we exclaim with Henry VI – Part ii – 1-1-19- "O Lord, that lends me (us) life,
Lend me (us) a heart replete with thankfulness".
King Henry said it in regard to Queen Margaret "A world of earthly blessings to his soul", we may use it equally in our time of peril.

15.3-15
Announcement made this morning:– "One hundred and thirty bags of mails arrived from Australia yesterday, they will be sorted and delivered during the day." Wonder will there be midst the hundreds one for me. 10 a.m. – A letter. Yes, from P. J. MacNamara of Coffs Harbour. 9 p.m. No other letter for me Shall hope for tomorrow. If expectation then not satisfied shall still hope on.

Last evening when in Cairo I met an Artillery Officer, who during the early stages of the war was in the North of France. He was in a fight with 27 other officers, he was the only one who was not killed, and he had during the day seven horses destroyed under him. What think you of that? A shell exploded at one spot, killed every man around him and killed his horse. How did he escape? A guardian angel under the eye of the Lord kept guard over him. What were the guardian angels of the other 27 doing? They must have been on duty elsewhere.

Yesterday afternoon Father McAuliffe & with some other officers paid a visit to the Barrage (dam) across the Nile, downstream 14 miles from

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Cairo. The Minister for Public Works in Egypt had instructed the Director of the Barrage to meet us and show us round. We arrived about 2 p.m., Mr du Smith took charge of us and gave us full information as to the amount of water stored, to where & how it is distributed, and with what result. If you look at a map of Egypt you will see that the Nile is a single river to Cairo, that soon after passing the city it divides and devolves by several streames, making the delta, ending on the Mediterranea shore in a whole series of mouths from Damietta to Rosetta. These mouths have not been constant throughout the ages. At the first dividing of the great stream, which has flowed more than 4000 miles from the mountains of Abyssinia, a dam has been built across both, these constitute the barrage. Iron gates are placed in the brick stone and concrete structure which are used to regulate the flow down stream, to back water for a distance, and to fill the canals for distribution in regular sequence, sending to the farmer the quantity that he requires, he lifts it out of the canal with buckets pours it into a drain, and distributes it to the ploughed and planted lands. Before this great work was finished, it is purely modern the growth depended upon the annual inundations and the water which was saved from them, there have adown the ages been canals, but to only a trifling extent as compared with those now radiating in all directions. During the British controll, which has only earnestly started, much more will be put in train for the benefit of the native population. Will these people be able to stand improving? One may

[Page 183]

be excused for being sceptical in this regard. But there is room for doubt when one remembers that over 8000 years all sorts and manner of invaders hace [have] come seen & conquered, yet the Egyptian remains but little altered from that which he was in the time of Jacob, the Pharoes, the Holy Family, the Persians, the Turks, & Napoleon Buonaparte. It is easy to understand, after a residence of some weeks near Cairo, to appreciate the reasons for the objections of the French people to the possession of Egypt, because the dominating influence midst the foreign element is so strongly Gallic. French language meets the eye everywhere, the customs of trade & of the people generally are shaped on French models. This will in ten or fifteen years be changed, English & British manners will be dominant, & copy will be made of habits & customs from the United Kingdom.

The war goes gaily on, & it is rumoured that the No 2 Hospital is to have baggage packed that it may be removed on the 17th inst, the day of St Patrick. Perhaps! However time will tell, & ’twill not be long to wait for the information.

A shower fell this afternoon. Mirabile dictu! Just think of it real wet rain! What did the dessert sands think of it? Mayhap as much surprised as we were, and wondering why such event should come unto them from above.

16-3-15 – 12-20 pm. A letter, dated Blackheath 8th Febry 1915, came from Joseph this morning, I have answered it in the "girls" letter. It is good that she had a change to the mountains.

"The Soul of Man is a mirror wherein may be seen, darkly, the image of the mind of God."
A sentence culled from Ruskin’s Modern Painters Very few books have lasted adown the ages, in which the mind of the author has not shown itself to be acting from good motives.

[Page 184]

As your experience expands and you keep on studying you will find this to be the case.

From a paragraph in this mornings paper I cull the following information:
"The arabs established their rule in Egypt A.D. 640. When Amru Ibn el Aass [Amr ibn al-As] took the country from the Copts the population was 35,000 000." Just think of it? There could hardly then, or at any other time, have been a larger cultivable area than at the present moment, 12000 square miles. Each mile now carries close upon 1000 people, besides food has to be produced from it for the flocks & herds. With the 35000000 nearly 3000 men women [and] children, accompanied by their flocks and herds had to produce all that was required for food and raiment. One might reasonably be excused for remarking impossible.

"The reign of the Arab Caliphs and the Mamelouks ended in 1517, when the Turks occupied Cairo under Sultan Selim, and hanged Doman Bey. After this Egypt became a Turkish vilayet [province], and the population diminished so much that when Mohamed Aly came to power there were no more than 2,500,000 inhabitants. When the British occupation came as a consequence of the Arabi revolution the population was about 6.000.000. It is now in the reign of Sultan Hussein" – A really British nominee – "with a population of 12000000. Will the Egyptians multiply in this new era and become as numerous as before the Islamic conquest."

To look upon in the neighbourhood of Cairo, the mud of Egypt is capable of producing food – milk and honey – in abundance. Would its capacity be equal to carrying 30000 [30,000,000?] people with their flocks and herds again? In the times when the fellah (farmer) depended upon the flood for mud and water there were four months in

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in the year when being covered with water, nothing could be taken off the land. With the completing of the storage, drainage and irrigation schemes much of the cultivable areas can be made productive the whole year round. The modes for tilling the soil twelve hundred odd years ago were much as they are today, but the manner of communication and exchange with other parts of the world were in no wise comparable to what exists in the 20th century. What could have been done with difficulty then, in the way of providing for human kind and its accessories, should be possible of accomplishment in this modern era with ease. Mohammed, the Arabian, who converted the Arabs and many other races of the earth from idolatry to Monotheism, was born in 571 A.D. and died 632 A.D. His book the Khoran is to the Mohammedans or Islamites, the same as the New Testament is to the Christian.

I must not write more. Forgotten by mind is that during lent my letters to you will accumulate, and you will be tired to death of reading them. Second thought tells me that I am in error, because this letter at fastest cannot reach you till the mid portion of April, more likely ’twill be towards the end, when the fasting season will have gone into the limbo of the past.

However sufficient for the envelope to compass, the letter box will receive the pages during the afternoon.

Good bye. To your good Mother Mary Joseph, and her good sisters, make my devoirs, and ask that they sometimes remember me in their holy and heavenly thoughts, that health with strength, and a safe return to Sunny New South Wales may be vouchsafed to me.

To you [diagram of hugs] and [diagram of kisses] from

Your Affectionate Father
John B. Nash

Sister M. Hyacinth
Dom. Convent
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales

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P.S. You may send this on to the Girls if they desire to read it & you do so wish

J. B. N. 2-40 pm.
16-3-15.
Befor St Patricks day in the morning.

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Lieut Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
18 March 1915

My dear Girls:/

8.45 a.m. St Patrick ’s Day has come and gone once again, quietly here into the limbo of obscurity, being counted amongst the three things that never return – time. You know of course the other two as enumerated in the Khoran by Mahomet for the faithful to remember: "There are three things that never return: the fleeting moment, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity". In regard to the latter there is a very terse, very true, frequently applicable her, quotation on the Ruskin calendar of this morning:–
"Much education sums itself in making men economise their words, and understand them."
If you had only to listen to the continuous silly chatter, irresponsible egoism, want of understanding, of the little, rotund, vain, uneducated, mendacious, arrogant, commedian who sits opposite me a table, you could the more fully appreciate, the truth of Ruskin’s sentence, which is taken from his Munera Pulveris.

It is noted in history that the conversion of the Irish by St. Patrick, was in the 5th Century, c 450 A.D. During the same century the English began to settle in Britain, and the Kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, and Northumbria were formed.

In the 6th Century, circa 597 A.D., Ethelbert, King of Kent, was converted by St. Augustine.

In this morning’s paper I noted, that the Orama sails, outward from Suez, on the 25th inst. I shall post what has been put together on this & following pages on the 22nd or 23rd inst., with hope that they may be sent to Suez and thence onward.

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Thought struck me this morning:– If when I leave here, my place is in such proximity to the fighting that only postcards will be allowed ’twill be good idea to devote writing time to the completion for publication of a Shakespearean article, the outlines of which are here, circled by brown paper, upon my table. ’Midst the clang of arms, the boom of cannon, the rolling of artillery, the digging of the trenches, the clatter of the horses, the voices of armed men, the surgeons work, and the physicians duties, it may be healthgiving and useful diversion to turn my mind to litterary thoughts; no because of a feeling of competence for the work, but with due humility of thought that the Editor of the "XIXth Century & After" may think it to be worth publishing. What think you of the idea? Now, of course a talk with you on paper, allows the thinking tablets of my mind some exercise, then the result of such, used as at present, would have to be kept in an envelope for transmission, at a later date, whereon it might be flate, stale, and uninteresting.

11-45 am. A copy of The Times dated London Tuesday March 2nd, has just reached me. The postmark was "Chester", but no other means was discoverable by me, on looking through the columns, to identify the sender. On looking closer at the postmark I see that it is "Chesterfield", the writing suggested to me of Dr Peck, it must have been he who sent it. ’Twas good of him.

Herewith I send you a cutting telling of Sgt. O’Leary V.C. and how he earned his decoration. It fits in with my lines about the officer who came through unhurt after seven horses had been kill shot under him and all his brother officers killed. The guardian angel of O’Leary protected him in real earnest. This is a very nice way of looking at the subject, and one that it is commended to the faithful and thoughtful in more countries than ours, &

[Michael John O’Leary (1890-1961) was born in Ireland and served with the Irish Guards and later the Royal Northwest Mounted Police in Saskatchewan, Canada. On the outbreak of WW1 he joined the British Army and was awarded the Victoria Cross for "conspicuous bravery at Cuinchy [France] on the 1st February 1915".]

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It may be in more sections of the Christian Churches than the Roman Catholic. I did read somewhere else words which were reported as being those used by Mrs O’Leary when she was told of the gallantry of her son:– "Oh my Mike was always a terrible gossoon for fighting". If so he kept up his reputation to good effect on Febry 1st 1915.

An interesting paragraph cut from this mornings Egyptian Gazette is also enclosed, it repeats statements in regard to the israelites & their crossing of the Red Sea. The event is chronicled in Exodus XIV – 21 to 29. I fancy that in the large Donay bile [bible] in our library a date is given for the various events as narrated. In the one, a James, to my hand, no dates are inserted.

2-30 p.m. A sad spectacle truly. The funeral of Major Parker, Crown prosecutor in Western Australia has just moved out of the quadrangle. A robust sand groper, son to a former Chief Justice of the State, he came here as an officer of artillery. On Monday evening he was taken ill, brought into hospital during Tuesday afternoon, was at once dangerously ill under Colonel Springthorpe, I was called at 10-30 p.m. to tap his spinal sac in the hope of affording to him relief, on Wednesday about 4 p.m. I repeated the process. Nothing brought hope & he died at 11 O’Clock last night. His disease is one of the worst known to us called Spotted Fever, or Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis. At the present moment it is prevalent in England, where instructions have been issued, throughout the country, warning against its tendency to spread in epidemic form. We sincerely hope that no more cases will occur amongst the soldiery.

Two other Parker men are serving in Egypt

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with the Australian forces, from the West. Sic transit gloria mundi. Requiescat in pace.

19-3-15 – Today is the anniversary of the birth of Dr Livingstone, a man, born in Edinburgh I think, anyhow a Scotchman, who when I was a youth filled a big place in the minds eye of the people of the world, because he travelled extensively in Central Africa, lived there for many years, being practically the first of modern white men to throw the light of exploration upon what used to be called then the Dark Continent. Dark, truly, not only in that it was unknown to the white people but in that it was the home of the black man, descendants of Ham. v. [vide] Genesis. I was in my teens, a somewhat close student of Livingstone, following on the map his wanderings around Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria Nyanza, & the adjacent country. At the present date the portion of Africa which lies to the East of both these lakes and extends to the waters of the Indian Ocean belongs to Germany. It has been for some years rather a nuisance to British enterprise, because to complete the railway line from Capetown to Alexandria there was necessity to pass through country ruled by either German or Belgian officers. One result of the war, when we are victorious, will probably be that this overland railway line will have but British owned land to traverse from South to North. A consummation devoutly to be desired. Ask Dr Patas about Dr Livingstone? H. M. Stanley, a man of humble origin but great parts, was sent by Gordon Bennett of New York to find Livingstone in the year ? at a place far inland they met: "Dr Livingstone I presume! My name is Stanley!" The salutation formed the subject for a picture in Punch, and I fancy for a painting some well known artist.

"The good I stand on is my truth & honesty:
If they shall fail, I, with mine enemies,
Will triumph o’er my person"
Hy. VIII. v-1-122.

I have written a letter to Lieut Bennett, formerly of the Orsova, addressing it to The Admiralty London in the hope that ’twill find him somewhere.

[Page 191]

I enclose a cutting from this morning’s newspaper. In it is a sentence which appears to be of much importance as showing that Britain is very short of fighting men who will be available for the war during the coming summer:– A Board of Trade circular urges every woman able and willing to work to register and thus free men for war services". This being issued under the authority of a Government Board indicates an urgent necessity that some of the labour, which it has been man’s part to perform must now be entered upon by women. What think you about it? Ordinarily telegrams and other information are served up for our delectation and none knows what modicum of truth is wrapt in the verbiage. The Board of Trade circular, is official, and speaks for itself. The necessity has arisen for every man and woman to give to the country, for their own protection and the good of those too young, too old, or too sick, every particle of possessed capacity for fighting or labouring which God has given. It is not wise or necessary to:–
" ... outrun
By violent swiftness, that which on turn we run at;
And lose by overrunning. Know you not,
The fire that mounts the liquor till it run o’er
In seeming to augment it wastes it? …. " Hy VIII, 140-144

But it is wise to remember that all we have is God’s, given to us to use, not for selfish ends, but, by God’s direction, to be utilised to the utmost extent in each one’s power, for the good of God’s world, and to the benefit and defence of His creatures who are our brethern. "There are degrees of ability in all things; and a man (or woman)

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who can do anything, however little, should be made to do that little usefully." (Ruskin’s Fors Clavigera. Applicable as a dictum at the present moment with full force to every unit of the British race. How it is true ever that
"Those who work faithfully, will put themselves will put themselves in possession of a glorious and enlarging happiness". (R’s [Ruskin’s] Crown of Wild Olives)
Father McAuliffe told me the other day that The Hon John Meagher is back in Australia. Should you meet him please convey from me a message to him with my best regards.
When riding this morning, before breakfast, across the plateau of the Libyian dessert, there were in every wady, (valley), indications of the springtime, and of the showers which fell a few days and nights ago, is that plants were growing in all directions, not close together but here and there, rising twelve and even eighteen inches above the surface of the sand. One could imagine nothing more improbable than that growth would take place midst this sand, yet the slightest moisture put upon it produces growth of some kind, it may be especially in this the springtime of the year. With the rising of the sun there was a mist & as I trotted across the stony ridges every pebble and splint had moisture upon it, showing that even without rain some water is made available by Nature for the earth’s surface. One by picking up many stones might have collected enough water to assuage a thirst.
Dismounting I broke a branch from off a shrub. The stem was hard covered with a greyish green thick bark, every branchlette was covered thickly with buds which may develop into some sort of leaf or it may be flower. I shall keep my eyes upon them, and let you know later what they come to. When I look at plants in the dessert I am reminded of an account which was in the school books of my early youth about a dervish who was a witness in a court case. In giving

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evidence he said he knew that the camel was lame in one leg, blind of one eye, & had a middle tooth missing. When asked how he knew he replied: Lame in one leg because the imprint left in the sand by the hoof of that leg was in every instance less distinct than those of the other three: Blind of one eye because only the tussocks on one side of the path were touched: A tooth missing in the middle of the mouth because where a bite was taken a portion was left on the plant corresponding to the middle of the mouth. As a sequel to his knowing so much he was locked up as being the man who stole the camel. Haha! Haha!!! Haha!!!!!

No one here that I meet speaks any anecdotes worth narrating. Should modern ones come to my ears they will go on to you. At our mess table the conversation is either disgusting or purile, what else can one expect when the coarse voice and vulgar humour of the little commedian is the dominating factor, which goes uncurbed by our silent, peace loving, suffering colonel.

I send you under separate cover a photo picture of the Mena Camp where many Australian regiments of various arms, Mounted Corps, Artillery, Army Service, Ammunition, and Infantry, making a good show of men horses & material from our far off land. As you may see they are practically under the shadow of the grand pyramid (Cheops) & the great pyramid (Kephren), from which the tents are separated by a ridge of the plateau of the Lybian dessert. The plateau ridge A.B.C. that in the commencement of the ascent as it slopes upwards from the cultivable land of the Nile valley to the left. Just to the left of B is, the large building the summer residence of an Egyptian Pasha (pasha ordinarily a rich man of high standing), the small one sic [drawing of a square building] the chalet of Dr Schuber where I visit on occasion to take tea with the medico &

[Page 194]

some of his friends. The faces of the pyramid of Cheops, that is the centre of the picture, are the North & West, the former facing the Chalet. The same faces of Kephren. Note at the top of the last named the remains of the alabaster casing, which, it is said, aforetime gave a smooth surface over the whole of the sides of the pyramids. Mena house is round the corner behind A, midst the gum trees, which are just below the telegraph posts crossing the ridge. The plantation in the corner of the picture are, nearest the Mena house gum trees & farther away the date palm trees which dot or form groves [throughout] the cultivated lands of the Nile valley. Between C & D is an area of dessert which is being excavated by a Dr Reisener from Harvard University, U.S.A. He has been working here for twenty years, and in that time has turned over much sand, stones & rock. E.E.E. Medical camps, over one of which Dr Newmarch presides. F. The Y.M.C.A. building in which Father McAuliffe says mass on Sunday morning.

21-3-15. 9-15 a.m. Our unit is being badly broken up by daily happenings. Why? I know not, nor does anyone here. Nurses are being sent off in many directions. Doctors during the passed two weeks have been loaned to other hospitals in Egypt. This morning six surgeons are ordered, each to a transport at Alexandria. To go whence, none knows. Whence?

We hope to be reunited some day to work as one body somewhere. To a reasonable mind it suggests a waste of good energy and working power to divide a working unit of specialists, and to my mind betrays either want of foresight at the head or serious happenings somewhere in the great war, which are greatly to our disadvantage. The telegraphic accounts lately to hand are to me signs of disasters to our side which are being concealed. Not the great

[Lieutenant Colonel, later Colonel, Bernard James Newmarch CMG CBE VD, 1856-1929, medical practitioner of Macquarie Street, Sydney, was appointed to form and command the 1st Field Ambulance at the outbreak of WWI, and sailed with it to Egypt from Sydney on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A14 Euripides. He was attached to the 1st Australian General Hospital in Cairo, Egypt, in June 1915 and appointed to command it on 1 January 1916, following administrative problems that had resulted in the removal of its director, Lieutenant Colonel William Ramsay Smith. Colonel Newmarch later commanded the 3rd Australian General Hospital in France and returned to Australia in 1920.]

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disaster of Friday the 19th inst. in the Dardanelles, but of others that are kept concealed from us. As on previous occasions, it is my hope that the impressions produced upon my thinking centres are entirely wrong. We must of course in the long run pull through as winners, but the day for such happy event is not yet.

At 7 a.m. I heard mass by the Padre McAuliffe. Thereafter a short gallop across the desert.

A sister, Jeffries from Tasmania, gave me a few small photographs this morning, tey have been rolled with a large one earlier referred to in this letter & will go forward by the next mail.

In order that the pages written upon shall be in good time for the Orient steamer leaving Suez on the 24th inst, they with the envelope will be posted this morning and with my blessings shall be started on their long journey.

To my friends from me please wish each a life prosperous, long, and ever happy, with endless goodness, and wealth from Fortune’s bottomless horn.

To you three like things in super-abundance, conveying them with much love & heaps of kisses from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B. Nash

[Diagrams of Xs and Os for Carr, Joe and Kitty.]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales
Australia

[Sister Jeffries: probably Eleanor Wibmer [sometimes Webner] Jeffries, 32, nurse of Adelaide, SA, who embarked from Melbourne on 5 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital nursing staff.]

[Page 196]

You so desiring you will find different subjects in the letter to Mollie on exchange.

J.B.N.
21-3-15

[Page 197]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
15 March 1915

My dear Girls:/

Announcement made this morning: "Mail has arrived from Australia in number 132". Will there be letters for me?

9-30 p.m. One letter came addressed for me. The writer was P. J. MacNamara, Coffs harbour, it bore date 8th Feby 1915. Hope shall I till the morrow, & if not satisfied then shall still hope on.

Yesterday Father McAuliffe & I with some other officers visited the barrage (dam) which is placed across the Damietta & Rosetta streams into which the Nile divides some 12 or 14 miles down from Cairo. A modern structure which mitigates flood waters, and distributes the precious fluid throughout the delta, from about here to near the Mediterranean littoral. The two streams break up again as they approach the Southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea forming the delta, which has been famous for its fertility adown all the ages of history. The mouths are many and reach the salt water between Port Said & Alexandria. They have not always been the same as today, having varied from causes happening at various periods.

Wednesday the 17th March, two days hence, is set down as the day for luggage to be packed & ready for departure. I have had no further information about my being left for some time in charge at Mena House. What ever happens I vow to make the best of it. It may be all for the good of the great game being played, and that is the primary consideration.

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Mr MacNamara told me of Jacking coming out top at Hurlstone and of his going on to the Hawkesbury College with a scholarship. He appears to be a clever boy. He should do well under Mr Potts. Good luck to him!

I have wondered if Mr Potts has returned from his wanderings & has commenced work again at the College.

A shower of rain fell here this afternoon. Real wet rain too! Enough to leave pools upon the depressions in the asphalt pavement in front of Mena House. The air felt different from any moment which has been of my residence. 9-20 p.m. The sky is so clouded at this moment that not a star is visible, the darkness is more dense than any I have looked upon in Egypt.

Enough for tonight. Good night! Goodnight!!! Goodnight!!!!!

[lines of Xs and Os]
Carrie Joseph. Kathleen

"Happiness is increased, not by the enlargement of the possessions, but of the heart, & days lengthened, not by the crowding of emotions, but the economy of them". Ruskin – Proserpina.

"… O Lord, that lends one life
Lend me a heart, replete with thankfulness!
For thou hast given me in this beauteous [asterisk] face
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
If sympathy of love unite our thoughts." Henry VI 2nd part I – 1, 19-23

[Asterisk] Margaret of Anjou married to Henry in 1445 or 1446. The lady whose forces fought the battle at Tewkesbury in 1471.

16.3-15. 9 a.m. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!! A letter from you Joseph dear, bearing date, "Cramond, Blackheath, 8th Febry 1915". Good!

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Thanks. Now to answer it.

You had just received the letter posted by me at Aden. Others from Colombo should have been with soon thereafter. I shall write to Clarrie Bridge sending the envelope to the War Office, London, or rather to The Admiralty London. It will be a nuisance for him to have had a visit from the lady Mosquito. You may remember that I wrote in a former letter telling you that Malaria is transferred from one person to another by the female of the Anopheles variety of the mosquito family.

Keeping very well indeed just now. If I can get to Maadi Camp I shall look up Harry Stokes and ask him if he knows Dot Paton. Maadi is via Cairo, some fifteen or twenty miles from Mena House. It would have been pleasant for you to have the Macdonalds in residence at Blackheath. It was kind of them to ask you to stay. Cramond is a pleasant summer residence, and for those who can afford the time and money no more desireable week end rendezvous ought to be desired. Tab will be sure to make Dot comfortable in Sydney. Does ironing after washing make your hands shakey? The effect was not very apparent in your writing.

Please convey my regards and remembrances to the Paton family & the Macdonald people. In return for their good luck wishes, I desire for them health happiness and prosperity, may all the virtues that attend the good be double on them, and may good grow with them.
I asked for permission to go to the Suez Canal during the fighting but it was not my fortune to be detailed for that area. The canal is about 100 miles from Cairo. I hope the Sunday paper will be sent on containing the paragraph about the Cinema picture. You have not posted to me many papers.

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At Cramond you would have cool air during the morning, afternoon, & night hours. With you is hope with me that a safe return to Macquarie Street is in the lap of the Gods for me. I enclose a brief reply to my Macks’ postscript. [It] has been written. Will you please hand it on.

Mirabile dictu! At Mena House, rain real wet rain, fell in showers during the night and one this morning. A few drops have we seen since our coming but nothing anterior that should be called a shower. Wet rain does fall in this part of Egypt. My eyes & other senses can vouch for it in the future.

Australia and Egypt are mixed in front of me, on the steep sand bank which rises from the level ground, to the edge of the plateau whereon the grand pyramid – Cheops – stands.

An artillery officer has his men his horses & his guns, and is exercising them in the work of moving them all up and down the sand hill. For a thoroughily trained outfit there would be no trouble, but for such raw material as is being dealt with one cannot expect all to go smoothly. During the descent of one gun to which six horses were attached two of the animals fell. No hurt I fancy. The sand is deep & loose, the falling therefore but brief distance & the landing as into a pack of feathers. All the living creatures should during the exercises swallow a full peck of Egypt’s dust. They have finished and will soon be on the way to the encampment, having earned a dinner and some rest.

This morning between 7 & 8 o’clock I galloped across the desert, enjoying the air to the full. Were the rolling sand hills covered with green of some kind they would be picturesque in the extreme, but then they could not be called the Libyian dessert.

As far as I can judge little alteration is being brought about where the war is waging. Little credence ban be placed upon the reports from the Eastern front. If the other contestants on the side of the Allies had the same grit as do our men appear to have then progress might be won,

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We are yet so few against so many. Where the Germans have to fight the French alone as at Soissons, Verdun, & along the Southern half of the line of battle, the opposing forces are as they were five or six months ago. During the approaching summer months great deeds of derring doo will fill the world with joy & tears, the former for the successful, the latter for the defeated.

In front of me these ill trained artillery horses are again giving trouble to the drivers. Right again. Australian horses hate camels and donkeys. My special one shows signs of display now & then, but a sharp pair of spurs have effect in making him face the music.

The most brilliant flower in these parts is the bouganvillia. The great masses of scarlet & and other shades of red adorn every garden; at the Barrage on Sunday we saw them right to the tops of high trees and extending from one of these to another, there is a brilliant thicket of the blooms lining a wall about twenty yards from where I am sitting.

Sparrows chirp merrily on the railings of the balcony which is without my open window.

Tata for the present. Shall finish this anon.

12-20 p.m. – Have finished the letter to Clarrie Bridge, it shall be posted during the afternoon. Now for half an hour’s French study before the luncheon hour is upon me.

9 p.m. This afternoon sufficient pages were completed to make a letter for Mollie, they were enveloped, stamped, & put in the post, the hope going with them that an early date they may be on their way to W. Maitland. There is much reference in them which I could not if I would rewrite, therefored was she desired to send them on to you for perusal.

When talk with Father McAuliffe on Sunday, he told me that he had shamrock from Ireland. This morning I said to our Colonel, who is a

[Page 202]

Waterford man, if he had some shamrock for tomorrow. He replied – "No such luck!" A visit to the Padre at 6-15 p.m. resulted in my bringing home one plant, from end of root to the highest leaves. Half of it will be on the breakfast table tomorrow morning for Colonel Martin when he comes down. Hope may we that he will be much surprised. The real genuine article from Limerick & almost the piece of land upon which Mr Neil Macdonals Father lived. You may tell your friend at Neutral Bay.

At 7 a.m. & 4-45 p.m. today my horse was brought, by myself once & with Colonels Martin an[d] Springthorpe in the afternoon did I go forth. At a.m. over the desert ridges, at p.m. through the Cultivated land to the East of Mena House. The riding shakes up my liver & does me good in every way.

It was expected that No 2 G.H. would be moving tomorrow, but no orders are yet out. Should they come suddenly, it is almost certain that I shall be left behind for a few weeks.

To supplement my nouriture I am purchasing cakes of chocolate, which bears the name Tobler. About 7c per cake. When I am in charge here the food will be altered to my liking. Colonel Martin is such a nice man that he never commands anyone, which may be all right for the ignorant & those who can by arrogance & impudence push themselves forward, but is an infernal nuisance for the humble knowledgeable working bees. Our unit is already shaken to its foundations & were it not that we have such a good lot of people all round it had been disorganiSed long ago. We may pull through all right.

17-3-15. 10-30 a.m. Gave Colonel Martin his shamrock at Breakfast. He was well pleased. Wearing a root and leaves on the left lapel of my jacket. Huroo for Ould Ireland!. Erin go bragh!!!. [Ireland forever]

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This morning Col. Martin handed me an order which details me for duty, in charge, at Mena House, after No 2 G.H. has departed. Hope that it will be all for the best. However it will give me a chance to act for myself, & if my work be well done something better may follow as our campaign progresses. J’espere! [I hope].

Keeping in good order & feel fit for anything that may come my way. I often think what a silly ass I was to think my Father (R.I.P.) to be an old man at the date of his death the 20th Novbr 1885. Why, he was but 52 yrs., and at the time as active a man as lived in New South Wales, having capacity for work beyond that of any of his competitors. He could always perform the physical and mental work of three men. Had he been spared no doubt he & I might have done much good work in combination in the Newcastle district. Who knows? In this world one has to put up with the decrees of the Almighty and to make the best of them.
"O Lord, that lends me life
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness"
A quotation written on a previous page

In my earliest years & the first half of my teens St. Patrick’s Day was a great holiday. My Mother & Father were both Irish of the Irish, and the people who lived around us were in great proportion from the Green Island. Sports, entertainments, dances, & the like, helped to make the 17th day of March in each year high holiday. In the Newcastle district, but few families were in any way Irish, hence the day was not one of mark amongst the Coal mining community.

Tata for the present.
Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joseph [A line of Xs and Os.] Kitty [A line of Xs and Os.]

2-30 p.m. Enclosed you will find a very interesting article on the Suez canal. The whole business of the possessing of anything in this world is compassed by the words
"He may take who has the power’
And he may keep who can." (?Where from?)

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This has rambled along the paper to such extent that the words may weary your eyes, therefore will this page be the last. The Suez Canal article will, when read, leave you in a position to talk intelligently upon the subject. It is one which no doubt will crop up on the least expected occasion. It is always pleasing to listen to a young woman who is able to take a part in conversation, when her sentences indicate that she is keeping abreast of the times and has a sound basis upon which her expressions exist.

New troops are coming into Camp each day, and ships arrive at Alexandria from Australia not infrequently, which are filled with supplies of various kinds.

I am wondering why Mr Carmichael has resigned. Jerrom told me today that he heard yesterday that Mr C. had not only resigned from his port-folio but that he was going out of politics. If so he will be a loss to his colleagues and the Country. He has had no equal in the Education Chair, at any time. It is strange how men do well under most unexpected circumstances. No one thought that he had capacity for the position when he was selected.

Good bye. May all that is bright in honour, righteousness, & simpleness be with you at every moment of your lives. Think of me sometimes. Convey to my friends best wishes and warmest regards. Accept for your selves heaps of [diagram of hugs] and loads of [diagram of kisses] from
Your affectionate & loving Father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

Lieut Col. Nash.

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
19-3-15.

Mollie dear:/

Did I write to you anything about the birth place of Moses? I think not further than just mentioning the event.
Exodus II – "2 . And when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months."

To understand this sentence it is necessary to set down an earlier one.
Ex I. "22 And Pharoh charged all his people, saying, – Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive."

The object was to destroy the Israelites who were then living and thriving in the land of Egypt, ruled over by Pharoah.

II – "3. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink."
"4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him"
"5. And the daughter of Pharoah came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it."
"6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child; and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew’s children."
"7 Then said his sister to Pharoah’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

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"8. And Pharoah’s daughter said unto her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother
"9. And Pharoah’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it."
"10. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharoah’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water."

A place is shown to persons, who are in Egypt, on one side of Roda, v. Rhoda, Island, in the River Nile, which is said to be the spot where were "the flags by the river’s brink" ’mongst which the ark, containing the three months old infant, came under the vision of the daughter of the Egyptian ruler. The island is close to where we cross the Nile when going to Cairo, some seven miles distant from where I sit writing to you.
Presently the island is occupied by palaces and neatly kept gardens. Here a Nilometer is in working order for registering the rise and fall of the water flowing in the river at all seasons of the year. It was constructed by Kalif Solman [Sulayman bin Abd al-Malik (c. 674- 717)] in A.D. 715; restored by El. Mamun [Al Ma’mun (786-833)] in 830. It is believed that for long ages before these dates, there were forms of measuring apparatus for the same a like purpose near to the same spot. How closely one is brought into touch with the principal events in Biblical history when he lives in or visits these parts? The other day I mentioned to Father McAuliffe that in the 2nd chapter of St. Matthew he would find the account of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt and of their return to the holy land. He replied that he had not thought to look the matter up but that he would do so.
"Matthew II – 14. When he arose, he took the young child & his mother by night, and departed into Egypt."
...
"19. But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,"

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"20. Saying, Arise, and take the young child, and his Mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead that sought the young child’s life."
"21 And he arose, and took the young child and his Mother, and came into the land of israel."
These verses bear repeating, being so important to us of the Christian faith; which is built upon these occurrences as basic facts. What think you?

Serious thoughts have come into my mind about the war, owing to the so frequent change of intention of those who are concerned with the movement of the Australian troops. For more than two weeks now have intimations been issued "Get ready with a view to moving at any moment. Wednesday will be the day for you to get away. Thursday those people are to break camp." Yet the appointed days of the week come and go finding nothing done & everyone still at Mena Camp. Why have the calculations of those in high places so grievously miscarried? Something must have happened compelling them to alter plans, which one might reasonably expect that they had fully worked out and for which there was urgent necessity should be carried forward without delay. Alterations of well planned schemes, & loss of time in moving, are of great moment in times of war, and their alterations gives pause for thought amongst those who are playing a hand.

The highly varnished cables served up to us may have as chief function the concealing of the truth. If this be so, there must come a day for the blunt facts to be exposed then the last condition will be immeasurably worse than the first, and they who have deceived the intelligence of the nation will be made to pay dearly for their acts.

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Nous verrons! [We shall see]

The luncheon hour has come. For the present good bye. [Diagrams of Xs and Os.] Good bye. Good bye. Good bye.
May good digestion wait upon my appetite. No desire for food is mine, probably because I have been consuming Tobler chocolate at intervals while writing to you. Away.

8.45 p.m. Not having been outside during the day I took a ramble after dinner, and have just returned. Visited the tram terminus, the billiard room, looked at the sky noted some of the constellations and thought of you. Years agone your Mother told me of the evenings she spent in the grounds at Maitland, mostly in the summer time, being taught by M. M. Theresa, of happy Memory, the forms and names of the constellations to be seen in the sky above the Southern Hemisphere. Orion. Taurus. Alpha [dotted outline of an A] in the head of the Taurus. The pleiades. The pointers. The Southern Cross. Scorpio. Triangulus. The dog star. Musca. And others. Not to mention the planets which in brilliant guise twinkled not. Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, & 10 are tonight shining brilliantly in the sky to the South of Egypt, the sight of them brought before me the remembering tablets of my mind whereon is imprint of the school grounds at Maitland, of the girls who were there in those days, of you, of Sydney, of Macquarie Street, and of how if you were to look out of your bedroom window & the sky were clear you could see in the sky close to the horizon nearly all of these constellations. It is with you about 5 a.m. on 20.3-15. When my eyes were turned to the North. The moon is early in its first quarter, therefore not diffusing much light midst the Stars. They saw brilliant constellations which it has never been yours to view. Chiefest amongst them the great bear (ursa major) in shape like a cooking utensil with a long handle sic [diagram of part of the constellation Ursa Major], and its lesser brother ursa minor of like shape but turned in other direction.

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sic. [diagram of the constellation Ursa Minor, one star marked "A".] The large star A. being the polestar because it marks the site of the north pole in the celestial sphere. Many others are there of which I might write. Let these suffice to indicate to you my line of mental action when rambling in the Egyptian atmosphere near the shadow cast by the grand pyramid Cheops. Long ages before the Christian era began the Egyptians were famous as astronomers. No wonder because the atmosphere must have been then as now clear to look through leaving the heavens for most nights in the year a canopy of blue bedecked with shining spots that never fail to attract the admiration and the wonder of the thoughtful.
There never has been a time since man was, wherein no one of capacity lived. Is it wonder then that some amongst the residents of these sandy wastes has laid his body outstretched upon the sands, his eyes turned upwards, and his brain tissues working in thoughts as to the why and the wherefore of the blue wherein so much could be combined into such strange shapes, which was bound to be contrasted with common living objects around. The bull, the ram, the fishes, the goblet, the goat, the bowman, the scorpion, the balance, the virgin, the lion, the crab, the twins. The moon & the planets to stand out as greatest by night. The Sun to put all into obscurity from his rising to his setting. And here we are. Whence? Why? Hence? Man! Woman! How? The mind within, as great an enigma, as himself?
Many spend every possible moment stowing material into its receptacles, that it may be poured out at suitable moments, and in form which others may or may not think fit and proper. You in Maitland. I in Egypt. Of different generations each. Blessed are the thoughtless, to them all problems are easy because there be no solution required. Blessed too may be the thinking, because they know that within their capacity attempting the solution is sufficient mental exercise to repay itself, without finding explanation.

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How this pen of mine does ramble on. Do you ever vote me a great bore. If so please forgive and tell me. To me the guiding of the nib across the pages is such sweet pleasure, that I dare persist unless your Mother M. Joseph or you to tell me direct that I am a nuisance. Do not be afraid to say straight if I be such. My mental exercises shall then be turned in other direction, where hope I the out put may be looked at from a different stand point.

The bugles of the Camp, 9.30 p.m. sound the last post, bidding all soldiers sleep, as a reward of work well done and in preparation for the duties of tomorrow.

Good night. Good night. Good night.
What spots in my brain are not filled up will for hour or so be packed with words and thoughts picked from a French novel, dictionary, & grammar.
Again [A line of Xs and Os] Good night!!!!!

Wonder does M.M. Joseph think me senile, puerile, or dotty?

20.3-15. Another group of people who interest me muchly in Egypt are the Romans who were here at the era immediately preceeding the Christian nativity. Pompey, Anthony, Caesar. This too a gift from my dear Father (R.I.P.) because he made me learn and taught me most of Roman History. My more recent interest in the epoch being associated with Shakespeare’s play Anthony & Cleopatra.
Julius Caesar spread far and wide in all the directions of the compass North, South, East, & West. – For the first invading Britain in the years 55 & 54 B.C., leaving there many traces, midst them the roads which to this day intersect the country in radiating manner from London, & being still in use as the chief chemins [French for paths] for communication throughout the length & breadth of the land. And the walls which in the North Country extend from East to West as a protection to the Southern people as against the savage picts & scots, ever anxious to invade & rob the fertile country of the Angles. It was on the 15th

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day of March 44. B.C., that great Caesar fell in the forum, the Capital, Rome, pierced by the assassin’s daggar, who amidst them his friend Brutus saw, he covered his head with his toga, exclaiming et tu Brute sunk upon the floor & died. Mark Anthonys oration in Shakespeares play – Julius Caesar – is one of the finest of the English classics:–
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen,
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him
The evil that men do lives after them
The good of is buried with their bones."

During its delivery he is supposed to have swayed the populace, first this way and then that, and finally to have turned them in his own favour.

In Egypt heaps of works remain which were begun and completed by the Romans. When one crosses the Nile river between here & Cairo, a large viaduct, reaching across Old Cairo above the tops of most of the houses, is a striking feature. It extends from the Nile bank to the Capitol or Citadel and carried the water channel along which Aqua Nili flowed from the river to supply the needs of the fortress. The Roman arches of mud or brick are characteristic of the architecture of the time. Broken and interrupted to much extent, yet great part of it stands today as when it was built close upon 2000 years agone. The study of many lifetimes might be given to the noting and considering the signs that been left upon this land by invading an conquering strangers, who have seen in the Nile valley a fertile belt equipped with industrious people, from which to draw or commandeer tribute and supplies. The British will do their share in the years of

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the immediate future, the French have reaped it in the just gone years.

20-3-15. 8.15 p.m. We have read during the afternoon of the disaster to the British & French warships, from contact with mines, while they were trying to force the passage of the Dardanelles. It is not to be expected that in such project the attacking ships could escape unscathed. Forty thousands tons of ships (15000. 12900 & 12000) with the human lifes destroyed, will be made much of by those who are fighting against, knowledge of it has, without doubt, already been flashed to all the ends of the earth where ’tis likely to produce hostile thoughts & deeds against the British race and ideals.

Straight above me in the sky each night, about 8. or 9 o’clock, is the Sickle, when I look to heaven from outside my window. [Diagram of sickle] A little to the south but yet high up is Canopus, the dog star, as the most brilliant of the heavenly bodies. I do not remember to have seen "the sickle" from Sydney, it may of course have been that its brilliance there is not sufficient to claim the attention of the amateur star gazer.

I am anxious, during the coming week, to visit a school or two in Cairo, that I may obtain an idea of the educational methods adopted by the "Ministry of Education" when dealing with the youth of this country. In reply, to a letter to the Minister, came on this evening, signed David Dunlop, Adviser, to the Minister, telling me suitable hours during which to call. I shall do so in the course of a few days.

21-3-15. 9 a.m. Six of our Captains are this morning detailed for duty on a transport, each to one ship to go to where … Where? It breaks up our unity to a large extent and with nurses away in all directions we shall soon be widely scattered, but with the hope that reunion may follow at a later date somewhere.

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This is Passion Sunday. I heard Mass, said by Padre McAuliffe at 7 a.m., the early hour suits me better than 9 a.m. because I go round the hospital at 9-15 to see what patients are in my beds. On a Sunday in this land ’tis meet to think about "Christ, who, by the Holy Ghost, offered Himself without spot unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead words to serve the living God"; because not many miles from where I sit are places where He & his relations lived during many years. "He is the mediator of the New Testament; that by means of His death, for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance; in Christ Jesus our Lord" – v. today’s Epistle from Hb. C. 9, 11-15. But few in this country believe in Christ.

To catch the outward going Orient steamer, timed to leave Suez on Wednesday, these pages will be in a few minutes enclosed in an envelope and given to the post office for forwarding.

To my good friends Mother M. Joseph, M. M. Bertrand, M. M. Pius, and their colleagues wish lives prosperous long and ever happy; that comfort, joy, & good fortune hourly fall upon them; and when in due time God’s dispensation comes may each with Goodness fill up one monument.

To Yourself my dear like good wishes too, they being accompanied by much love and heaps of kisses, from
Your lvg & affectionate father
John B. Nash

Mollie [Diagram of Xs and Os] Mollie

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales
Australia

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If you so desire you can exchange letters with the girls this week as the contents of the two Lets differ.

JBN.
21-3-15

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Lieut Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
21 March 1915

My dear Girls:

9-20 p.m. The letter completed this morning was stamped, posted, and mayhap now it is as far as Cairo on its road to Macquarie Street Sydney.

An envelope was handed to me during a late hour of the morning. On opening it the contents were two post cards from Mrs. M. M. Knowles. One was written upon, telling me of some of her men relations in a battalion here, and that she had posted Melbourne papers to my address, The Advocate, Punch, & The Bulletin. Was it not good of her to think of sending them. I shall look out each day for their arrival. The second card had on it a photograph of her elder boy. A good looking lad with high forehead, to whom she gives the credit of being clever & industrious, she has another, not too strong looking laddie. I saw him when I was in Melbourne. I have already posted reply to her note.

This afternoon an officer was to afternoon tea. He was in Sydney on the 12th of Febry. He told me that then Macquarie Street was in the same place & in much the like state, as far as he could judge, as it was when I left it on the 24th Novbr. It was pleasing to converse with some one who had been so near to you within five weeks or thereabout.

Was for a ride through the date palm forest between 5 p.m. & 6-20 p.m., enjoyed the gallop, & came home fit to partake of dinner, of which two courses suited me. Writing mostly since. Shall look at an illustrated paper then read some books, & in due course go to bed.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

22-3-15. 10 a.m. At 7 a.m. mounted on my horse I set out for a ride. The air on the plateau of the dessert was invigorating

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

to such extent that when seated at the breakfast table, 8 o’clock, my discussions with porridge, fried bacon, bread, apricot jam, a little butter, and tea were fully satisfactory to me. Much better these days, since opportunity has been present for a gallop morning & evening.

3-30 p.m. It is seldom that anything informative is spoken at our dining table, but at luncheon today, Colonel Martin spoke a couple of sentences which may be the reason for disorganisation and delay which is amongst us now & which has been for two weeks. He said – "It was understood by the Allies that the Greeks were prepared at a given date to have 100000 soldiers ready to take the field on the side of the Allies, but when the time arrived they failed to keep the promise." This statement fits in with the political crisis which took place at Athens about two weeks ago, and if the soldiers were being reckoned with their not being up to time may have thrown on Britain and France the necessity for finding troops to go to the Dardanelles to the assistance of the warships which are trying to force a way by water to Constantinople.

The sky has been overcast for the most part of the day, while now the sun is invisible, the air is still at Mena House, and in other land one might be a prophet for rain.

8-30 p.m. – Tabbie, Joseph, dears. Do you remember the Nile grass that used to grow in Obbie’s garden? And of which you oft times brought specimens to our home in Wallsend when you & I were younger. A long green stalk, with, spreading from its topmost end, an umberella-like inflorescence (Flowering portion of the plant)? This evening I saw a large quantity of it midst the water of the Nile on the edge of a canal. The sight took my mind back, in swiftness far exceeding the lightening, to Obbie (R.I.P.), her garden, you in your childhood days. How strange an

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a passing show life is? What peculiar part the thinking portion of man plays in it? The wind, a bird, a plant, the heavenly constellations, stir, in fancy’s home, thoughts that, in the thousandth part of the twinkling of an eye, around the world and back do fly, on visit to those we love and who love us. None can deny such pleasure to any, its originating mechanism rests somewhere beneath the skull cap, & within the limits compassed by the bony skull. Does ever fancy deal with you girls in such manner? If so think of it from the standpoint suggested by the foregoing sentences.

Another episode reminding me of home and anterior events in my life’s history:–Returning a carriage (all the voitures here are phaeton’s drawn by a pair of Arab horses) was coming against me, abreast I saw that the occupant was a lady sitting erect, dressed in black, with dark hat a veil to match, some embonpoint, shoulders well back, neck straight up, head well poised slightly thrown back, somewhat haughty in mien:– By Jove Maria or perhaps more like her Mother of some years ago:– sprang, as quick as thought, into my mind. Condition expressed by Sister May with childish correctness innocence & frankness by the words:– "Is’nt she a stunner!" An expression learned from the bright boys who in those days were wont to be about her Fathers house.

A slight accident is sending me to bed early, 10 p.m., so good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os] Car [A line of Xs and Os] Joseph [A line of Xs and Os] Kitty]

23-3-15. 8.45 a.m. – In a military show ‘tis really true:
"Authority, though it err like others,
Hath yet a kind of Medicine in itself,
That skims the vice o’ the top."
Measure for Measure, II 2.

All right this morning. Up betimes 6 a.m. Bath, shave, wrote a few lines, ahorse at 7 a.m.

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Misty the atmosphere to full obscuring with the break of day. A paul of moisture wrapt the sands and stoney ridges, the pyramids, and all other mans creations. Man himself in the middle distance moved as a shadow midst the thinly disseminated moisture.

By 7 a.m. the surface of the earth was free from the enveloping veils but overhead they existed as clouds through which the rays of Old Sol penetrated but after much limitation of their lighting & heating properties.

The dessert grows upon one, as morning after morning a gallop across it towards the various points of the compass, brings before the eyes varying physical phenomena which are on all all sides at every stride. The moisture left on the surface of the stones, which in their millions dot the ridges, by the risen mist, gives to their polished surfaces a dampness which is refreshing to the eye, serves as drink, no doubt, for some living creatures units in God’s kingdoms, & prepares the surface of the stone itself, for more high a polish, when the sand particles may be driven rapidly across it with the next strong wind from the South.
The ridges and sandy wadis rolled away in front of me, as my horse galloped on; far away the stoney ridges were illuminated by rays from the sun, which descended without interruption straight upon them, lighting them up as a brilliant surface lifting the horizon high into air. Between them and me was many a blue grey mirrage, and as writers in olden time were fond of describing, midst their books & in anecdotes, of the great Sahara. You may remember them, as filling places mongst the pages of the one thousand and one nights, which today, as ever, are read with delight by peoples of all nations.

Turned for home the air was a refreshing breeze which made me stiffen the muscles of my chest, tighten my jacket round, put spurs into my

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horse, lift his head gently, grasp the saddle firmly, with my knees thus descending at rapid pace into the valleys & rising to top the hillocks. The pyramids stood forth as guiding pillars, the top of Cheops wrapt in cirrhi (thin clouds) which hung from out the cumuli (thick clouds) above, and moving gently past, with lower irregular margin, concealed a varying quantity of the gigantic flight of stairs. These appearing to regret, standards though they be of height for all the world, that their terminal step reached not to heaven, confession that as the greatest work of man puny are they as compared with works of God.

Away some twelve miles to the North pencils of bright light, from East to West, shot down the Northern edge of the great cloud bank, falling upon the City of Cairo, the Mokattan ridges and precipices, the palms of the forest bordering the Nile, sillouhetting the minarettes of the Mosques the topmost edge of the precipices, and the palm trees, ’gainst the Northern sky, illuminating the greenery of the cultivated lands as with a thousand search lights.

Invigorated by my ride breakfast, of porridge, fish, bread, butter, apricot jam, and tea, was fully enjoyed. Waiting to do my hospital rounds my thoughts have been put on paper for you to read, & if you think them amusing or instructive you can let Mollie or others see them, being sure to get them back, that you may place them with my other letters.

11 a.m. Father McAuliffe & a newly arrived padre from South Australia have just been to see me. The Crow Eater [colloquial term for South Australians] representative is a young Tipperary man who cannot have been long in Australia, he arrived last week with the Light Horse brigade composed of horsemen from S. A. & W. Australia.

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Have you seen Mrs or Mary O’Connor lately? Give them my love should you do so.

9 p.m. Two papers "Table Talk" of 18.2.15 and "Sydney Mail" 17.2-15 arrived during the afternoon, they were sent by Mrs M. M. Knowles of Melbourne. Most of the pictures in the former we[re] topical events current in Melbourne, while the war was the subject for most in the latter.

Still are we stuck up here, some prearranged plan has grossly miscarried, and thrown out of joint the plans as determined upon by those responsible on our side of the great struggle. Whether ’twill be possible to compensate for it, will be evolved in the future. Meanwhile the Australian Division, here, destined some weeks ago to be moving onward is held firmly to the land of Egypt.

Rumour in office this day that bags of mails containing Australian letters have arrived in the Camp. Hope so and that midst them are some for me.

I enclose you a picture which I hope that you will like. It was taken on Saturday afternoon last, when a sports meeting of the 2nd Bttln. was being held. You will see Jerrom in the back ground between Colonel Brand and me. The three soldiers to the left are officers of the 2nd Bttln. The building to the right and back is on the edge of Mena village, inhabitants 3000.

24-3-15. 3 a.m. Since midnight I have been adding some sheets to material I have been building up for Dr Armitt [Armit]. I do not know if the sentences are worth publishing. If he does not think them so I am asking him to send them on to you, as in leisure moments they may give you or your friends some pleasure.

"How poor are they that have not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?"

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!
[Lines of Xs and Os.]

[Dr Henry William Armit (1870-1930), founding editor of the Medical Journal of Australia (1914).]

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25-3-15. Another batch of Australian letters have arrived not one for me. Do I like that? No. Many nurses have letters dated Sydney 20-2-15. Two newspapers, Table Talk & The Sydney Mail, from Mrs Knowles are the last packages to hand for me. Suppose must be content. Of course with mine one source of delay is, Coghlan’s office in London passes the correspondence to some body of Colonials, to do the forwarding. It is just like Coghlan and his officials. Instead of employing a few skilled men to deal with the letters at once in his office, he gets rid of them by wasting time and throwing the responsibility on to others.

At Shepheards hotel while waiting for a few minutes I wrote and posted a letter to you. It may show that midst the crowds and bustle in Cairo’s centre my mind had moments of thought for you & home.

Every locale has mongst its people special aptitude for some kind of work. ’Mongst such in Cairo is brass work. You may have seen at Farmers brass work, in the form of finger bowls, flower vases, hall stands, etc. In the native quarter, off the Mushki, – The chief Egyptian business street in the city –, there is a special section where most of the workmen are occupied with chisel and hammer in tracing the various designs along the polished surface of the brass. The hues are made with much expedition, the sharp edge is applied to the polished surface, sharp gentle tapping with a hammer applies the weight. The grooves give the variety. In further progress into the grooves is hammered silver or gold wire. The thickness (weight) of the brass, the artistic quality of the figures, the weight and quality of the wire give to the finished article its value. Some of them are certainly very attractive to the eye, & had there been money in my pocket to spend some of it had passed from me to them that you may be the recipients of samples.

The inlaying of wood with ivory and Mother-of-pearl also attracted my attention. A suit of Mahogany wood couch, sideboard, & chairs, was treated in bold and beautiful with polish and Mother of pearl. An expansive & grand room would be required for its lodgement; in such it would be very impressive. I was told that the time for making was two years and the price asked £700. A writing desk made of good wood, heavy, firmly & closely hinged, drawers sliding evenly & without noise, artistic in design, inlaid on every visible side with pearl in various arrangement, would draw the money from any pocket, the possessor of which had idea

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that such a thing was good to possess and as valuable as the money. Were I a rich man it might form a wedding present to some girl of whom my thoughts were good & happy. Made in the workshop attached, to the establishment in which it lodged, and cost something over £60, I was told. All kinds of decorative furniture were made of these materials. In probability this class of work will disappear in the course of twenty-five years, because the British, when the war is over, will establish factories throughout Egypt, from these furniture will be turned out by machinery, the native eye and hand will loose its cunning, & the artistic work will be of the passed, a lost art.

26-3-15. After doing my hospital rounds most of the morning has been utilised in reading, or rather looking, through copies of the S.M.H., till date of 20th Febry. Parliamentary, general, mining, military, and social news, all held something of interest, which of course you know long since.

Yesterday afternoon I was for two hours at a school sports. The lads of the various government primary schools were competing in physical exercises of various kinds. The squads were neatly dressed, well instructed, smart, and performed the various tasks in a highly efficient manner. Afternoon tea was at an adjacent school, 6 p.m. rather a late hour; back at Mena for dinner about 7-15 p.m.

No information to hand as to our probable movements, all the details of two weeks ago are cancelled, more rooms are being prepared here for the reception of patients, medical cases are flowing to us in constant stream, surgical work is being sent on to other places. Active for those of the physicians staff, dull for the surgeons. Hence it is that I have been away more during this week.

This day week will be Good Friday. How time does fly? Another year gone round since last Easter. How much of wonder has been composed by the 365 days? What will have taken place e’re another such period has been reckoned with the links of the passed no man can tell. We can but hope for the best to us, which means the worst to the other fellow,

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that cannot be helped because each one has to fight his own battles to the best of his ability. The shout will be in the end, as it has ever been: Hail, All hail, to the victors! Woe, all woe, to the vanquished. Sic est vita. [Such is life.]

2 p.m. – At luncheon it was stated by Captain Reiach, that a Major Reid’s [Read’s] wife, – You may have met Dr Reid and his wife with H. L. Harris, to whom they are friends –, calling in London about his letters she was given 42 (forty two), which had been allowed to accumulate there for him, no person having taken the trouble to forward them. I shall ask the first opportunity available to confirm the report. One never knows what to believe at our dining table, because the little commedian, leads in such a tissue of lies and so much dirty talk, that one disbelieves or endeavours not to hear. No saint am I, yet often it is well wished that I were elsewhere.

3-30 p.m. Major Read has told me that the facts are :– "All my letters were addressed to The Commercial Banking Coy. of Sydney, … St., London, where they were kept awaiting my calling. No instructions were sent to the bank asking that my letters be forwarded, they acted correctly in holding them for me." Around the table there was much remark about postal officials in general when one officer had 52 letters kept for him, on investigation it was found that none was to blame but the officer himself.
One has to test the truth of every word here for himself. Men (officers) are so careless in the expression of their opinions upon any and every subject, that no reliance can be placed on what is said.

The Sultan has a residence close to the North Eastern corner of the Grand Pyramid. A cottage, said to have been built when the Empress Eugenie of France, came to open the Suez Canal. While in Egypt she drove from Cairo to Mena and made an inspection of the pyramids, doubtless under the most favourable auspices. The first class road, which is used today, was constructed for the drive, aforetime the donkey was the means for transporting visitors. Workmen have been engaged for several weeks repairing and

[Captain James Reiach, 45, medical practitioner of Windsor, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital.

Major William Henry Read, 39, medical practitioner of Wahroonga, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital.]

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painting the cottage. In its finished coat of brown, with white all around the building near the top, the porch and railings a dark colour and the windows clean, it has appearance that suggests an early visit from the owner.

Much show of dignity, plenty of money, but little power is the present apanage of the present Sultan, a man who, when wise & this he is of necessity, does what he is told by the Agent for the British government. He is not the only one who is in such position throughout the length and breadth of this best of all possible worlds.

For the present goodbye. This letter is already far too long. [A line of Xs and Os] Car. [A line of Xs and Os] Joseph. [A line of Xs and Os] Kitty.

27-3-15. The air on the dessert this morning was invigoratingly sharp and pleasant, the air movement was from the North. The distant views were obstructed by mists hanging low upon the land in all the compass directions.

This is Saturday morning, the one preceding Palm Sunday, the Saturday in Passion week.

Each day other sections of Mena House are being opened up as hospital wards, while patients pour in and out like water, no particular surgical work being under treatment, but ’tis said medical cases of all varieties are under treatment.

Let the foregoing suffice for this week. To Mollie many pages are being posted, should some of them interest you ’twill be easy for her to post them to you, unless M. M. Joseph destroys the pages a being a nuisance. Sentence has been inserted to the Prioress so to do, I deeming the mere writing as recompense for my part.

To my friends please convey my best wishes and regards. No letters from anyone during this week. To you three wish I all that is best in honour, truth, and love, sending from me to you heaps of love & loads of kisses.
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales
Australia

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Lieut. Col Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
22March 1915

Mollie dear

8.45 a.m. – This morning 7 o’clock my steed awaited at the door below, (a photo of the door is going by the next mail to the girls, you may see it). My muscles are still active enough to lift the total weight of my mortal parts into the saddle with a spring. And yet when my Father – God rest his Soul [image of a cross] – was killed at 52 yrs., my ideas were that he was an old man. God forgive me? A trot and gallop across the sands to the East brought me to the village, through and around this we headed, then beyond the Sphinx hoofs were sunk into the stoney sand of a hill and ascent made on to the plateau. Here the breezes, fresh from the South, & without perceptible trace of sand, blew straight into my face. They were stimulating to the mind and pleasing to the body. Under their influence my thoughts were soon in Maitland, Macquarie St, and Melbourne. To you ran my brain cells: Did I tell Mollie of the invigorating influence of the South wind up here, as it blows from far away & for long distances across these wastes off sand and stone? No. many times in the course of the last eight weeks, Dr Schuber and others have told me that the people of Cairo during summer time spend the nights on the dessert plateau, finding the air far different in agreeable qualities & scene pleasant upon their souls and bodies than is the stifling atmosphere of the City and the farm lands. Now can I quite believe it. There is nothing on these vast expanses of undulating waterless

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M or the word "Mollie".]

expanses to contaminat the purity of the air and its very motion across the stones promotes in it a froid pleasant. I have written her about the wadis, the stoney ridges, the barren clifs brightened by the impact of the morning particles of sand blown in with the variations in force across them. The birds! Of these no words have referred to many in former letters! The hawk, of varying sizes, and at times in large numbers, is the predominating living feature of the atmosphere in this country, with graceful soar or rapid flight he moves about in all directions and at any height far as the eye can reach, three feet across may be his maximum measurement so far as my observation goes.

The sparrow, of somewhat darker feather than his N. S. Wales brother haunts the houses in large numbers, twitters neath the eaves, chirps to his mates, & his young, nests in the spouting, hunts for bread & other food in every nook & canney, hops upon my window sill, cocks his knowing head fixes me with his eye, as much as to say – Friend, eh! – hops off in pretence of fearing, confabs with his brethern, and comes back again to make more observation and enquiries.
Watch him from out your window, and note if he of Maitland so behaves when you with book in hand or mind contemplative sit in your room, thinking may hap of me or of what has at some earlier moment in your life been presented to your eyes as the outcome of this flowing ink.

Each evening from out the desert, seeking the gum tree grove which is the garden of Mena House, some pretty feathered specimens in hundreds, marking the closing moments of the sinking sun, brief span here, in short flights from sandy spots to sandy spots, returning from a day out upon the vasty desert. In size each is slightly larger than a robin, not so big

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or robust as a starling, coloured somewhat as is the head of gentleman blue robin, shades of blue and grey with black patch on neck, the body feathers less blue & more grey with darks, & long tail plumes less numerous and expansive than your willy wagtail which you so often watch hopping and shaking midst the lucern or upon the cows backs in your paddock, or should I write field. These pretty creatures in flocks accompanied me this morning southward o’er hill and dale, flitting from here to there, rising as my steed approach, alighting to one side, dipping beak in earth as if finding some insect fit for birds’ mouth to become as tasty breakfast.

In the orchard are many insect eaters, mostly of green hued plumage, that in appropriate manner hop from branch to branch picking from stem and leaf the bonne bouche suited to the gastric secretions with which God has endowed them. A more prolonged and more careful investigation would discover many other varieties of the feathered tribe, but let this suffice.

Westward between the pyramids of Kephrhen & Cheops, saw me at Mena House steps at 8.57 o’clock ready for breakfast. Which, of porridge with salt & milk, bacon with bread, bread a little butter & apricot jam, washed down with tea, made a satisfactory meal.

Now for round the hospital. Good bye!

3 p.m. A chemist across the road has just told me an intersting fact about the birds which I referred to in the foregoing as like the blue robin and the willy wagtail:– "He is the same as our English wagtail. He is protected by law in this country, any one who might be convicted of killing or shooting one of them is liable for a fine of 100 piastres and the loss of the gun. Its food is flies and grubs of all kinds." The pharmacien is an Englishman for Herfordshire, who has lived in these parts for twelve years, he suggests by his appearance & breathing that he is here as an invalide.

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Much of my time by day and night is being devoted to the study of French, in order that should we go to France my brain have words stored away upon which gaining facility my tongue mayhap shall convert into sounds. Fancy makes me hear you speak – "Just think of an old fellow like Father trying to learn to speak other language than English. There was a time when the Grammaire de Grammaire was driven into me, much against my will truly, yet memories of it remain, these helping me at the present beyond what might be believed. Not without hope am I that my ears, tongues, and eyes, may be so newly instructed as to be in a position to speak intelligently and grammatically. Anyhow J’espere.

23.3.15. Enclosed you will find a picture of three New South Wales legislators one of them you may recognise. The photo was taken on Saturday afternoon at the sports of the 2nd Inftry. Battallion. The onlookers in uniform are officers of the regiment who are highly amused.

You should just see the men women & girls (French I hear them talk), accompanied one of them by a dog, on camels, on the road just outside my window, a merry party judging from their laughter. The sun shines brightly, the grand pyramid, Cheops, looks at its best. The camels growl, fall ungracefully to the ground, the riders dismount, the animals prepared for another load. Thus earn they income for their masters who are designated sometimes as "the gentle people of the pyramids". As far as I know they deserve the title.

24-3-15 – 3 a.m. Since midnight I have been adding some pages to some material I am sending to the medical journal. But this should be put in the letter for the girls ’tis not for you.

Good night. The air is cold. I must to bed. Good night. Good night

[Four groups of Xs and Os.]

"Fine art is that in which the hand,
The head, and the heart of man
Go together." The Two Paths.

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24-3-15. Vigil of the annunciation. Taking a day off from now 9-30 a.m. till the evening hours. On an expedition to visit schools in Cairo that I may receive information as to how they manage such work under the ministry of Education in Egypt. The Minister is here styled "His Excellency". Dr David Dunlop – No doubt a Scotchman – is adviser to the department. One finds educated men from North Britain holding important positions of trust all over the British Empire. Their solidity, reliability, cautiousness, and knowledge fit them well for the posts. It must be humiliating in their thinking moments, if they have any, for the highly placed Egyptians, the Sultan (The meaning of the word here should be altered) and others to have at each elbow a man, foreigner, who advises upon every act, & who can veto, if necessary, each one, backed as he is by the strong arm of a foreign government. At the present moment the ruling power is England. Sir Hy. McMahon, (mayhap of Irish extraction), with General Maxwell, now rule in this land, over which there is a Sultan and a parliament. Of the latter institution I must seek some information. An Australian is no judge of the Egyptian frame of mind & thought. The race here, native to the soil, has been subject to so many vicissitudes adown 8000 years, that a submissive attitude to what comes has probably been developed, a resulting philosophy making them content and able to accomodate themselves without much inconvenience to the change of rulers. There have been advisers since long before the date when Pharae promoted Joseph, of the many-coloured coat, as the man to govern throughout the valley of the Nile and its surroundings.

Waiting am I for a seat in an ambulance to take me to Cairo. Somewhat sorry am I that I chose to wait. But here is Jerrom saying: "ready!"

25-3-15. Yesterday was used up by me in visiting at the Ministry, seeing through a primary governmental school, & the Christian Brothers, French, school, St. Josephs.

[Lieutenant Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon (1862-1949), British diplomat and Indian Army officer, served as High Commissioner in Egypt from 1915 to 1917.

General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell (1859-1929), British Army officer, commanded British forces in Egypt in 1915.]

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Yes an intersting and intelligent Scotchman is Dr. Dunlop, from Glasgow town. During conversation, he confirmed my surmise on the preceeding page as to the attitude of the Egyptian, saying:– "The Egyptian takes up the same attitude towards the British towards the British – (of course meaning the thinking man of the native race) – as his forefathers have done towards all anterior invaders. He accepts us, can but tollerate us, knows that we are here, and enjoys throughily that we are but as others a passing show, that will stay for a time then form one more in the long sequence by passing out of the country, leaving behind traces that will be more or less lasting."
A Mr. Daniels, Chief Inspector, a man from Bristol took charge of me, and drove me to a primary school under the department. The architecture pleased me at once, because it fitted in with ideas which my speeches during twenty years have been indicating, as the correct way to build a school for a climate such as that of New South Wales. Most of the school buildings in N. S. Wales are built in box shape sic. [Diagram of a building], the box being then cut up into rooms, windows placed on the outer aspects & doors anywhere, a closed passage being used as a cloak & hat room. It is seldom that the windows are so numerous or comparatively so wide as shown in this outline. You will note that the windows are on two sides and there are two blank walls, with a door in one of these. No room thus constructed can be lighted or ventilated sufficiently satisfactorily to be up to the standard that is necessary to preserve the health of the

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teacher and the pupils at the highest point, a desideratum to be attained by any well regulated & correctly managed teaching establishment. The school shown to me is constructed on a plan as follows, this outline showing one pavilion. [Diagram of a building.] The rooms are at least sixteen feet high, the height being said to be conducive to coolness. The corridors are wide and have main doors at each end. The outside walls are more window space than bricks in length, the corridor walls are equally well wi[n]dowed; the doors to the rooms opening off the corridor. There were no hats or coats to be seen in any of the corridors. The windows were so large that ample light and air were constantly in the rooms. Not a suspicion of contaminated air in any room.

Another pavilion better still was only one room wide here the entrances & exits were from the verandahas, thus making the rooms perfect for light air; to such extent as the medical profession is accustomed to insist is the only correct way for a hospital ward. Children & teachers, like sick people deserve, and should be given, constantly changing air and plenty of light, that they may be all able to work to the highest pitch while maintaining perfect health.

Many people think me to be a faddist in regard to both light and air in school rooms. It matters little to me what the unthinking say, so that I am convinced that my ideas are of the best, based on sound principles, and for the good of those whom it is my duty to assist & for whom it is great pleasure for me to help on in life. You know of course, because you have often heard

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me say so, that the game of life is a first class one , made happy by constant occupation, and a desire to help leave the world a little better for one having lived in it.

This The Annunciation. Gospel Luke I. "The Angel Gabriel, Galilee, Nazareth, Joseph of the house of David, Mary, the Angel:/ Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women ..."

Good night. Sometimes think of me. Judging by rumours and from appearances we are stuck in Egypt for an indefinite period. Britains plans must have miscarried grieviously to result in keeping divisions of Australians in this land straining at the leash, doing but exercise, work, & costing to the empire such great extent. However here we are but to obey, & when acts are required to put forth every effort to make our side ride the storm to safety and victory.

Again Good night. [Lines of Xs and Os.]

Heaps of letters and papers from Australia yesterday and today not one for me. Am I angry? No. Resigned. The responsibility is not mine, but resting on the shoulders of the other fellow, his is the blame.

26-3-15 – 2-30 a.m. Just a line before going to bed. I have been studying French since 12-30 a.m. and must now to bed. Surveying the sky a moment ago from off my balcony, I recived reminder of Maitland & Sydney, because, away in the Eastern sky, somewhat to the South, & projecting beyond the edge of the grand pyramid, is the tail of Scorpio sic. [Diagram of star formation, marked A, and a pyramid] at A the two stars that represent the sting, which is at the hindmost part of the insect. If some night in the garden at Maitland you look skywards you will note the

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The two stars, always bearing the same relationship to one another, by following the characteristic curve which indicates the shape of a scorpion you can easily map out from star to star Scorpio [all uppercase letters]. There is with me no pretence to have much knowledge of the heavenly bodies, but with eyes open and alert, one can hardly help in a journey through life, jusqu a cinquante huit ans [French: up to 58 years of age] to have in his brain representations of them. Each is index of other worlds than ours.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!! [A line of Xs and Os.]
Fancy I hear Mother M. Joseph remark: Silly man! Silly boy!!! Silly man!!!!!
But then we cannot all be wise at all times! Can we? Superfluous energy must blow off.
"Seize hold of God’s hand, and look full in the face of His Creation, and there is nothing he will not enable you to achieve". The Two Paths – Ruskin.

26-3-15. Happy thought. I have just written a letter to the Ministry for Education asking them to let me have amongst other things a copy of the plans of one of their schools, that I may write about them and submit to others for consideration. To every member of the Dominican Sisterhood, as to the parents and the children, light & fresh air are of the utmost concern, the former that they may be kept in the best of mental and physical health the basis upon which good & sufficient human work rests, and it is probably correct that he who does the most and the best of work in God’s world will reap the richest rewards from Heaven, the judge of course being God.
As the parents have responsibility for the educating & bringing up of their children, they should insist that in every school where the young people are being taught should have more than sufficient light and fresh air, that the eyes & brain may not be taxed unnecessarily and the vitality of every tissue lowered by contaminated air reaching the blood through the lungs twenty times per minute. Is there anything of more importance for well being?

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Did not wake early enough this morning to go for a gallop across the dessert. Sorry. Because the atmospheric conditions look, from my room, to be of the very best. However when my eyelids opened the hour was almost 7 a.m., too late to dress, wander abroad, & be ready for breakfast at 8 a.m.

Spring is manifesting its functions on all sides here. The garden at Mena House, immediately around it, blooms with newly issued leaves and flowers, constant watering is so appreciated by all the growing plants that they show forth full appreciation of the warmth for heaven and the rain from man through a hose and spray. Bougainvillia (scarlet, red, & and dark blue. Larkspurs. Snapdragon. Poppies. Small sunflowers. Phlox. Stocks. Orange & lemon blooms. Mimosa (Sydney golden wattle). Japanese magnolia. Geraniums. Daisies. Date palm bloom. Roses. Shivery grass. (The delight of you childrens childhood at Wallsend.) With these & other varieties many gardens are resplendent.

This letter drags out its length, weary had almost got between the two preceeding words. If it be so, please lay it aside, pleasure has it been to me to write it because it is holding converse with you & home.

27-3-15. 8-30 a.m. When galloping across the desert this morning and looking up at the apex of Kephren, (The great pyramid. The 2d in magnitude) having still upon it the remains of the Alabaster coating which, originally, ’tis said, formed a covering without each of the stony masses from top to bottom. "Smooth as Alabaster" has become a proverb, so it must have been that the pyramid when in its finished state must have been like unto glass on every visible portion. Why? One legend, and many have been woven round them, adown the thousands of years, of patterns innumerable, records that the originator desired such tomb for his mortal remains, that from his burial to the ending of the world none should set foot above, thus sought he to avoid desecration of his burial place by equal or less worthy residents on this earth. A pretty conceit truly and as likely to be correct as other.

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At this time of the year a Dragoman (guide) meets one outside with the sentence:– "Colonel do you desire a day’s shooting?" – What is there to shoot? – "Plenty of quail now to be found during an afternoon near the camp." What will the half day cost? "From 140 to 160 Piastres." This is about 30/-. How strange? When one thinks back, and looks up the Old Testament Ex c.16-4. "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no." " c.16-12 "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God." "13. And it came to pass, that at even the Quails came up and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host." "14. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness, there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground." "15. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is Manna, for they wist not what it was. And Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat!"

In following verses Moses instructs them as to baking the Manna in order to keep it over the Sabbath, because without cooking it fermented worms thriving upon it.

"27. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather Manna, and they found none."
"30. So the people rested on the 7th day. Hence the seventh day is to this day the Sabbath according to the Jewish ritual."
"31. And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna; and it was like coriander seed white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey."
35. And the children of Israel did eat Manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat Manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan."

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And these events happened but a little way from Egypt, on the Sinai Peninsula, soon after the Israelites had escaped across the Red Sea from Pharoe.

When I was a lad ’midst the Mountains of Victoria we used to find small quantities of white material like sugar on leaves of young gum trees, this we called Manna, it was pleasant to eat. What its likeness to the original of Exodus in chemical composition I know not. It was white pleasant to taste, but not suggesting flavour of coriander or honey. May hap at that time we who consumed knew naught of the 16th chapter of Exodus or of the Coriander seeds. Being Roman Catholics knowledge profound of the bible was not with us a strong point.

Today is Saturday. We are constantly warned here that the mail for Australia closes at the local post office at 10 a.m. on Monday, & that it is wise to post during Saturday. Taking time by the forelock, an envelope will compass the twelve pages round, your address will be put upon it, the stamps necessary shall be superimposed & with my blessing it will be given the start upon its journey from Egypt to sunny New South Wales.

Mayhap the girls might like to read some parts of this if so you could post it on to them.

Please ask Mother M. Joseph to forgive me for being so seriously affected with the disease designated Cacoethes Scribendi [Latin: insatiable urge to write], but ’tis to me sweet pleasure to suffer from it. If she thinks it to be wisdom then tear to pieces the sheets without reading them, tell me not of the action, then in blissful ignorance will my mind rest content.

May Holy & Heavenly thoughts still counsel you and the members of your community, from your Chief, to the last postulant, and may honour, love and truth be ever with you.

For your special self much fatherly love & kisses from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B. Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
West Maitland
N. S. Wales

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Lt. Col. Nash
Mena House
Egypt
29 March 1915

My dear Girls:/

Here are we still. Three hundred patients in hospital, tents coming from Cairo Rly. Station during today that two hundred sick people may be placed in them. This gives sign that the blockage which has occurred somewhere between us and the seat of war is daming us here for some time. However the pressure may be relieved sooner than is expected, then like, water from an obstructed river, the blocking material being removed we shall all move on.

Should you desire to in forty-eight hours take into your anatomy enough sand for a life time come to this country during the month of March yesterday there was so much moving through the atmosphere that no living thing could breath or eat without taking at each move much dust with the air & food. This morning broke splendidly fine, the wind having ceased last night with the coming of the moon, on the ridge of the Libyan plateau between 7 & 8 a.m. the air, blowing freshly from the south, was fresh and invigoration, with open mouth I inspired it, sitting astride my horse on the highest point available, & as I surveyed the knolls & precipices on the Southern horizon, I asked the question: Whence the cold that belongs to this wind? According to the map naught but dessert intervenes between the pyramids & Abyssinia, & the mountains in that far away land, three to four thousand miles, if they give coldness to the air which blow across them, (they are at nearest some five or ten degrees south of the tropic of Cancer) this cold should be dissipated midst Egypts’ arid

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wastes long before Mena is reached. In the wadis (valleys) the air has no crispness and its movement is not perceptible, even when cantering. This morn the sandy areas were as rippling water, the movements of yesterday having quite obliterated all foot prints left by man & animals; the trenches made by the soldiers were sanded inches & feet deep on the windward side. Fewer birds than ordinary were flying outward, probable sign that today will be as yesterday, are signalised by flying particles.

Midst the teachings of my childhood & early boyhood, and even some years later, much was learned that has proved by experience to be illusory. Of them the parading of the Arab Steed, as something surpassingly good in the horse line, produced effect which made me look forward to seeing him of the very best in Egypt. In praise of him a song had verse as follows:/
"My arab steed, my arab steed,
That standest meekly by,
With thy fondly arched & glossy neck
And dark & firey eye.
Fret not to roam the dessert now
With all thy winged speed
I may not mount on thee again
Thou’rt sold, thou’rt sold, my arab steed."

In these lines it is conjured up as a thing of beauty and a joy forever. From the Godolphin Arabian is supposed to be derived the blood, which runs in the blood vessels of the best racing strains in England. It may be, & is, true, but the animal was far other than those one sees in Cairo, or the Egyptian or Arab villages. Undersized, underfed, unkempt,

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illshaped, uneducated, he is driven by the jerking of the reins the lashing of the whip and the shouting of the driver. At his best he is but a puny creature compared with the average horse from Australia that has been brought here. Are no shapely and attractive horses to be seen? Oh yes more stylish upstanding pairs of horses, well groomed & caparisoned are in the streets of Cairo during one afternoon than one could find within the compass of a year in Sydney or Melbourne, but they are not native to the soil, they are of European origin for the most part. Racing is in vogue here, as also is polo, the horses for these sports, I am told, come mostly from Syria. Many shapely little animals of high mettle compete for the various prizes. It may be of course, that the words of the song applied to the arab of the dessert, far far from the abode of the Egyptian.

Doffie in her letter to hand a few days back, mentioned that the type writer at No 219 is not in good working order, send it to be repaired, she will tell you where, then you Kitty dear can soon become efficient in the use of the machine. Knowledge comes in handy on many occasions during life when one least expects and so may it be with the typewriter.

Sir Ian Hamilton, a highly placed general in the British army was here this morning inspecting the troops of the Australian division. I heard it said at dinner that he told the soldiers they were a fine body of men but sadly needed training in discipline. As amusing a talk took place by those around our board as one ever listened to. The little Commedian, more undisciplined than any one in the brigade, vented his opinion upon the necessity for its being understood by every one & being practised by each. Discipline

[Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton (1853-1947), British general, was Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli.]

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well mannered in all the affairs of life military and civil. Were one to search round mongst all the people of my acquaintance no more vulgar savage, unconcerned about any but himself whether on duty or off, could not be discovered. Selfish to a degree, his eyes glisten when food comes, as much as to say: how much of this for me. Oh ’twas amusing to listen to him & some other uninstructed savages talk about discipline.

In much better physical condition for two days, the amount of food consumed & utilised by my interior has surprised me. Good. Should my internal organs perform their duties satisfactorily, flesh may grow upon me again. ’Tis nuisance not to be keeping in first class fettle.

Will letters come to me this week? I hope so. If they do not! Well! If they do not! I shall still hope on.

30-3-15. 2-30 a.m.
"Prosperity is the very bond of love,
Whose fresh complexion & whose heart together
Affliction alters"
So wrote William Shakespeare in a Winter’s Tale iv-3 –

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

[Diagram of Xs and Os.] Car. [Diagram of Xs and Os.] Joe. [Diagram of Xs and Os.] Kit.

30-3-15. 12-40 p.m. – Word this morning that another mail has arrived from Australia. Wonder are there letters for me. I hope not, because this but leads to disappointment. However in this world one never knows when he may meet with fortunes smiles. Happy thought struck me this morning. Send the girls a cable for Easter, yet if sent as a week end wire you will not receive it till the Tuesday after the Sunday. Shall think about the matter. If the decision is in the affirmative you will have proof long before this reaches Australia, not before it is posted.

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2-30 p.m. Notice on the board. "The next mails from Australia will probably arrive on Monday next." So must Souls be preserved in patience for another week.

As one gains more experience in reading he comes to find that dissimilar authors in their books like sentiments or opinions expressed in characteristic ways, but each series of words, is liable to the same interpretation, by the person studying the sentences: E.g.
"Words are words, I never yet did hear
That the bruised heart was pierced by the ear."
Thus Shakespeare made Othello Act I Sc 3 to remark.

In similar strain:/
"Big words do not smile like war clubs,
Boastful breath is not a bow-string
Taunts are not as sharp as arrows
Deeds are better things than words are,
Actions mightier than boasting!"
Longfellow sings in Hiawatha.

In other poets & prose writings comparisons indicating the same line of thinking in first rank men at various epochs in the worlds history might be discovered. A pleasant task, it would be, the looking for them, but ’tis one that lies in the path of the classical student, not in the one along which, the doer of deeds in the struggle for life has to walk.

A rest, a read, perhaps sleep, mayhap to dream of you.

8.45 p.m. Curious idea? Just heard a clock strike, a something not happening here before, & there ran through my mind "The Sydney post-office clock striking." Think you not strange? "Exodus X-12 – And the Lord said unto Moses stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt

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for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land even all that the hail hath left …

15. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees that the hail hath left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the feild, through all the land of Egypt."

When riding along the line, this afternoon where the sands of the dessert and the cultivated land meet, the air was so filled with locusts that reminder was at ever step made of the chapter in Exodus wherein is narrated the 8th of the plagues sent by God through Moses upon the land of Egypt. Millions and millions of the flying insects were above me, around me, on the bank of the canal beneath the hoofs of my horse. Some grey others yellow. All intent on flight obeying an instinct which directed them unerringly. They were not as numerous as in the days of Moses, but they were to me a truly awful sight, in view of the destruction which they may be able to inflict upon the growing and ripening crops which at this moment are flourishing upon the land. Moses threatened Pharoe, telling him that the locusts would eat every green thing, and "X-6. And they shall fill thy houses and the houses of thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day …"

The stoical Egyptian this afternoon, with the plague around him, pursued his accustomed task, surrounded by his children, his sheep, goats, oxen, donkeys, camels, cut the green fodder, loaded on the beasts, and prepared to move home to his village. Unmoved, as is the Sphynx, by the impending disaster which flew around him in millions, ready to descend on his means of

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sustenance. On one farm where the young plants of the vegetable marrow or the cucumber had lately been planted & protected by rows of cain upright in the ground, young people were beating tin cans, (after the manner you have seen boys in Australia performing when a swarm of bees are flying), with the object of frightening the locusts away. The bees are supposed to be caused to alight by the noise, apparently not so the locusts.

Some one said to me the other day: "Yes Moses sent the plagues on Egypt, but he forgot to take them off so that they are with us still." One is I know.

For many weeks the newspapers have contained notices issuing from the government, warning the people that the locusts were coming, giveing instructions how to find and destroy the eggs from which they spring, and offering prizes to those who did the best work of prevention. Was much done? I know not.

31-3-15. 3-20 p.m. – Reverting to "The Arab Steed". When not at work professionally, much of my time here is devoted to the study of French. Amongst the books I am reading is a novel, it was given to me with several others, "Le Paris Mysterieux" – Issued at Paris by Arthème Fayard, Editeur du Livre Populaire. No date. –. At page 270 there is the following paragraph:–

"Les Arabes du désert racontent sous la tente l’histoire d’une cavale incomparable, qu’aucun cheval ne devança jamais à la course. Son maitre ne l’eût point échangée contre l’empire du Maroe, si le troc lui, eût été proposé. Une nuit, un vouleur pénétra dans sa tente, coupa la longe du belle animal, s’élança sur sa croupe et s’enfuit avec lui. L’Arabe s’éveilla au bruit du galop de sa cavale que le voleur emmenait. Il comprit que de courir après le ravisseur serait peine perdue, car la noble bête était plus rapide que le vente du désert; mais il se mit néanmoins en route, suivant sa

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cavale a la trace de ses pieds légers sur le sable. Il chemina ainsi pendant un mois, et atteignit enfin le douar de l’Arabe voleur. Celui-ci, persuadé qu’il avait mis entre sa victime et lui un trop grand espace pour avoir désormais rein [rien] à redouter, avait attaché la noble bête a l’ombre d’un palmier qui s’ élevait au milieu du douar, et lui même il faisait sa sieste après avoir accompli ses ablutions à la fontaine voisine. L’Arabe volé le surprit au milieu de son sommeil et le tua. Puis il alla a sa jument et lui dit:– Puisqu’un autre homme qui moi s’est élancé sur ta croupe, les pieds fouleront plus le sable du désert."

[Translation: The Arabs of the desert tell the story of an incomparable mare (cavale), which no horse could beat in a race. Her master would not have traded her for all the Kingdom of Maroe if that had been suggested to him. One night a thief entered the tent, cut the beautiful animal free, sprang on her back and fled with her. The Arab awoke to the sound of her galloping away. He realized that running after the kidnapper would be futile, because the noble beast was faster than the wind of the desert; but nevertheless he went on the road, following his mare by the traces of her lightweight feet on the sand. He travelled thus for a month, and finally reached the village (douar) of the Arab thief. He, persuaded that he had put too large a distance between him and his victim to have anything to fear from now on, had tied up the noble beast in the shade of a palm tree which stood in the middle of the village, and he himself was having a siesta after having completed his ablutions in the nearby fountain. He stole up on the Arab while he was sleeping and killed him. Then he went to his mare and said:– Because another man than I was seated on your back, your feet trod more heavily on the sand of the desert. "]

Just the same sort of thing that was served up in our books about the Arab & his horse. All twaddle! You should just see him here? The bit jerking in his mouth, his back being constantly struck with the whip, his jaded look, his everything that bespeaks misery, with few exceptions of course. Seen at his best, going to the Gezeirah race course, he is a small, shapely, aristocratic looking pony, fit for a lady a girl or a youth to ride. On the course he is not asked to do much, because the length over which he gallops varies from two to seven furlongs. In Sydney the shortest race is rarely less than 7 furlongs, (8 furlongs to one mile, not quite once round the course at Randwick), and then for two year old horses. "Plus rapide", than the wind of the desert. The blow must be slow if it could not outstrip any horse seen here. Only the special ones are properly cleaned or correctly harnessed. The Arab of the desert about Mena on his charger is a sorry sight, of huddled up clothing, a la a Dominican Sister, sitting like a sac on the horses

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back, with a tawdry saddle, and fastenings of many colours hanging in disordered confusion fluttered by the moving air about the head and body of the beast. As for the Arab washing. No! Too much to ask one who has seen him here to believe. He hates water. The further one might go into the dessert, the greater probably becomes his hydrophobia. In fine any ordinary Australian horse could race or otherwise work the much vaunted Arab horse to a stand still in no time. Every one in these parts marvels at the "Splendid beasts" that have been brought all the way from Australia. When one sees the two side by side, he knows what it is that causes the Alexandrians, the Cairoites, or even the Arabs, to admire in the Australian horses. Good.

4-10 p.m. A cup of tea. Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit [A line of Xs and Os.]

In fine, perhaps the horse-fraud perpetrated by the Arab or Egyptian legend manufacturer, is a pious one, that has added something to the happiness of the world. It pleased us boys and set our minds upon the dessert, it has done the same no doubt for French youths like unto us, and in the pages of the novel stirred up thoughts in my brain, which made the ink run out at the point of this pen freely, and it may be that the sentences when they reach Sydney will be amusing or interesting to some girls, nine thousand miles away.

1-4-15. 9. A.M.:/ Have you in the illustrated papers seen a picture and read the account about Captain Arthur Martin-Leak [Arthur Martin-Leake (1874-1953)] V.C. with a bar, and F.R.C.S. – (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, therefore a doctor) –. V.C. with a bar means that he has won the Victoria Cross twice. A feat credited to but one other officer. (It may be but to one other man.)

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The first was awarded "for vallour" in South Africa, the second "for vallour" in the North of France during the present war. I read of his deeds, & saw the illustrations, last night, in the Sporting and dramatic news of the 7th March. No doubt all the particulars have been published in one of the other, most probably all journals which are available to you. Send word to Mollie telling her where she can see the information, ’twould be worth reading to whatever classes she may be teaching. In letter to her a sentence advises her that a request will be made to you to send on information to you for her.

This land of Egypt is now entirely, and has been for some time partley, managed by officials sent here by the British Government. One of them highly placed is Lord Edward Cecil, acting as financial adviser. At the commencement of the war he had to handle some knotty questions, in endeavour to prevent disaster entering the businesses of the farming and other classes. Judging by results, the actions taken in regard to banking, money borrowing, debt regulating, produce protecting, price fixing have been performed with such good judgment, that little effect has been felt by the general public in any bad way, from the great contest. That is good! The Khedive, or ruler in office at the moment the war was declared, had sympathies not in accord with the Allies, and he was promptly deposed and fled from the country, he is said to be somewhere in Europe. A Sultan, as new chief, was installed, he with Egyptian ministers nominally have pride of place in the land, while Scotchmen, Englishmen, & perhaps some Irishmen, hold the real power as dictators, each in his own sphere. As showing what paternal interest was taken in the farming Community, simple folk mostly no doubt, one ordinance was issued to effect as follows:– "In case it be

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necessary for any person to sell gold jewellery, for the purpose of paying just debts, or meeting other obligations during the war period, the government will buy at full value the gold. It will therefore not be necessary to trust to money lenders or itinerant jewellers, who might be inclined to make profit out of the necessities of the people during hard times." In many cases we are told, the Egyptians horde gold as sovereigns or as jewellery, the former in boxes or safes, the latter as wearing material for their women. Nearly every woman and girl has ear decorations or neck adornments of a golden colour, flat and lengthy and of varied design when pendants, circular and interposed with many coloured glass beads when as circles. Riding midst the farmers one sometimes sees a woman of comely appearance & better gowned than the average, and adorned as to her face neck and wrists with much jewellery. It is believed that at least twenty million sovereigns are thus held by the Egyptians.

I notice from todays cables one from Paris which reads as follows:– "Paris – March 31. The Senate has passed the bill providing for a loan of thirteen hundred and fifty million francs to allies and friendly nations, such as Serbia, Belgium, Montenegro, and Greece." Just think of it, an incidental that France undertakes to find for the small states, £54,000,000,000 at one vote? England and Russia will probably act in like manner. The total sum incidental to the great will war, on paper will represent such vast sums that ordinary intelligence will may not be able to grasp it. Mr Lloyd George’s next budget speech bears promise of being such document as has not been exampled in the world’s history. Magnifique!

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This is the first of April, 12-30 p.m., with us as I write, with you the day has passed and your hour is between 8 & 9 p.m. I have seen no sign or heard no word of fooling.
"Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere." (Twelfth Night iii – 1.)
Such was Shakespeare’s opinion of the state of affairs in his day. It may be that applied to our time he would not be much out in his reckoning.

This letter is following in the footsteps of its predecessors, in being too long, it will therefore be brought to a conclusion on this page, enveloped, & dropped into the post

8.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. the telegraph office received from me a message, for week end despatch, as follows:/
"Nash
Sydney
Happy Easter. Well. Love
Nash".

You should have it delivered to you on Tuesday morning which being two days after Easter Sunday will be late with the good wishes, however, they were uttered and written here in good time, & you may fit them in for the Easter week, or part of it that will follow the Tuesday.

High up in the Eastern sky the moon at her full shines at her best, full faced, clear beyond excelling, the figuring outlined in shades of blue pale blue on an almost perfectly white plate. In the course of the ages during which she has risen so constantly, there can have been other nights when her appearance has been as perfect at at this moment, but one could not imagine her face as being of this evening as being excelled. The

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air, ether, or other gases that intervene between the moon and me must be quite clear. A look with the field glasses. Yes. She is brought much nearer but is not improved. The details of the blue areas are greater, the apparent figures are split up and the pleasure of imagining "the man in the moon" are taken away. Give her for me as she seems with the unaided eyes. Say you the same. Before you remember there was a song in one of the pantomines which caught the public taste "I’m in love with the man in the moon".

Availing themselves of the brightness and the glory of the evening Colonel Braund and a large party from here have gone for a night picnic to the pyramid. Good luck to them, may they enjoy themselves!

Rumour is rife again that the Australians will soon be on the move from Egypt. Wonder is there any truth midst the sentences produced by the lieing jade? My anxiety to get away is not so great just now as it was three weeks ago, because I am eating, and enjoying, plenty of food for me, the world was not much worth living in then, it is right enough today, yesterday & let me hope for tomorrow.

2-4-15. Please send take the photographs of the Nubian lad to Dr Armitt, at 34 Elizabeth Street, for the Australian Medical Gazette, they are in the package with other pictures.

This is Good Friday.
"The sin of the whole world is essentially the sin of Judas – Men do not disbelieve their Christ: but they sell him." The Ethics of the Dust.
It must be a holiday in the lines, because all day long the road to the pyramids, and the Grand Pyramid, Cheops, have been crowded with myrth making Kahki clad figures, riding

[Lieutenant Colonel George Frederick Braund, general merchant and Member of the Legislative Assembly, NSW (MLA), of Neutral Bay, Sydney, joined the Army on 15 August 1914 and embarked from Sydney on 18 October 1914 on HMAT A23 Suffolk in command of the 2nd Infantry Battalion, 1st Brigade. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 4 May 1915.]

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donkeys or camels and climbing the gigantic flights of stairs which lead to the top of Cheops. The sun shines brightly, a gentle breeze blows, the air is clear, and within the brain of many Australians are being stored pictures of sights Egyptian which will serve in time to come as material for conversation throughout the length and breadth of the island Continent. Dominican like clad figures are at this moment conducting parties of soldiers across the sands to the Sphynx and the pyramids. An Egyptian woman, lame as to one leg and halting in step, has balanced on her head a large earthenware jar, probably full of water, which she is taking to the "Sydney Coffee Stall" or other place of refreshment close by.

In the Roman Church the service laid down is "The Parasceve, or Preparation of the Passover". It is held after None. – (None – s.f. Liturg. Une des heures canoniales, qui precede immediatement vepres. [Translation: Liturgy. One of the canonical hours, which immediately precedes vespers.] I have no dictionary of the English language.) The lesson. Ex. 12. commences – "on those days the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This Month shall be to you the begining of Months; it shall be the first in the Months of the year. Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them, On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families & houses. And so on, down to verse 11. the end of which is "…; for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord." Therein establishing the Passover for all time. In following verses is decreed "the smiting of the first born in the land of Egypt, and the eating of unleavened bread." All this in Egypt more than two thousand years ago. Here am I today?

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Sudden news:– The Brigade, 1st, moves off tomorrow, and it may be that others will follow rapidly. We shall soon follow no doubt. Business is meant this time, unless some other great move happens, which will dam us back again.

I regret that after Nash in my telegram yesterday I did not put Mena. You may guess it but had the extra word been inserted you could have sure of where I am.

Good bye now God bless you.

Please convey my best wishes & regards to all my friends, & say that I hope to meet them some time during the future in Macquarie St., or elsewhere.

To you go heaps of love & loads of kisses from, & a share for Maria
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B. Nash

[Diagram of Xs and Os] Car Joseph Kitty all three

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S. Wales
Australia

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Extra sheet
P.S. I hope that in case of necessity, or indeed that sometimes you speak to Mr Finney at the bank, about your finances, he will be your best guide, and in the interests of the bank to whom I owe most money he will act for yours and their best advantage, at the very worst you should be able to struggle through for a couple of years, what, after that, will happen, none can tell.

It has been announced, & probably correctly, that the Federal Parliament has passed a law providing pensions for the widow & younger children of men who may lose their lives during the course of the war. If so & such fate should be mine, it may be that your Mother will be provided for. All depends on the clauses in the act. I have written to Mr Watkins asking that he will be so good as to send to me a copy of the act of Parliament. Under my will there is no provision for your Mother.

The grey pyjamas that you Joe were good enough to make for me have been very serviceable & comfortable. I like the stud and catch much better than the button & button hole. This sentence should have been on the other sheet, but I did not note "extra sheet" on the top when I began to write

John B. Nash
2-4-15
3-45 pm.

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[On letterhead of the High Commissioner, London.]

March 30

Dear Col Nash,

Many thanks for your very kind and interesting letter of 28 February, and your congratulations on my 70th. Good luck!

Yours very sincerely
G H Reid

Col. Nash
No 2 General Hospital

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[Note referring to the letter on the previous page.]

Put this with any special letters. George Reid is a great man

Love
J B Nash
9-5-15
12 noon

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Lieut Col. Nash

Mena House,
The Pyramids
Egypt
4-4-15

My dear Girls:/

Since posting your letter yesterday morning stirring events have been happening. I may have written that some of the brigades were to move off at an early date. If so the anticipation was followed by realisation. The first brigade, that commanded by Colonel Normand MacLaurin left Mena Camp between 5 & 10 p.m. yesterday, the units marching into Cairo and there taking train.

Many officers and men of my acquaintance were of the crowd & I bade them good bye. The regiments were composed of men who looked in every way fit to fight for a kingdom, & it would be hard to get together a physically or mentally finer lot of youthful manhood trained to the last fibre. It has always been my opinion, & it is one still held, that when the Australian soldier has to face the music he will do it in such fashion as to be not unworthy of his ancestors.
They started out with promise that within three days they might be in touch with the enemy, and that a difficult piece of work is immediately in front of them. If this be correct it follows that some events of the war are near at hand, wherein the Australians may be playing a part. Rumours of all kind circulate midst the cognoscenti, giving the names of the land that is to be attacked and where the troops are to land, by whom they are to be opposed, & what are the obstacles ahead. Some time or other we shall have to be told the truth about the subject, till then my mind is content to wait.

[Colonel Henry Normand MacLaurin (1878-1915), barrister of Macquarie Street, Sydney, embarked from Sydney on HMAT A14 Euripides on 20 October 1914 as Commanding Officer of the 1st Infantry Brigade. He was killed by a sniper at Gallipoli on 27 April 1915.]

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

This evening another brigade, with engineering, medical, and other details, are under orders to get away, before 10 O’clock this morning they had begun to strike tents, & in other ways prepare for the leave taking. I shall ride round during later hours to note what is being done.

Father McAuliffe went with Colonel MacLaurin, I saw him off, & I have written to Father Sherrin at St. Marys Cathedral, in accord with promise made to the padre.

Last night I was in Cairo for a few hours. Caught the 8 p.m. train. Went to the Continental Hotel, there met Mrs Newmarch, & others that I knew. It being Saturday night, the usual dance was being held. Mrs N. several times told me that it was a good display to look at. Many soldiers, with different uniforms, made the scene a gay one, lady residents & some from the City constituted the dancers. There was much variety in the women. Many were good to look upon, others were not up to so high a standard. The terraced dressed did not take my fancy, in fact to me the fashions look less pleasing to the eye each season. I hope that you girls have not taken to the several storied skirt, which is narrowed about the ankles. Became tired at 11 pm., & caught to 11-30 train for home. Dr. Newmarch, Dr. Aspinall, Dr. Millard, Dr. Poate, Dr. Cane [possibly Dr Kay?], were amongst those who started last night. Please when you see Dr. Paton that I forgot to place these names in his letter alongside of Dr. Millards?

I enclose you as a curiosity an envelope which was posted at Ismalia addressed to Cairo, it was opened by the Censor & sent on. Note the number of post marks upon it. "Mrs. G. L. Knowles"

[Lieutenant Colonel Bernard James Newmarch, 58, surgeon, of Macquarie Street, Sydney, embarked on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A14 Euripides with the 1st Field Ambulance.

Also on the same ship with the 1st Field Ambulance were:
Major Reginald Jeffrey Millard, 46, medical practitioner at the Coast Hospital, Sydney.
Captain Archibald John Aspinall, 31, medical practitioner of College Street, Sydney.
Captain Hugh Raymond Guy Poate, 30, surgeon, of Macquarie Street, Sydney.
Captain William Elphinstone Kay, 26, medical practitioner of Mosman, NSW.]

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is sister to Dr. Pockley of Macquarie Street; she recently married Knowles who is an officer, stationed on the Suez Canal, he is in times of peace a tea planter in Ceylon. Mrs. K. lives at the Continental hotel. You will note that my programme is as usual without names on it. Did not dance.

The locusts are still in trillions of millions. The silent peaceful Egyptian takes but little notice of invasion of his country, be it by warlike men or plague of beasties.

You will receive a photograph, enclosed, neath the shade of the pyramid & the Sphynx, a friend to you asked a man with a camera to practice upon him and his horse, the result is not good, but ’twill serve as a record, of some months spent, all unexpectedly in the land of the pharoes.

One is taught that this is the country whence came, & comes, the Attar de Rose. It can easily be believed when one as had experience of the queen flowers. Yesterday there were sent to us some large parcels of roses, mongst them were some of the ordinary varieties from which the most pleasing of perfumes exhaled. Several of the sisters in the wards drew my attention to their quality.

Mass was said this morning by Father Fahey, a priest from W. Australia. He is a much older man than the McAuliffe. The congregation was large. He will be leaving this afternoon with the 2nd Infty Brigade. I have not seen him before. He appears to be an earnest man, and speaks directly to the boys. He should be popular with them, and can be of great service, as well as a help in many ways.

9 p.m. Easter Sunday has passed off quietly. I have been reading and writing during most of the day, interrupting these for an hour between 5 & 6 p.m. by going riding around the camp and across the fields.

Good bye. God bless you. Kindest regards to Maria. Hope letters will reach me during this week, though I have almost given up hope
Your lvg & aff Father
John B. Nash.

The Misses Nash. Sydney

[Father John Fahey, DSO, of Kalgoorlie, WA, 31, joined the Army as a Roman Catholic Chaplain on 8 September 1914 and embarked from Fremantle on 26 October 1914 on HMAT A11 Ascanius. He served at Gallipoli, was mentioned in despatches for distinguished service in operations in December 1915 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in February 1916. He returned to Australia in 1918.]

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Lieut Col Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
5 April 1915

My dear Girls:/

Were you in Egypt at this moment you would see me, seated at a table in my room, pen in hand allowing a stream of ink to reach white paper, coloured handkerchief on head and sides of face protecting from the lazy flies as much as possible of my head and uncovered parts, a French door in front of me closed as firmly, as ’tis possble, and without an atmosphere grey and opaque with sand particles, as if moisture in the form of a fog obstructed the view, while a strong wind blowing the the surface of the dessert before it makes the leaves of the gum trees whistle with a rushing roaring sound, the doors to bang, and all not firmly fastened light bodies to part from the moorings. Midst the dust the outlines of the great pyramids stand out as ghosts of their might towering high up from earth to heaven. It is the Khamsin, a local name for a dust storm which is common in this land and during the months of April and March each year. The word being the Arabic for fifty, and applied to the unpleasant conditions which are supposed to occur at intervals during fifty days of March and April. Until I make enquiries from some one who has lived here for an extended period, I shall not be informed as to whether this is a real Khamsin, two earlier dust storms, bad enough many of us thought, were said by old inhabitants to be nothing to bother about, and that visitors had to wait till the real thing came along, if wishing to know what it is like. You will be advised later. One in brief span could take within the limits of his body the whole peck of dust which is said to limit the duration of an individuals life.

On Saturday I posted letters to You & Mollie, this morning I placed a supplementary one for 219 Macquarie St.

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in the post office; the latter contained some photographs & other material.

This is Easter Monday, and this year the Christian festivals coincide closely with the Jewish passive, the Coptic Easter, and the Moslem holiday Shem-el-Nassim. All four sections of the worlds peoples have a different starting point for the year; a matter concerning you in Australia but little, but having much effect here where do congregate and claim full recognition the each of the four. The Jews are of course the oldest their years numbering more than five thousand, the Christians and the Copts almost the same 1915, while the Mohamedans are thirteen hundred and forty four since their prophet. The Moslems hold sway here being more than ten millions of people while the remainder are about one million, the Copts being the more numerous of them.

Today is the great holiday for the ordinary Mohamedans, the one upon which families set out for picnics & the like, rare indeed in the annual round: If the atmospheric conditions be in the remainder of the Nile valley as at Mena, then it is probable that few will venture forth.

An "Illustrated London News of the 13th March 1915" came into my hands this morning. It is a very interesting issue at pp. 336 & 337 is a double page illustration by Fred K. Villiers, artist of note now in France, showing the French & German trenches at three yards appart, – Just think of it not as far from one another as the walls of my bedroom at No. 219., – a barbed wire fence on each side of the space, marked "French wire" and "German wire", shell holes in all directions, and a few soldiers on the near side running for shelter, dead bodies lieing here & there, a destroyed village smashed trees and farm lands completing the picture. The whole a travesty truly upon the expectation of such wise people as Miss Rose Scott, Mr. Holman, Mrs. Holman, and their friends who a few years ago were preaching far & wide

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that for the rest of time all the world would be at peace, and that the pen being mightier than the sword the differences of opinion that would arise shall be settled without recourse to the savage methods that pertained to the decadent centuries of our ancestors. Worthy deluded people they fit companions for the angels, who, midst their controversies, quarrelled just up to the striking point, at this remembering that, war clubs hurt far more than words do, no taunts yet uttered are as sharp as arrows; forgetting that others with less than well stored brains or of higher physical metel metlecourage and equally well filled minds, feared not the sensory discomfort or even death, which follows in the train of combat beyond the heights to where the noises of tongues and the spilling of ink can ever reach.
Ah no! Place six, or twelve, or any number, of children in a room before they have learned the gifts of God as displayed by the voice or the uses of paper with pencil, and within brief span one will be the ruler directing the conduct of the others, and if there be some equality of mental or physical powers powers a physical contest will settle the issues.
It is today as ever Might is right. The pugilist who in a ring can defeat his adversary walks for the conqueror and all acclaim him victor. So the nation that can win in the great game of war will in A.D. 1915, as adown the centuries say to those who are the defeated; "thus far and no farther, these are the limits of your frontiers, you must have only so many ships, this man will not be allowed to rule over those people, he must go to St Helena, this city belongs to us, that town belongs to our friend, we shall build a new Gibraltar at these straits, passage along this canal is for so & so during such and such hours at cost per ton of this many shillings, you must pay us so much in such time, and so on, & so on, & so on.

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The picture also scatters to the winds the teachings of military experts of recent years, who never tired of reiterating "Never more will there be close or hand to hand fighting, because the power & precission of weapons of destruction has been made so great that nothing living can cross the zone whereon bullets can be rained. Alas for the falability of man, these experts knew not to what extent engineers would, when necessary, extend their works, they did not perceive that men could imitate rabbits and dig themselves onwards protected by the surrounding earth. An exhibition of how limited is the prescience of those who think themselves, and who are thought by others to be, possessed of enough knowledge to see ahead & warn as to what may happen. There was plenty of forearranged examples in litterature, which, had they known would have given them guidance as to what men might do. For example in the first paragraph of Shakespeare’s King Henry IV. Part I, the King is made to say of England:/
"No more the thirsty entrance of this soil,
Shall daub her lips with her own children’s blood:
No more shall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs
Of hostile paces: …"
[Scene 1, lines 5 to 9.]
Written about the year 1599 A.D.

Another interesting page to me, was that numbered 340. "Germany’s submarine fleet: Its strength and its weakness" by A.H. Pollen." Herein is writ down information that I desired to set my mind thinking in some ordered train upon

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The work, for their side, that has been performed by the under water ships of our enemy. A product of modern times, if anything can be such.

Page 342 top half breathes of the conquest of the air.

The wind still blows from the South, the gum tree leaves shake before it, the air is filled with sand, the heat is oppressive, the hour is almost 4 p.m., I must away to tea, whereat it may be the Colonel will be seen, & I can ask for leave, to go to Cairo to keep appointment with General Williams at 7-15 p.m.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

6-3-15 – 1 a.m. If my cable message had good fortune it should be with you just about this hour, 9 a.m. – on Easter Tuesday with you, the early morning of the same day with us. I am still sorry that the word Mena was inserted, because then you would have been certain whence it set out.

As the shades of night fell fast, the wind which blew so strongly all day ceased. Now all is still as still can be, the disturbing factors being the hum of a flying insect the buzz of the mosquito or the coughing of a patient in the hospital. There is great variety in the small flying creatures in these parts, with you the flies and the mosquitoes are the most numerous, here there are also beetles, and other peculiar little beasties, my bright electric light attracts them, the hover round it drop on the white sheet and would land on my bald head were it not that a handkerchief protects it.

The troops, artillery & other details, have been leaving camp all day. Their destination is supposed to be somewhere in Turkey, European or Asiatic. Highly placed authorities appear to think that the fighting will

[Honorary Surgeon General Colonel, later Sir, William Daniel Campbell Williams (1856-1919), surgeon and soldier, served as a medical officer in the Sudan. In the South African War he formed and led two medical contingents of the NSW Army Medical Corps that were praised for their responsiveness during action. He was appointed principal medical officer for Australian and New Zealand troops in 1900. At the end of the war, in 1902 he was appointed director of medical services for the newly established Australian Army. At the outbreak of World War I he asked to be, and was, appointed as director of medical services with the AIF. He embarked from Melbourne for Egypt on 22 October 1914 on HMAT A3 Orvieto as Honorary Surgeon General and Director of Medical Services with Headquarters, 1st Australian Division. His performance in this role, however, met with wide criticism, he was relieved of duty in Egypt, and he returned to Australia in early 1917.]

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be of a severe kind and that many thousands of wounded men will before long be brought to Egypt for treatment, if so it is quite possible that No 2 G.H. will be stuck in this spot for many months, up till today I did not think this to be possible or likely, but in the game we are at one never can tell what will happen next. It may be that I shall not be here, as I told General Williams tonight that if he gave me a change elsewhere that I should take it. I hope it will come soon because I desire to get away from the hopeless crowd that is here, & as he said it would be an advantage for me to be my own Chief. I hope. Those in power here may be all right for themselves and others, they are not particular enough, in heaps of ways, for my tastes, not that I am as correct as I should be, yet do I try to act in the way that is best, & I hope that my limitations do not keep me at too low a plane.

When Buckingham told Henry VI that Jack Cade had fled, he said:–
"Then, heaven, set ope thy everlasting gates,
To entertain my vows of thanks and praise!"
So shall I when orders come for me to take up some new position. Perhaps in setting out my ideas of what is correct in the performing of duty and in behaviour mongst men, were set at too high a standard, they were based on my experience as a combatant officer amongst men who had not the training of medical men, yet these were as far as my association with them went, nearly always prepared to be courteous, punctual, correct in dress, clean of words, studious, truthful, self respecting, and clean of mirth. It was a pleasure to be of them, to associate with them, and talk with them. Here I often sit at table and say not a word during a meal because the talk is of such class that it has no interest for me by reason of its childishness or its uncleanness.

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The 5th of April is the anniversary of the birth of Lord Lister, the member of my profession who adapted the work and discoveries of the great Pasteur (Shepherd, Padre, Father) to medicine and surgery. The immediate sequel to which were the rapid strides that have made possible the saving of life, by both branches of our art, which today extends throughout the length and breadth of the land. Both these great men came into the world for the benefit of more than mankind, and left it much the better for their having lived, with you, me, and all others their debtors. Lister born 1827 A.D.

An Australian mail reached Cairo today, General Williams told me that he received a letter from Melbourne. I shall hope that fortune will have turned her wheel in such manner that some letters will be in my hands from you within a few days.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joseph [A line of Xs and Os.] Kitty.

6-4-15. 2-20 p.m. Hurrah! hurrah!!! hurrah!!!!!
Letters have just been handed to me, two bearing the "Blackheath" and one "Sydney" post marks. The former on opening and reading were found to be from you Car dear, the dates being 25th Febry and 8th March. Many thanks for them my dear. The other was from Doffie, a chatty characteristic series of paragraphs. I shall write a reply to her soon.

Glad that you were pleased with my letter, it is an earnest that others may be amusing and interesting. Doris too, that is good. The stars still shine brilliantly except on the rare occasions when the clouds shut out heaven’s dome. No not yet joined the problems.

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The change to Blackheath will have been beneficial to you in every way. It was good of Dr & Mrs Paton to ask you to stay. Yes if you had some station friend to whom Kitty might go for a month she would return a new girl. Are none of her school friends amongst such people? If so and, they are desireable, why not try to arrange a trip. Has Dr Hughes examined her eyes of late? If so please send me particulars. Joe looks well, so does Marie. Hurrah! Hurrah!!!

Common sense is doled out in different proportions to various people. Should any of you girls have chance always add a something to your savings bank accounts, leave it to grow, only to be touched as a last resort. The Bridges the Macdonalds, the Patons, and You would make a merry party in the big house. My regards to all of them. It is well that all were satisfied at Cramond. There is risk when introducing people, that they may not suit one another temperamentally.

The pyjamas and sox are lasting well. The former will do for a long time yet, I have not worn the black heavy ones amongst the latter yet, the lighter ones I can buy cheaply here. There are good European shops in Cairo. The population of Cairo is 800,000 more than Sydney, they are packed more closley like sardines in the native quarter.

Dr & Mrs Newmarch, as their two boys are well. The Colonel has gone with the troops, Mrs N. is still at The Continental but purposes returning to Australia at an early date. Jack is enjoying his stay in Egypt. Harry Clayton has left this hospital for some time, he was in a field ambulance at Heliopolis, but I heard someone report that he had gone one [on] to Alexandria. At a meal one day I had to

[Captain Harry Clayton, 27, medical practitioner at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital.]

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tell him that I was proud to belong to those who had a different standard of morals, which from his speech, appeared to belong to him from those which, if one might judge him rightly according to his speech, belonged to him. He may have been indulging in hot air, if not I think very badly of his moral conscience. Goodness in word and deed always counts for much with me, & so does it with all decent folk, & so ’twill continue.

Dr Kennedy has look out of sorts for some time, he may be sick, & he is very depressed because no letters have come from home to him.
My "Little Commedian" left this morning on a holiday. He is no soldier or anything else that requires courage or grit. He has been less vulgar and obtrusive of late. How the Melbourne men have stood him is beyond my comprehension.

Alexandrian & Cairo are both of the present day, as well as relics of the past. To the student of human nature, in its various guises, there can hardly be more interesting aggregations of Gods creatures. To an ordinary observer, like me, each step presents something novel suggesting pages in my reading adown the whole of life. What then to him who has studied man, the living man, as specimens of a varied race, without a particular reference to his anatomy, or his diseases.
I wrote to Pat Watt by the last mail, in hopes that she would be pleased to receive a letter from me. The children will have grown muchly by the time I return to sunny New South Wales.
Oh yes, men nearly always work well for me, & I would not ask for a better lot than those of this show when I was acting as their O.C., but there

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must be sympathy with the most lowly placed, and no favouritism for some as against the crowd, if a human machine is to work properly, and constant interest must be exhibited in every individual.

Noel Paton had bad luck, but he will be right bye & bye.

Of the 8-3-15. In lead pencil. The pyramids accident happened before we came here. No one has fallen down the steps since. To do so at any time is proof of little sense & still less care, nearly every step is broad enough for one to lie upon it.

My health is first class now. Eating well, sleeping well enough, keeping myself occupied by reading and writing when there is leisure, riding at times, and doing whatever share of the hospital duties fall to my lot. In good fettle now.

You have had lots about my room. It is much more comfortable than is any tent & the electric light gives me enough of its rays to satisfy all my requirements, and you know that they are exacting in this regard. The globes were becoming dull last week, but the electrician brought new ones and now, they shine brilliantly. We have not been victimised in any way that I know of. Glad you enjoyed the picnic to "Paddy’s Hut". Good. The garden appears to have been a success this year. Who has been head gardener? Salvia of the best. None was there in my time.
Have not heard from Dr Harris lately, he told me in his last about the holiday trip to England and parts of France. Yes he is of the best. Why did he resign from the Sydney Hospital. Has Dr Ayres been given the position? Carmichael fell out with Holman. A pity for both. Strong men the two. Ablest pair in the Ministry. I hope that Maria will do all correct with Walter Bentley. When she has no board or rent to pay she should be happy.

[Noel Ainslie Paton, No 5010, farmer, of "Cramond", Blackheath, NSW, son of Dr Robert Thomson Paton, enlisted in July 1915 at age 20. He served with the Australian Army Medical Corps and later with the 36th Battalion, in Egypt and on the Western Front.]

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Joey would be pleased on receipt of the blouse. Why did Doris not tell Harry Stokes to call upon me. It would have pleased me to see him & talk with him.

A cutting from the Egyptian Gazette of 6-4-15, on "The Australian Girl" is enclosed. The Morton twins, Miss (Harry) Chisholm, & others from Sydney, Miss Chirnside & others from Melbourne, have been disporting themselves in Cairo. All have fathers, brothers, or other relations in some corps here.

Colonel Martin has just left for Alexandria. He is to be away for a day or two, during his absence I shall be in charge.

I am posting to you a copy of "The Sphynx" newspaper. You will see at pages 14 & 17 pictures of people whom you know.

7-4-15. 12-20 p.m.:/ Joe dear. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!! Hurrah!!!!!!! Two letters from you this morning bearing date "219 Macquarie St. 2 March & 9th March 1915". The first was a long chatty one conveying much required and appreciated information, the second was not so long but equally welcome. Many thanks for both my dear.

Kitty dear. A letter also from you dated "219 Macquarie St. 8th March 1915". A chatty informative epistle. Many thanks for it my dear.

To improve upon all the welcome letters came a cable. Noted as having been handed in at the telegraph office Sydney at 12.35 p.m. on 7-4-15 and received at Mena at 11-28 a.m. on 7-4-15, one hour & seven minutes, counting on the day before you sent it. The electric current caught up the sun beating him by the time given. What think you of that. You must have paid ordinary rates, while mine received by you was

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at the cost of 10d per word. Your money was well expended if you measure it by the pleasure that it afforded to me and the mental satisfaction that it conveyed. Many thanks again for all.

Now to reply.

Joe dear:/ The delay in receipt of letters is made up for by the budget to hand today. I am very well indeed, gradually getting into good working order again. I hope that our Kitty had a turn in the country. Good Tabby to win the tennis tournament, she did not inform me that she had been victorious. They must have been a jolly crowd at Cramond.

Poor old Buddie’s pen is stilled by the Lenten time, before the forty days had ended, she would have a volume in my letters awaiting her, mainly because, until lent had almost ended, no idea entered my head about her not being given opportunity to read them. However it may be that she will during the holiday time of Easter week have a few minutes daily which can be given to the words penned here by an old man, who claims to be a particular friend to her.
I shall look forward to the coming of "The Sun" and other newspapers. Glad to know that you thought my article in the Medical Gazette to be up to the correct standard. Thank you for the favourable criticism. To the Herald, may hap if a suitable train of thought comes into my mind. You write "Dr Lawkins wanted to take it". Not having been informed as to what room is vacant I wonder which is empty. Bruck & Thomson were the correct people to consult on the subject. Right to send the draft to James Thin. Should I be in Edinburgh I shall call upon the firm, with them I have done business for thirty-five years. Glad that you spoke with Mr Finney, he will help you at all times. Your calculation of the distance between Alexandria and Cairo was about correct – 140 miles –.

You are great girls to manage the money so well, if you can keep on as you have begun, why when I get back

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we shall be better off than when I set out. Should the Sparks boys pay the account, you will be all right for the year. Clever girls! Do not be short of the necessaries that you may require but on the other hand it is wise not to be extravagant. Have the bank book made up once a month then you will see all the amounts that have been paid to credit and all that you have drawn by cheque, the dates for each entry is set down in front of it.
Hope Ted with his family enjoyed the holiday trip. Good boy Andy, it is time that he took unto himself a wife. If he marries a suitable and industrious woman he will become a much happier, more contented man, and a better citizen. Good luck to him.
No news has come to me about the St. Kilda people. As they took no notice of my being in Melbourne I did not bother about them.
Mr. Philpott spoke to me about Aunt & the girls. They always have been savages in their conduct towards other people, holding opinions that cause more annoyance to themselves than could be compassed by different lines of thought.

Mr. Anderson is of the very best, the type of Scotchman who does well for himself, and helps all who comes by good example, sound advice, and considerate treatment. Him am I always proud to know. A friendly letter from me was cause enough for him to call upon you. I shall write to him expressing hope that he has had a pleasant holiday in New Zealand.

The Deery boys have turned out rotters. The festive John called upon me in Melbourne, desired me to bring him along, but he was dirty as to his clothing rushed into a private bar for some information that I required, he was left in Melbourne. There is nothing that can be more severely felt by a parent in this world than to see a son or daughter doing things which are disgraceful, such as getting drunk, theiving, and the like. A real hell this earth must then be. Per contra [Latin: on the contrary] no greater pleasure can be in life than to look upon ones sons and daughters

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playing parts honorable to themselves and doing credit to their education & their educators. Mrs. Deery has won for herself a good name, but in all probability there was in her home not strict enough discipline, which must at all times insist upon a correct line of action in the affairs personal and public of each moment. Kelty, Kirkland, and others have chosen a first-class ship in which to travel to Adelaide Tasmania. Mr. Andersons paper has not yet come. Mr. Macdonald was very good to take you and Marie to the pictures. Please convey to him &’ Mr. Vallon and their families my best wishes and kindest regards. The mountains would bring a bloom to our Caggies cheeks. Caggie is a sweet girl, of the best, or as the French say Une Ange. You note that my reading just now is a novel in french. Yes the care of myself is of the first order. Your thoughts and prayers will avail me much. Give my love to Maria, & say may Fortune smile her best upon her now and always.

News of the 9th March:/ It is well that Muriel brought favourable accounts about Caggie. Glad you liked the post cards and that you think my letters to be "lovely long" ones. It can then be hot outside Egypt. Kitty in her letter wrote "the heat here equals almost that at Rabaul"; so the Milner boy says according to you. Sorry Carmichael resigned. Two strong men like Holman & C. might at any time find difficulties in agreeing. Holman is an artist in dodging an issue. If it were over some appointment that Carmichael, for himself of course, left the Ministry, it may be that he has made a mistake. It is the sort of act that he would take. He owes Mr Holman more than he can ever repay, but since words have been written ’tis the person who has received most who that is likely to kick the giver. Holman is the best of friends but a poor personal enemy.

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Let me hope that Maria will do well with Walter Bentley. Please congratulate Dr Dunn on the arrival of a son, also Mrs Dunn. Starting a family. Nothing better. Why should you and Kitty "become hungry".

Kitty dear:/ Mr Weston is on the Orsova. I must write a line to Suez, catching him there on the journey Northward. I hope that you were able to go to the ship to see him. He would have been going to Brisbane the day after you wrote. Happy as Larry my dear.

Until you meet with an Egyptian fly you will never know what a persistent sluggard can accomplish. To shake him off is a difficult undertaking. It is little wonder that he children native to this soil give up the contest from early life and not till fully grown attempt the struggle once more. To climb the Sphynx is not a task. To reach the top of the Grand Pyramid is thought by some persons to be difficult, but it is little more so than stepping up stairs, large wide and high steps some, but not beyond the power of the ordinary man or woman for that matter. Nan was a very naughty girl not to write to me while she was in Sydney, tell her that she will never be forgiven.

You must be improving in the knowledge of gardening when you can do so well in the small plot at No. 219. The flower of the green lily is peculiar in shape when forming and when fully blown, your drawing shows good intent, practice this further, because facile illustrating makes a letter or book more replete with interest. The fern will be large when I return. Love to Buddie. Kind regards to Jim Roach, a faithful friend to Florrie.

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Sorry about Noel, but he should take to Farming or return to the Station. How giddy of you Kitty dear to go to the theatre with your pals. Was one of them Saidie. How are your German pals of Bathurst? Yes hope do I to be back some today to kiss you all in reality, to walk along Macquarie Street with you, to visit the botanical gardens, and salute my many friends in Sydney. Hurrah for Sydney! But the game being played here has to be seen through first, an examination to be passed in London, thereafter on the wings of the morning to home sweet home in dear Old Sydney town, midst those whom I love & who love me. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!!

Dear Girls:/
How bad the promise is for the fighting men of the Australian Division getting off without injury may be judged from the attached telegram. It is almost certain that those just left and now leaving these parts are to attempt a landing about Galipoli, or where there are Turkish troops. There are no more valiant fighters than the Turks, if they be led by capable officers. No fiercer enemies giving no quarter and asking for none, content to take heavy blows and to deal them out in turn.
It is anticipated that large numbers of wounded will find a way to Egypt in the course of a few weeks.

[Newspaper clipping attached:]

The Attack on the Dardanelles.
Turks Concentrating in Gallipoli.
Athens, April 5.

There has been no important action during the last few days in the Dardanelles. Since the battle of the 25th ultimo., the Allies have not resumed the bombardment of the forts energetically, but are closely watching the Turks’ activities in the Gallipoli peninsula and on both sides of the strait, from its entrance to Chanak Kale, in order to prevent them from reinforcing their troops there.

The bombardment of the forts on Sunday last was undertaken only with the object of preventing the Turks from repairing the forts and fortifications destroyed by the Allies in previous actions, and it appears that the Turks will not succeed in repairing these fortifications as the fleet has razed them to the ground. The Turks are taking strong measures to defend Gallipoli. They have already withdrawn their best men from Anatolia and Smyrna and placed them in the peninsula. Ahram.

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If so we shall do our best to make them strong and hardy again.

Acting for the O.C. a piece of bad news has just come to me. David Storey M.L.A. for Randwick has two sons here, one Jack is a doctor with us, & word has just been brought to me that he is developing pneumonia. That is sad because most of the deaths here have been a sequel to this inflammation of the lungs. I hope that he will not have a severe attack.

Dr Kennedy is also in hospital. He has for some weeks looked to be very sick. On an expedition, such as ours, one is blessed if he is kept in good fettle by the grace of God, & badly served if he is not so favoured. Think you not so. My constant prayer is for good health & plenty of strength wherewith to battle.

A long enough letter you will think. Therefore shall it be ended, closed in an envelope & given start to you.

To all my friends good luck. To You lives prosperous long and happy, each moment blessed by God, in simpleness in gentleness & honour and clean mirth.

Love in [diagram of Os] & kisses in [diagram of Xs] bales upon bales for each from
Your lvgg & & affectionate Father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S Wales

[Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, John Colvin Storey OBE, 27, surgeon, of Sydney, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital. He returned to Australia in 1918.]

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From Dr Paton’s letter I learned that Dr Dunn is leaving the rooms, that is a nuisance, but I hope that you will get for them a tenant. In the days round these things are bound to happen. You are such good managers that I have every confidence that you will work out right in every way.

Letters came to me from Gordon Lavers and Kathleen Bryan of Erskineville also a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald – a Saturdays issue. What a wonderful paper it is for the proprietors, twenty-six pages. Just think larger than all the papers in Egypt almost.

The Orsova is timed to leave Port Said for London on the 11th inst. – I wrote a note to Mr Weston, directing it to Suez, in the hope that it will catch him at that port on or about the 9th inst.

It has occurred to me several times during the passed few days to wire you that you can safely let the rooms for 12 months, as there is but little prospect of my returning before then. This whole business has always been to me a serious one and the magnitude of the struggle and the greatness of the task in front of us increases each day. Our Colonel who so far has rather laughed at my seriousness upon the subject, is becoming seized with what is in front of the British Empire, and as is his way talks about it to everyone wherever he may be. But on revolving the cable sending in

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side my skull the conclusion reached was – "The girls will do what is best and will act in a way more satisfactory than my advice would lead to".

Colonel Martin returned from Alexandria at 12-45 p.m. today, and relieved me from the duties of O.C. the Hospital, which have fallen to my lot since Tuesday. It is probable that his following will be glad, because no one during my rule dare come into the office unless he had business, nor can he sit in it smoking and talking with his pall, nor was the same allowed in the outer office. One officer said to me – "It is a pleasure to come here on business while you are here, one can do what is to be transacted in comfort without interruption by irresponsible individuals, when Col. Martin is here I hate to enter the office". – That explains my position. If I go to the office, as likely as not all the officers & clerks will be smoking pipes or cigarettes, a junior officer or a private may answer for Col. Martin or interrupt him. What can one say while the Colonel himself is there? These irresponsibles had a smokeless & a quiet time while I was in charge. My way may not be as popular, temporarily as is Col. Martins, but I believe that it is better & productive of far less trouble in every way therefore shall I keep to it.

Goodbye!!! Goodbye!!! Goodbye!!!!!

Am anxiously looking out for the newspapers. Doffie told me that they required double postage to be affixed else none would be forwarded.

This letter is far too long. Must shorten them. But there is always so much to write about.

Kindest regards to all my friends. Love to those who love me like Maria & others. To each of you life prosperous long & ever happy, with heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your loving & afft Father

John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St. N.
Sydney

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[Envelope]

[On His Majesty’s ("Active" inserted by J.B. Nash) Service.]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

Franked
J.B. Nash L. Col.
[Australian Imperial Force]
Heliopolis 16.11-15

[Page 278]

[Back of envelope.]

[Page 279]

Lieut Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
10 April 1915.

My dear Girls:/

12 noon. Have just posted letters to you, Mollie, and Doffie Williams. Hope that they will have early despatch and find you in less than a calendar month, as this part of the world is but 27 or 28 days by ordinary mail from Sydney.

I may have told you that newspapers, and a letter, came from Mrs Fraser a few days back. She reports all well with her family and made enquiries about you. I shall reply some day. Also had an autograph letter from George Reid.

Yesterday at dinner Colonel Martin announced that this place will be closed as an hospital shortly and that No 2 goes to the Gezeirah Palace, on the bank of the river Nile, at the end of one of the bridges crossing from here to Cairo. There are three bridges in the space of about one mile. The palace originally was built for the Sultan or Khedive. They say that it is a Structure of the 1st class order and suitable for hospital purchases. When we are settled you may here more about it.

A cablegrame came from Mr McNamara of Coffs Harbour, asking about sale of lands at Coffs Harbour, in reply by letter I told him that you had full power authority, under power of attorney to complete such transactions.

11 A.M.. 11-4-15 As this is Sunday morning, the Light Horse men who have come into camp during the week are flocking to the Grand Pyramid, which most of them will ascend, bringing grist to the mill, in the shape of piasters, to the guides, and put each himself into a position to say that he has been at the apex of the pyramid Cheops and that

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he has looked out from such height upon the Libyan dessert and the fertile valley of Old Nile. Something interesting to narrate in years that are to come.

Between 5 & 6.30 pm. I was riding on the dessert and watched the sun set. The golden ball dipped rapidly over the edge of the precepices away to the West, leaving in the heavens about various changing tinges of green, with thereafter a silver lining to the few clouds that floated in the air. It may be that our departure from Mena being close at hand my opportunities for galloping across the dessert may not be many more. One can see cultivated feilds in any part of the world, but there is but one Saraha & its barren Eastern extremity is named Libyian.

The letters by the Orsova should be here tomorrow, today the ship was timed to leave Port Said, and the mails for Cairo would be landed at Suez and thence dispatched by train. Any how shall I hope. The newspapers have not come to hand. If you did not put upon each double postage it may be that they are still in Sydney. That will be somewhat of a swindle especially for me.

A copy of The Times, dated London 31ST March was handed to me today. I do not know who was good enough to send it. There was much of interest about the strikes, the shortage of war supplies, and the war.

12-4-13. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!! 8 p.m. Letters from each of you were given to me at 6 p.m., they were brought from Cairo by motor car. I expected them as the Orsova was timed to pass along the Suez canal yesterday or the day before. These came from Maggie, Doffie, Mr. Watkins.

Car dear: All writing about you agree that the change to Blackheath has given you just the correct tonic to bring you into perfect health. Good. It is good well that

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

the Patons & the Macdonalds agreed, especially as you had introduced them. My best wishes to both families. The weather during March in Bheath should be most pleasant.

I have had no letter from Dr. Harris of Wimereux recently, nor have I heard that the hospital is closed. Next opportunity I shall ask some authority. Sure that Joseph liked the blouse, you are such affectionate sisters to one another that you shed a halo of brightness and comfort all around. From where did you derive it?

Must write to Mr. Frank congratulating him on Noel’s pass, they will all be delighted. Bert Norris & Bessie Lane Mullins. Good luck to them! Only a few days since Father McAuliffe was wondering where the Papal Delegate would reside. Rockleigh ought to suit him. It is probable that the Australian Roman Heirarchy do not appreciate his coming, it appears that he has power to veto the acts of any of them and it may be of all. Give Dot my love in return for hers.

Joe dear: Glad that you still think my letters to be "just lovely", it repays me well for writing them. You are a tip top manager not to allow the Cohen matter to worry you. The best way was the one you adopted. He has always been a trouble. I hope that you will get a tenant of some kind for the rooms, every little helps at the end of the week and month. You will pull through quite rightly I am confident. Keeping very well indeed. From what has been incidentally dropped to my ears it may be that my stay with this hospital will not be for long, my change might be to a command of my own, which on the whole will give me improved status and a chance to perform better work, the slip shod methods thought sufficient here are not of the standard that pleases me.

[Page 282]

Your letters are here three days under the month or exactly 27 days from your writing, those from Doffie & Maggie were written on the 17th March which makes the delivery to me with the lapse of but twenty five days.

No date plums here, though they should flourish in this climate. Must look for them. Glad you like the stamps & newspaper cuttings. Shall expect the photographs.

My regards to Mr Fitzgerald. It is pleasing that he and Mr Titheradge were interested in my remarks about this part of the world.

Mr Travers is a thoughtful man. I like him.

Kitty appears to be in demand with the fiddle. Has she practised lately? Clever girl.

What a giddy girl Maria is to desire to go to the pictures. Cheered you both up no doubt.

Rain is always welcome in Sydney. Here no one thinks of rain except as a phenomenon, as a matter of fact when a shower comes everyone fears to be wet, each wraps up in a most wonderful manner, for weeks after the falling water is a subject for general conversation. It makes me laugh. Holman’s holidays save him, or rather have saved him much trouble, several times, but it is likely probable that he will overdo it, then there will be the long & expected disruption in the party; the result of which ’tis not easy to foresee.

Weston has not replied to my letter addressed to "The Orsova, Suez". Sorry the idea did not occur to me, because a trip to the Canal could have been easily arranged. Let us hope that the ship will dodge all the submarines between Port Said & London. Should I get to London I hope to see Mary & Nellie Johnson.

Dick Arthurs suggestion to call on Barr Brown about the rooms was a good one.

My best wishes to the Bridges & Macdonalds.

[Page 283]

Kitty dear:/ For your letter many thanks. It is well that you were at Blackheath, you deserved a change, but the stay was not long enough. However take a run to some of your friends further afield some of these days that you may see what the interior of the country is like. March at Bheath should be about the best for atmospheric conditions during the year. You are in demand by Mr Stael. That is good. Clever girl. M. Cerelli has a musical name whether it be spelled with two ls or two Cs. Which is it. I cannot decide between your letters. Sorry that I did not meet Harry Stokes, young man to Doris Paton. Which of us is the worse writer, you or I?

The parents of Noel Franki, McCulloch, and Broughton will be pleased at the passes. Willie McDonald is staying a long time at St. Vincent’s hospital. Best wishes to him.

The year 1915 A.D. has been dry in many parts of Australia, see that more rain falls. It may be that the cannonading on this side of the globe has so upset matters physically amidst the clouds that all the moisture in the air falls in France & Poland.

Doffie wrote "Your Shakespearean quotation Uncle Jack was very nice but I could not read it". Funny Doffie!

Rumour today, she is a most lying jade here but sometimes right, reports that the advance party of the Australians have come into touch with the Turks. When this does happen we shall know about it in due time.

My Cable message has assured you that my residence is still in these parts.

Many thanks for your thoughts & prayers. Hope to be back some day to find you all well & happy. Never a word from Buddie. Savages!!!

[Page 284]

None of the newspapers forwarded to me, has arrived recently. Why? Those by the Orsova should have reached us yesterday. A Sunday Times dated the 14th of March I found lying of the officers room table this morning, some one has had good fortune in this regard. It must one would think be a question of postage when one copy is sent forward and others are not. You mentioned in an earlier letter that you were sending to me a copy of the Sunday times of the 7th March, with an account of a film made for me in it. No paper from Melbourne or Sydney has found me.

In glancing over the Sunday times I read brief mention of The Hughes valedictory dance at Rockleigh. It will be difficult for them to reside in so desireable a place again. It is wonder that they sold it.

Colonel Martin has been away all day, had he been back half an hour ago I should have gone for a ride, but as 5.30 p.m. has arrived, I have sent my horse away. Feel somewhat mouldy because I have not been out of the house all day. Must go tomorrow morning.

You should just see my Little low Comedian at a meal. His performance is as follows:– A stretch & a groan. A look of greed at every dish except eggs, which he does not now take. Feeding with a knife. I. I. I. I. I. know or did in a voice of the worst quality on every subject that is mentioned. Sweeping around the gravey on the plate with the index finger of right or left hand which passes to his mouth to be well licked. Another stretch & groan. Smacking of his lips. Swallowing with a noise. Eating rapidly & much. Drinking wine or

[Page 285]

or water & taking about both. On the Kyarra he never tired of telling the assembled audience how he had made up his mind not to taste alcohol while he was engaged as a soldier, though any excuse was utilised to break away from the resolution. Cleaning his cheeks from his teeth by placing the whole length of his index finger within his mouth sweeping it round the cavity withdrawing it for examination then inserting it for a final lick. What think you of that for a leading physician from Melbourne? He will not dine with me when this show has broken up.

Hourly we wait for information as to where the Australians have gone from here & as to what has been their fortune. We have been told that the Dardanelles would be their first disembarcation. This may or may not be correct. We shall wait and see.

8.30 p.m. It was stated during dinner that, in native quarters & elsewhere at Cairo, there are continued rumours of a disaster in Asia Minor to the infantry Brigade, 3rd, which left Mena Camp six weeks ago has met with disaster. Hope that is not true. You will be assured of it before we are, as confirmation is slow to reach this portion of the world, except as rumour, & these are so rife, usually based upon some accomplished fact, that one has to doubt all ’till authoritative statement ensues.

The last portion of Col Tunbridges, (Secty to the Australian Club Macquarie Street) ammunition column has just passed along Mena road for Cairo, there to entrain for a port of departure. Whence I know not. Dr Purdy, health officer to the Sydney City Council, is the medical officer. Good luck to them all! May each see Sydney some day! Such were my wishes to them as they passed along.

[Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Alan Tunbridge, 52. Secretary of the Australian Club, Sydney, embarked from Melbourne on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A9 Shropshire in command of the Divisional Ammunition Column.

[Major John Smith Purdy DSO, Health Officer of Point Piper, Sydney, joined the army on 28 August 1914, and embarked aged 42 from Melbourne on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A9 Shropshire as Medical Officer with Headquarters, Divisional Ammunition Column. He served with the AAMC in Egypt, the Dardanelles, England and France and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 28 August 1917 for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He returned to Australia in mid-1918.]

[Page 286]

The list of casualties from the recent fight at Neuve Chapelle in the North of France, is so long and so serious, that every ones mind is set counting the cost in the best of human British blood. It is really beyond bearing with equanimity.

Did I tell you earlier that many men from the ranks in air forces here have been recently given temporary commissions in English regiments from the Cavalry downwards. Amongst them was a son to Bishop Stretch. There must be a great shortage of trained men in the home countries when the authorities find it necessary to seek, for those to fill leading places, mongst the troops that have come from Australia.

I send you a copy of the address which was presented to me yesterday by the French Christian Brothers. Was it not very good of them? My reply also. Hope that you may think it to be fitting and up to the necessary standard.

15-4-15. 9 a.m. Enjoyed a gallop on the plateau this morning, a companion, medical man from Melbourne was with me for a time, afterwards I went on alone. The air was fresh, the wind keen, the atmosphere clear, the stony ridges in the distance clean cut against the horizon, the sand surface interrupted scarce by any hoof or paw, the stones with shining surface sank beneath the horses hoofs, the rocky masses hammered to the hammering of his iron shoes, the locusts, recovering from the nights cold, made efforts to rise as the approaching noise disturbed them, the small birds on outward flight rose in hundreds as we approached, the hawks hovered and swooped overhead, and above all the clouds obscured the rising sun modifying his rays which lighted up the earth silhouetting the great pyramids gainst the Eastern sky. Must to the hospital to go through my patients.

[Page 287]

Mena Camp looks but a shadow of its former self, nought left but some light horse and details few in numbers. There will be nothing for us to do in a few days. There is but little now. With me ’tis easy to fill every moment, for those who have not resources to do so life must hang heavily, as a result such gentlemen are constantly away in Cairo midst the throng and movement of the population, composed of so many and such varied types.
No lack of new material and novel distractions for any mind in this meeting place for europeans, asiatics, and Africans. I have not seen a Chinaman here. Must ask if the flowery land is represented?

12 noon. Daily Telegraphs, dated from 2nd to 12th March have just been handed to me, they bear the words on the outside "From Dorothy".

2 p.m. I have looked them through, finding much of interest. More about Mr Holman & Mr Carmichael. Much about the wheat cases. Social news. Leading articles. War pictures. I have passed the copies on to the Officers room, where they will be read as the latest from Sydney. Doffie removed the advertisement sheets posting only those with news items. It was good of her to post & put full postage 3½d on the parcel.

No word from Weston, he cannot have written as he was passing through the Canal.

Weather good in Egypt, the sun becomes uncomfortably warm on occasion, but as a general rule the atmospheric conditions during our residence here have been of the best. Dust flies & mosquitoes, with locusts thrown in, cause discomfort and wonder, but none of them is unbearable.

A letter came from Jack MacNamara today, dated from the Hawkesbury A. College, Windsor,

[Page 288]

17th March 1915, he is apparently still progressing well.

10 p.m. Quite chilly here tonight, while sitting writing my legs have become cold, I must put the eider down quilt around them. Between 5 & 6-30 p.m. the wind on the plateau blowing from the North was bracing. A good appetite for dinner followed the gallop against the North wind. The loss of flesh, which has made me lighter in weight, has left me more active than when I arrived first in these parts, it is good for the horse & perhaps better for oneself not to have adipose tissue between skin & muscles while on business such as ours, though it lowers the standard of beauty from the Chinese Mandarins point of view. Feeling very fit just now.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Josie. Kitty.

16-4-15. 11 A.M. I read a telegram in this mornings paper that a Zeppelin had dropped bombs on Wallsend in the North of England. What a wonderful development these aircraft are? Some day, in the not far distant future they will be going round the world in regular sequence. Who would have belived such statement to be but that of lunatic ten years ago? In your life time you will see many changes undreamed of by us, as we of my generation have seen much made of but everyday prominence what my Father thought to be impossible, impracticable, and nonsensical. Will there come such cataclysm upon the world again, as happened at the advent of the original Huns, Vandals & Goths, into Europe, and the Arabs into Egypt, with the Turks at the same time into Asia Minor & part

[Page 289]

Europe. By the onrush of these peoples the advancement made, by industrious and litterary people, was practically wiped out, and many centuries elapsed before recovery was made from the devastating influences. If the Germans, the so called modern Huns, win in the present great war, the tide of progress which in A.D. 1914, was at its full flood will be rudely interrupted if not entirely stayed for time indefinite. If they be defeated, as we believe and hope they must and shall, there will be some years before the threads leading on to threads can be picked up and the end to which each was leading followed.

Most mens minds are now set upon war with destruction in excellsis as its one demand, brains will need time and a rest before they can accomodate themselves to peace and construction.

11-45 a.m. Dr Willie Read has just called, and has told me that his wife, who is in London informed him in a letter that she had been sending packages of ginger, chocolate, and the like to Dr H .L. Harris at Wimereux; also that the Australian Hospital there is still in existance and in full working order.

Tata for the present. Fortune of the best be with you now & always.

It is interesting in the morning watching a line of men women children, camels, donkeys, sheep, and goats, moving out from a village to the fields, where they are to perform the work of cultivators. The colour of the landscape, midst the palm trees, is now changing, because the ripened and ripening corn is represented by white patches midst the green; daily do the white areas increase, the reaping and thrashing time must be close at hand.

[Page 290]

Further signs of departure of the Australians. All the signs printed in large letters:–"For the Australians." Sargeants George St Cafe." "The Victorian Cafe.": have been taken down during the past week, as also the buildings upon which they rested. The latest invaders of these parts, from far away Australia have come seen and are almost gone, as so many and so varied peoples have done the like before them.

2-45 a.m. Shall finish this page & post tomorrow. Good night! [A line of Xs and Os.] Car. Good night! [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. Good night! [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit.

17.4-15 In looking through the pictures of the great battle of Neuve Chapelle you will see the officers using wire cutters. In this war every officer, I am not sure about the men, carries a pliers for cutting wire, and it would appear to be a very necessary portion of a fighting soldiers outfit, because wire is so much used for defending all manner of positions.

12 noon. Papers to hand this morning dated Melbourne during February, from Mrs Knowles. A letter from Nurse Suttclife, formerly of the Sydney Hospital, now of "Belgium Hospital, La Panne, Belgium". Not looked at. Letter from Mrs Begbie of Plattsburg. Not had time to look at them yet, desiring to finish off my letters for post as soon as possible, that there may be no fear of being late for the next mail.

Good bye now my dears. God bless you. Hope that you may find these pages and the accompanying sheets interesting. Best wishes for all my friends. Did Pat Watt receive my two letters. She is a very lazy girl not to answer them. Please tell her so from me. Love to Maria. Love & heaps of kisses to each of you, & may life be for all prosperous long & ever happy.

Your affectionate Father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 291]

[An address delivered to Colonel Nash from the Director, Christian Brothers in Cairo. Written in French. Not tranlated. A sense of its content can be obtained from Dr Nash’s response (pages 293-294.]

College St Joseph.

Le Caire, 13/4/15.
Monsieur le Colonel.

Il est des milieux où l’on prêche l’egoisme, où l’on ose faire l’apologie de ce vice détestable. Ce n’est assurément pas dans les milieux chrétiens. Le Christ est apparu au monde comme la grande et sainte vicitme volontairement sacrifiée pour le salut commun, et votre exemple, Monsieur, nous dit bien que vous avez compris cette haute et divine leçon.

Docteur en médecine, jouissant en Australie des avantages d’un nom considéré, et d’une furtune considérable, vous n’avez pas hésité, dès le début de la grande guerre, a tout quitter: patrie, famille, commodités de toutes sortes, pours vous engager, spontanément en qualité de Colonel où médecin militaire, afin de prendre part à la lutte formidable qui se livre actuellement entres le Droit et la Force. Et dans cette mêlée sanglante, votre rôle reste des plus humains, puisqu’il s’efforce d’étancher le sang et de cicatriser les blesures. Elèves des Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes, dont un si grand nombre sont comme vous, sous les armes, pour défendre la meme cause, nous n’avons aucune peine à reconnaître et à admirer un aussi noble geste.

Nos maitres, in 1870, offrirent spontanément leurs services a la patrie. Ayant transformé leurs ecoles en ambulances, ils se firent euxmêmes ambulanciers ou brancardiers. Leur dévouement a fait plus d’une glorieuse victime, et la presse comme la peinture a longuement célébre l’héroisme du Frère Néthelme, frappé mortellement a Buzenval, au moment où il relevait des blessés sur le champ de bataille, sous le feu même de l’ennemi.

C’est pour reconnaitre le dévouement dont avait fait preuve l’Institut des Frères, au cours de l’année terrible, que l’Académie Francaise, crut devoir lui décerner le prix fondé par la ville de Boston, en vue de récompense le plus bel acte de courage accompli au service de la France. Et le Vicomte de Noailles de déclarer, dans le discours prononcé a cette occasion, que ce prix serait "Comme la croix d’honneur attachée au drapeau du régiment".

De tels exemples ont bien leur éloquence, n’est-il vrai? Et comment aurions nous pu ne point nous les rappeler dans les circonstances si graves que nous traversons et qui voient se renouveler les

[Page 292]

[Address continued.]

mêmes prodiges d’abnégation et de courage?

Aussi bien, désireux que nous sommes de nous associer tous, par des actes, à des actes qui font si grand honneur à l’humanité et en particulier à L’institut des Frères dont chacun loue le sage patriotisme, tous, nous avons cette année, fait en faveur de la Croix-Rouge, le sacrifice des prix que nous sommes accoutumés de recevoir en fin juin, comme récompence de nos travaux scolaires. C’est ainsi qu’une quinzaine de mille francs arriveront d’Egypte a la Croix-Rouge de France, par les soins du Tres Cher Frere Visiteur, ici present, pour le soulagement des pauvres soldats blessés.

Et voilà, Monsieur le Colonel, ce qui fait que, sans nous connaître autrement, nous nous trouvons en parfaite communauté de pensées et que nos coeurs, on peut le dire, battent a l’unisson!

Medecin et soldat, vous vous dites; "Tout pour le succès de la cause juste que je défends"! Jeunes egyptiens, formés a l’école de la France, c’est a dire meme a l’ecole meme de la justice et de la charité, nous appuyons votre cause de toute l’ardeur de notre sympathie et notre main et notre coeur s’ouvrent à la fois pour plaindre et secourir tous ceux que la guerre a blessés.

C’est ainsi que trouve a s’exercer encore, en depit des plus tristes nécessités, le grand précepte évangélique; "Aimez-vous les uns les autres"!

Vive l’Armee d’Australie, Vive la Cause du Droit Méconnu et de la Vraie Civilisation!

[Signed by the Director and Brothers.]

[Page 293]

Lieut. Col. Nash replied as follows :–

Mr Director, Christian Brothers, Your senior Student who was so good as to read the address in such first class manner and scholars – To you I return my sincere thanks as an Australian and as an individual.

The parts which your Society of Teachers played in the war of 1870 and 1871 and in this great war, show that though your mission is essentially one of peace, yet when the defence of your country – the best garden of the world, Your fertile France – needs men to fight help, you have been prepared to exchange the teacher’s gown for the soldier’s uniform, wherein as results have proved, your members have upheld the fighting best traditions of the men of Gaul. It is sad to think that in the so called enlightened age, the twentieth century of the Christian era, the arbitrament of war, "at the heels of which, leashed in like hounds, famine, sword and fire, crouch for employment", should be chosen by those who laid claim to be the exponents of Kultur, to decide an issue ‘twixt the peoples of Europe.

Example is stronger than precept holds good to-day, as ever it did adown the lapse of time, and your brethren, gone to the wars, have set a high standard in patriotism whereat your scholars of all ages may look and learn. Bravo! Bravo! Fear not, right will prevail! The blood of Frère Néthelme, and his colleagues, has not flowed in vain, because the outpouring of it has stirred, within the race, desire to do great deeds, which lead to victory.

In the days that are to come another orator for l’Academie Francaise, may have cause to repeat the words of Vicomte de Noailles.

Your community, too, while finding a fair proportion of fighting men has, by placing your schools at the service of the authorities as Hospitals, and sending many thousands of francs to help assuage the suffering of the wounded, kept up the traditions for charity and unselfishness which are the badges of your noble association in various parts of the world. Long may you flourish!

Do you desire me to tell you why tens of thousands of khaki clad men have come from far away Australia, bound for Europe, stopped en route in Egypt? "Yes! Yes!" Well! Because the people of that far away outpost of the British Empire, from their Prime Minister to the humbler in the land, recognised, the moment that Germany threw down th gauntlet, that freedom’s sacred cause was menaced by the mailed fist of

[Page 294]

Prussian militarism, and that it was the mission of our Empire and her Allies, to defend the Christian right to live at peace against the un-Christian thought that might is right and must prevail. Therefore have we come in our tens of thousands to help with those from other young free nations beyond the seas, the men from the homes of our forefathers, Great Britain and Ireland, to defend the right and smash the might of her common foe. We must not bear him illwill, but we must command success by our good thoughts and our worthy acts.

My personal mission is, as you have kindly said, to heal the wounded and succour the afflicted. Let me hope an object as worthy as any, and one which with the assistance of my colleagues I hope to see worthily carried out. Two men of the very greatest rank as workers in the world of science and practice, have made our work more efficacious than was possible, before God sent them to do His work here on earth. The one Pasteur, truly a shepherd or Pastor from Arbois in the Jura; the second Lister, a Scotchman from Glasgo[w]. Their studious lives in chemistry and medicine radiated from France and Scotland to the uttermost ends of the earth, and will during this great war be so efficacious as to save hundreds of thousands of sick and injured men, Allied in peace were they from our two nations, allies are they in war to-day, as the great teachers! Their thoughts and hearts did beat in unison as was shown to the world at large that memorable day at the Sorbonne, when, with great eclat was celebrated the seventieth birthday of Pasteur. You are right, in this year 1915 A.D., when you say that the thoughts and hearts of the medical professions of the British and French race have common desire to bring relief to those who are suffering in a great cause. Whether it be on the vasty fields of France, the world’s best garden, on the broad, broad ocean, the Asian or European lands of Turkey, the barren regions bordering the Suez Canal, the harder climes of Germany or Poland, where the men of my profession may be placed, ‘tis my belief that duty will be well done in the maintaining of the best traditions.

To you, Sir, and Brothers, and to you students, I convey greetings from Australia and Australians, wishing to each and everyone of you lives, long, prosperous, and ever happy:

Re-echo do I, your sentiments:–

Vive la France! Vive l’Australie! Vive la cause du droit méconnu et de la vraie civilisation.

[Page 295]

Hearty cheers accompanied these salutations. Also they were given for the Director and the Brothers. Listening to those for Les Frères one felt the voice inflexions of genuine love for their teachers, characterising the boys’ hurrahs.

John B. Nash
mena
Egypt
14-4-15.

Dear Girls:/
Please save this because I have not a complete copy. I am keeping the original which has not the signatures on the second page
John B. Nash
17.4-15.

[Page 296]

Lieut. Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
17.4-15

The Editor
Daily Telegraph

Dear Sir:/

The brief statistics and appended matter are forwarded with the hope that you may think them to be of some interest.

From the issue of "The Minister for Public Instruction in Egypt: report to end of 1912-3"; the following statistics are taken:–

"Population of Egypt over eleven millions. Total number of schools 1135 Number of Kouttabs, 3794. – ‘A Kouttab is a dependant inferior elementary school, subventioned and inspected by the Minister for Public Instruction". – Number of scholars in the schools, 162356, of these, boys 124018, girls, 38338. In the Kouttabs, 231376, boys 205657, girls 25719. The grand total being for all Egypt: Schools and Kouttabs 4929. Pupils 393732, of these, boys 329675, girls 64057." If the totals are compared with those in New South Wales, where the population is about eighteen hundred thousand people, it will be seen that there are more children at school in the State than in the Sultanate of Egypt. Of recent years there has been some increase, no doubt, but it must be slow, because the ordinary Moslem, mostly the tiller of the soil, sees no great virtue in education, finding the teachings of Khoran to be sufficient without it.

Some fourteen nationalities have schools in Egypt, which are independent of the Parliament of the Country, being for the most part, in some degree, responsible to the government, or a religious order, of their country of origin.

There were "328, of these ‘Stranger’ schools, at the end of 1912-13, with a roll of scholars, 48303, boys 26618 girls 21685.". These children are mostly non-Moslem and of European extraction. Their numbers, in proportion to population, show how much more anxious Christian people are for education, and for both sexes, than are the Mohamedans indigenous to the "Valley of the Nile".

Of the 328 schools the French own and manage 145, teaching 22,175 Children, almost half of the total. The Christian brothers perform a large share of this work.

With best wishes [indecipherable]
John B Nash

[Page 297]

[A second copy of the Address delivered to Colonel Nash from the Director, Christian Brothers in Cairo. Not transcribed here; see page 291.]

[Page 298]

[Second copy of Address continued. Signed by the Christian Brothers. Not transcribed here; see page 292.]

[Page 299]

[Second copy of Lieut. Col. Nash’s reply. Not transcribed here; see page 293.]

[Page 300]

[Second copy of Lieut. Col. Nash’s reply continued. Not transcribed here; see page 294.]

[Page 301]

[Second copy of Lieut. Col. Nash’s reply continued. Typed portion not transcribed here; see page 295. Handwritten note reads:]

If after perusal or use, the Editor will be good enough to send these sheets to Miss Nash 219 Macquarie Street, I shall be glad, on account of the signatures on page 3.

Your [indecipherable]
John B. Nash

[Page 302]

Lieut Col. Nash

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
18 April 1915

My dear Girls:/

Your address was on the enclosures of two packages placed in the post yesterday morning, the one a letter, the second a book of views depicting the Australian encampment on the Lybian dessert behind Mena house & the ridge that rises from it and runs South Westerly. Never, is it likely, that in your time or for long after that Australian troops will be living and training on the Sands of Egypt.
The photographs will recall, in years to come, an event of great historical import, which not in wildest imagination dreamed of fifty years ago, is now amongst the accomplished, men horses and material brought in great ships nine thousand miles to be trained to fight on behalf of the little islands in the North Sea whereon were cradled our fathers & our mothers, their parents before and the generations through long ages past. What means the loss to Australia of the coming of these men at arms none can tell. But the dye was cast, it had to be, the result must be stood up, and its consequences faced to that end.
"The means that heaven yields must be embraced
And not neglected."
[William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 3 Scene 2]
This is the second sunday after easter. Mass was at 7-30 a.m. in the Camp, a padre from S. Australia officiated.

19-4-15 Today I have been acting for the O.C. during his absence, it is very unsatisfactory, but I do my best to make the show go straight. It is a "rotten" concern for the most part, but it may be

[Page 303]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

that I shall survive it, though to live through such an ordeal is far worse than can be that of facing shot and shell in decent company. With a spineless man as chief, a filthy creature, in word and deed, like the "little commedian" opposite me at meals, the trial is a hard one. I do not pretend to be an angel, nor even a plaster saint, but I do expect attempts at strong cleanly government, with words and deeds that might become ordinary civilised men, let alone such as are thought worthy to enter the profession of Medicine. I could write much and say more, but enough, my soul must possess itself in patience controlling the natural tendency of my body to rebell by word of mouth or savage act. Who knows what tomorrow may bring forth. If disaster to one self, why so be it. If with opposite fortune, why so much the better, and hope I to deserve it. This is a changing scene, full of odd circumstances, wherein one may get a chance to act when he least expects it. J’espère!

This afternoon between 5-30 & 6-30 O’Clock I paid a visit to a rich man in Mena Village. Sheik el Gabri. His house is large, surrounded by a well kept garden. A merchant, whose largest business place is in Cairo. Four wives has he, three in a house apart, the fourth in the residence where I visited. An intelligent man, by extraction an Algerian Arab, 300 years back. He told me much about Egypt. From him I brought back a few Egyptian beads, which will go forward to you in due course. He told me that they are genuine, if so they are worth having, &

[Page 304]

Will make up into ornaments for each of you. Some of the gold in the safe could be made into chains with the Cornelians, the yellow string, & the beads of the other colours. They all come from the tombs and are in their nature antiques. Beads now are made of glass and no one would take the trouble to make, in these days, such as those which are in the long strings.

19-4-15. We are expecting letters by the P & O steamer to arrive this afternoon or tomorrow. Some of my papers & letters have of late have gone to No 1 G H. at Heliopolis, so this morning I phoned to Major Barrett asking him to have them sent on here as soon as possible. He will have it done.

This last couple of days I have been writing up some Egyptian paragraphs for Mrs Knowles, she may use them and make the price of a few dinners thereby. She is very good in sending to me copies of the Melbourne papers.

What do you people think of the war? Dearly would I like to have an answer at once. But this cannot be. In his two earliest letters Dr Patton wrote "Oh, you will be about to return by the time this reaches you". The closeness of the date of return to Australia must be coming closer, but when ’twill be realised is not yet visible to the eye of him who knows the most. A question present in my mind constantly is. When will the Australians have their first fight, with a really determined fighting force? Next:– How will they bear themselves under the trial? Thirdly: What will the people in Australia think. Fourthly: How will the people at home bear the publication of the casualty list. It was the custom

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amongst the Coal Miners in Newcastle to say:– "If I am to be killed let it happen in a big disaster and with a crowd because then funds will be got together, & those dependent upon me will be fed & clothed without trouble. If I am killed alone everyone will say – It was his own fault – and my people will get only ordinary relief."

In Military matters the opposite appears to be the case. If an officer or a man is alone killed sympathy and assistance flow forth in plenty. If he be one amongst many, every one remarks ‘Oh, ‘tis the fortune of war’, and individuals are lost midst the crowd. Think you this to be true.

Still is my existence being lived here with pen ink books journals and a little surgical work. Looking at the sun, the dessert, the pyramids, the eucalyptus trees with new shoots young leaves and fresh ripening fruit, the fruit of the mulberry tree which is just ripening, and other things which you know by now, from my letters, are in Egypt. For the present good bye
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joseph. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kitty.

20-4-15 – 9-50 p.m. Letters have just be handed to me by an Orderly. One from Mr Bridge dated 16th March 1915. One from P. J. MacNamara of same date. The third from Mrs Franki "Menzies Hotel March 9th 1915". On later dates than each of them was written letters have gone from me to the writers, therefore they have already been answered, especially as there is nothing claiming direct reply. I

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am much obliged to each of the authors for thinking of me, please say so to every one in case you have the opportunity to speak with one or all.

Mrs Franki ends her letter by the question "I often think if it were wise to leave your girls". To which I might reply: "Never fear, they will take good care of themselves and that with which they are entrusted." Think you not so. She also wrote "I have seen Mrs Buckley and her girls, James and I spent Sunday week with them".

An Australian Mail by the Mongolia should have been sent ashore at Suez yesterday, the ship was there, if so letters from you & others might be here in the morning. It may be that those mentioned in the last paragraph came by it, they being the first to be sorted out in Cairo & sent on, we believe that such is one of the postal methods in the City. Hope do I for the morrow?

Good night!! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

22-4-15 – 11-15 a.m.

Last night a letter arrived for me from Mrs Hughes of Chatswood, dated the 22-3-15. None has come from you, which makes me think that another week will pass without a word from you. Mollie of course never addresses even an envelope. It is quite true that religious people are savages, each is so wrapt within self that there is no thought left for the poor devil without the pale of the special cult or what else it may be called, that envelopes, the cloud which is theirs. However no use my complaining.

Many times in my letters I have suggested

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to you the purchase of a bad [pad], like to that from which this sheet comes, to place it upon some table, any old one will do, and with pen, pencil of lead if you wish, to jot down items, a brief sentence will suffice, which you must know will be of interest to me. None of you has apprised me of the name of the New Minister for Public Instruction in New South Wales. Heaps of other things a word about would help me & save me trouble. I am almost despairing that you will bother about any request in my letters. You read them through, of course, but then you are done with the pages, not bothering to take note of what may be asked or directed. There are three of you to one of me, & you must pardon me if the treatment is not thought by me to be fair & just. When there is a little duty to perform to an old man, who has, at worst estimate, worked hard for you a visit to a private or a public resort might be encroached upon to give him some information, he asks for no pleasure, that he has almost forgotten, in its common acceptation.

I have almost mind not to set down another drop of ink here, and following your example wait until five minutes before the post closes to write to you, and then end as is customary with each of you "Oh Maria desires to go to a picture show I cannot write any more." – Oh I am at Macdonalds the post closes in fifteen

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minutes, the girls in Macquarie St. are sure to send you all the news."

Faree dear Nan is here, she wants me to go out therefore I cannot write more as then the letter would be late for the post." Many other sentences of like purport and words might I cull from your letters. However I am not responsible for how you write or when, & can but point out to you the facts. For my own thoughts and acts I am responsible, therefore must they be performed in such manner as may be judged by myself, and I hope by others, to be on correct lines.

Goodbye! Goodbye!!! Good bye!!!!!

No heart for writing more now.

I am enclosing some Sudan stamps, they were given me by a postal official who has promised to collect some more for me. They may or may not be of value, but if kept they should increase in worth & be to you a nest egg that will grow & be of use some day.

10 p.m. Another letter reached me from Dr L. H. Hughes, now living at Chatswood, practising in conjunction with Dr Reid.

No letter or paper thus far from any of you.

Yesterday I had a day off and took Jerrom with me to Cairo. We went first to the medical school, having had an appointment made with Dr Keating for me by the Director of Education. Dr K. showed me over the hospital which an old palace was made to service the purposes as a place for treating the sick. Much

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of high class has been performed within its walls, though it does not in all respects conform to the architectural characteristics which the medical profession now demands as a necessity as aids to the performance of the best work by the doctors for the sick and afflicted. Yet as in all other the affairs of life it is the living man that counts for most, his powers and his qualifications, and knowledge count for more than bricks and mortar, but he demands these that there not be lacking all that is required to make his efforts most effective. A first class fighting man can do strenuous battle with any weapon, but give him a magazine rifle & to fit it a bayonet of the best & his powers will be most to be feared by an enemy.
Jerrom was pleased to enter the dissecting room, but he turned his back at the door, & continued to look at the trees and the sky until we doctors came again into the fresh air. Several of the teachers took us through the chemistry rooms, the experimental rooms, the physiological department, the pathological, the theatres, the museum, and the library. A Dr Ferguson, a most intelligent Scotchman from Glasgow gave me much useful information, and showed to me many interesting surgical specimens. I was given permission to visit the library when I desired & to utilise what books I desired.

Today I sent Jerrom to the school with my Wheatstone stereoscope & the Xray pictures. I have promised to give a lecture or two whenever Dr Keating desires. He sent word back by Jerrom that he would communicate with me very soon. Must keep doing something.

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During the afternoon we visited the Citadel of Cairo. An imposing stronghold truly built on the Western end of the Mokhattan [Mokattam] hills. It commands the City, a frowning fort which seems to say: Here am I armed to the teeth let no man or woman stir a finger or a foot against the powers that be, else will my cannons open wide their mouths, my rifles spring to soldiers shoulders, my machine guns have their belts filled, all ready at the word of command to deal out death to all and sundry. Beware! Beware!!!

Many a grim tragedy has been enacted neath its walls and within its boundaries, the blood of the best has flowed along its passages and spurted against the walls, while over the parapets has been hurled many a valliant soul and brave body. The story of the Mammelukes is not old, as such go here, but ’twill live long adown the page of time – "Mahommed Aly the Turk invited the Mammelukes, the rulers here for centuries, to a banquet at the Citadel, when he had fed them his men fell upon them to murder all, one escaped without the room sprang to a horse, set the beast at the parapet, the fall to the ground outside was at least fifty feet, the animal took the spring, when he almost reached the ground the rider disengaged himself from the steed, falling free, while the poor brute was killed. Aly was so taken with the brave act that he pursued the horseman no further, & he afterwards gave the sole remaining Mameluke a property some distance up the Nile."

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The Mohammed Aly Mosque was built by him after whom it was named. Almost a copy of St. Sophia in Constantinople. It is a masterpiece in stone, set off with alabaster, marble, inlaid work, paintings, domes, spires, minarettes, electric lights, coloured glass windows, galleries, chandeliers, glass globes, thousands of electric lights, and turkish carpets. On a Friday 4000 worshipers come to it to pray, the high priest addresses the faithful, the Khoran is read, all turn towards Mecca, the East from here, a say their prayers. On either side of what is called the altar there are two round allabaster columns, the only two of the shape within the building, they are placed in position that blind worshippers may feel away along the walls, knowing when a hand touches the round pillar that facing them the right direction is being used during the prayers.

An imposing and magnificent stone building upon which neither time nor expense was spared. When the electric current is turned on, which only takes place on the occasional visits of Egypt’s ruler, the effect must be magnificent. Only on like visits is the tomb of M. Aly opened for inspection. These are the times too when the great side doors are used, one whereby the sultan enters, & the one opposite for his family.

An armoury would have satisfied even an expert like little Hyman.

I went on to Heliopolis Palace Hospital, to dine with Colonel Ramsay Smith & Major Barrett, men of brains and knowledge with whom I like a chat. My day was a pleasant change. One spent amongst men of knowledge, & mouths which speak intelligently, a vast change from

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Springthorpe, Grey, Martin, and Coy. who offend my ears and my whole nervous system by their coarseness, their ignorance, their vulgarity, their dirt, and their vain self flattery. A change much to my advantage.

Good night! I must look at two London papers which have come to me, one from Mrs Fraser, I know not the writing on the other. Must go to the medical school library on Saturday or Sunday.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit.

"No man who is wretched in his own heart, and feeble in his own work, can rightly help others." Fors Clavigera.
[John Ruskin: Fors Clavigera, a series of letters addressed to British workmen, published during the 1870s.]

"Wisdom and goodness to the vile man seem vile;
Filths savour but themselves." King Lear IV. 2.

23-4-15
2-15 p.m. No letters from you apparently by the Mongolia, all should have been delivered before now. No papers. But hope will still exist. Today is St George’s day, the patron saint of England, also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare – 1564 & 1616 A.D. – All hail to him. The quotations from a play & from Ruskin are suitable:/

"The poet’s pen
... gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name"
M. N. Dream V.1

"All most lovely forms or thoughts
are directly taken from natural objects"
The seven lamps of Architecture [book by John Ruskin]

This means that by observation the man of capacity in observing derives from an examination of natural objects the perfection of form which he is able to imitate & produce

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in his work, such as sculpture painting or words. The last giving expression, not only to the forms themselves, but to the movement of the ultimate elements of the brain tissue, which aggregated into an understandeable whole we call thoughts, they being the more lovely as the individual is gifted with faculty to express that which he sees. Shakespeare was facile princeps [Latin: easily the first or best], when compared with all writers of English, in both directions.

All days in Egypt are ideal, and none could be more so than this 23rd day of April 1915.

11-20 p.m. No letters. No newspapers. I wonder do you receive letters from me regularly? The postal department here is far different, being less reliable, than with us. Often it takes several days for a letter to travel a few miles about Cairo. The government authorities have no belief in their own system, because they deliver their letters by hand and demand a signature as receipt.

I am going into Cairo in the morning to ask the General to shift me from this show and give me something to do elsewhere. I am sick to death of Col. Martin & his methods. While I am here I shall be loyal to him and do my best, but once I have my freedom and am back in Australia, on the least provocation I shall not be backward in giving my opinion about many things anent which it is not wise or politic to speak. I must possess my soul in patience. It has always been a restive one, not at times possessed of much discretion, honest enough, not wise for

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for every trial, liable to get out of control because of desire to act energetically, impatient in presence of deceit and what may appear to be or is untruthful, unselfish to its own disadvantage, & much else that you, who have had it under observation for many years, know better than does its possessor.

Good night. I shall finish this for posting in the morning. Good night. Good night. [A line of Xs and Os.] Caroline [A line of Xs and Os.] Josephine [A line of Xs and Os.] Kathleen.

24-4-15 – 3-30 p.m. This morning I called upon Surgeon General Ford who is the chief in Egypt, had a confidential talk with him about my work & my position here. I was well pleased at the end of our talk & I would not be surprised if he finds me a new position in the course of an early date. If he does then Jerrom and I shall leave this rotten show. My honour & personal reputation are not safe in the weak hands that guide No 2 G. H., and to get away from it will be obeyed by me with the greatest of alacrity & pleasure. I shall send you a cable announcing my departure should it come about.

For the present Goodbye. God bless all of you. My best wishes to my friends. Love to you three & Maria in heaps & kisses in loads.

Your [indecipherable]
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney

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Lieut. Col Nash

Mena House
Pyramids
Cairo
20 April 1915

My dear Car Joseph & Kitty:/

Just think of it here am I sitting in a room through the French door of which can be seen in the not far distance the two pyramids, each rising from the same hillock which is an elevation from the sandy waste, it has been told to me that the Sphynx is concealed from view by the elevations upon which the pyramids rest. Little did it come into my wildest dreams, but few short months ago, that my spiritual and corporeal existance, would tread upon any soil North of the Equator, much less that changes in the world’s history and in mine would be of such radical character as to bring me in touch with the valley of the Nile river where the widespread channels, which lead to the mouths, make one of the richest and most extensive deltas in the world. Mirabile dictu! The ways of the Lord are mysterious, and we but the pawns wherewith he makes the moves.
The moon is in its first quarter, the stars shine brightly, Orion, the Pleiades, Taurus, Regulus, make a brilliant display overhead,
while many

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other constellations keep them company, the great bear and the pole star occupying their accustomed sites away to the North. One regret is with me that you girls are not sitting in this room while I write. However if God spares me to once again see Australia and I can do some years of remunerative work, it shall be my endeavour to store up enough money to make it possible for some of you to look round this way.

Could I write to you much? Yes fill a volume upon the things I have seen & the thoughts that have flowed through my mind during the last forty eight hours. Alexandria itself would serve me for heaps of words, the Nile delta for more & more, the first sight of Cairo and the pyramids for still greater profusion of them.

Yesterday afternoon a return call was paid to the Jesuits, the Franciscans, & the Christian brothers. Of the first named you have read something in earlier letters. I fancy that during the regime of the French sentiment in India they were under a cloud, & time has not yet be ample for them to recover, their reputation for ability and cleverness makes them feared by the ruling powers in many country. Though Jesuits taught me & many of them have been known to me during forty years, the members of the combination have not impressed me as being intriguers of the first water, or amongst the best acquainted with the happenings in the political world however their school in Alexandria though capacious and palace like, yet austere as to its interior, did not appear to be keeping abreast of the thought of today.

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The Franciscan fathers, have St. Catherine’s Church as their place for worship. I was unfortunate in that none of them was in when my visit was paid. The Church is a real old world temple externally and internally. The approach to it is along a lane which has on either side an inclosure where palms and shrubs of other kinds are kept and offered for sale. The lane opens out and directly facing it is a large door in a white wall. Within three aisles, much the wider in the centre. A high altar at the further end, and on either side altars in succession from for the whole length. The decorations are in gold. The paintings as is customary. Candles in abundance. The illumination by electricity.

The Brothers – Patrician or Christian, no sure which – have a school on the other side of St. Catharines from the Franciscans. My visit to them was a real treat, about it I shall write to Molly, she will send on her letter to you. From a few hours experience here I judge that my time will be fully occupied at professional work, this may not leave me leisure to write so lengthily.

6 A.M. – 21-4-15 – Looking out through the window, the pink glow that foretells the morning sun as coming, is showing on the far away horison it momentarily grows more brilliant, but it will be soon followed by its creator. Clouds in the sky extend from the window view above right away to the glowing pinks & greens, in our Australian one might think that they portend rain, yet in this rainless land it cannot be so. The great pyramid is immediately to the left, in the foreground of my line of vision its steps of stones rising in succession to some distance up its side. The pinks & greens

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have almost gone, the brightness of the sun is dissipating them forever, yet may by tomorrow be followed by others like unto them as ’tis possible for God to make them. Some dark bands of clouds are in the place where the colours were brightest. Some Arabs in flowing gowns of black & white are moving across the near middle distance, making towards their daily toil. Flat topped single storied mud or brick cottages, windowed as is the custom of the country dot the landscape or rather sandscape to the left, around the corner of the nearest one the arabs walk, their journey bringing them between the foot of the sphynx & the cottage. The faintest remains of the colours are now far away as my eyes can see, nearest to them being deep blue colour on the land. Australian gum trees – what think you of that? – occupy a place on the picture here & there.
Some of our men are camped in a grove of gum trees, not flourishing as they do in New Zealand, yet growing as well as in many parts of New South Wales. A surprise never expected to see the gums Eucalyptus represented in this part of the world. The horizon is more filled with light, the thickness of the clouds appearing to obscure the margin of the sun, no golden ball shines through them but the light becomes clearer moment after moment. Full daylight is once more upon the sands of Egypt, making clear its sands, its people, – a woman with a load poised upon her head is walking away from here & round the corner of the cottage nearest on the left, by this she is now hidden from view – its peculiarly shaped buildings bespeaking architecture of byegone ages, and a length of life extending far into the past.

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An early chat you will think with you. Could not sleep, in bed at 11 O’C last night. Writing for some of my officers. As Col. Martin will not be here until Saturday I am in charge till then. Wish he was a stronger man, then we might make shove things along, as there is plenty of work to do here. Our first task of Campaigning was yesterday, it was shaking some of the picnickers up, stern reality was not imagined by them before. Dare say they think me somewhat of a martinet. If so cannot be helped, I cannot put up with slackers and the incompetent, other where is place for them.

A donkey brays, he must have waked up, his voice again, may be greeting the risen sun. Lazy beggar! Should have been awake to greeting the coming of the sun.

What of the valley of the Nile, its delta, from Alexandria to Cairo. Well. Extend the flats around Maitland for about 150 miles; consider the lucern, the sorgum, the vegetables, & other greenery upon them; traverse them with canals running in many directions; with a many times enlarged Hunter river here & there; then dot them with men women and children clothed in flowing garments, every one working in the fields, – No fences or like dividing lines – with donkeys, camels, buffaloes, goats sheep; erect upon them mud houses of all shapes and varying cottage sizes, mere hovels some others more pretentious, all covered with some vegetable material; occasionally a more pretentious structure built of brick or stone painted white rising to three or four stories, no doubt being the home of some haughty aristocrat; add to all innumerable forms of primitive pumps which distribute the water from the canals to the fields. A busy population truly, intent on getting from the land every ounce of food possible, as have done some of their ancestors daily for some six thousand years. The older one grows, more does he wonder

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why we are here, whence we came, and to what end does all lead.
 
You must add to the picture groves to small trees in all directions. Must dress for breakfast & work.

12-55 p.m. – Were we in Australia one would still think that rain might fall before the sun would set. The sun has not come from behind the clouds so far. The early morning was chilly, but as morning wore on the temperature became comfortable, such as one might have in Sydney during the winter time. Sydney is some 6° further South than we are North.

10-55 p.m. Letters reached me tonight dated 21st Decbr. In Tamworth and Sydney from Ted & Maggie, they were directed to the No 2 General Hospital. No letters have come from you except Joes dated the 10th Decbr. which was addressed to Fremantle, and from there sent after us.

Maggie did well in the Zoology & Botany examinations. That is good. I must write and congratulate her. Ted reports all well from Tamworth.

Mrs Newmarch was in the hall today, I met her walking up the steps, she is staying at the Continental hotel in Cairo, the Colonel is stationed at Mena Camp I was talking to him today; she did not have a puppy dog with her. I forgot to ask her where Jack is.

I have been getting our hospital into working order during the day, we took over from the men who were performing the duties here before we came, Lieut. Col Bird and others from Melbourne.

Some day again I shall write more. Good night my dears. God bless each of you. Heaps of love & loads of kisses for you, & regards to Maria & my other friends.

Your affectionate Faree
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St., Sydney

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[Lines of Xs and Os.] Car

[Lines of Xs and Os.] Joe

[Lines of Xs and Os.] Kitty

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P. S. Today letters came from Mrs Fraser and Dr Harris, the former writing from the Isle of White [Wight], the latter from France.

All my officers and men are working well. By the time the Colonel comes here everything will be in good, working order.

Harris sent a "Greetings" card, & a postcard with five French mounted soldiers carrying each a standard, perhaps you received similar ones.

The weather here is ideal. When the rush ends I may have time to look round. Several operations during the last 18 hours.

I note that Aden was captured by the British in 1839. Were it not for the presence of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb close by it were a useless sort of a place for anyone to bother about. It is well at the present moment that it does belong to our empire, because it serves as an outpost where coal can be stored, & where the ships of war can rendezvous.

"Many joys may be given to men which cannot be bought for gold, and many fidelities found in them which cannot be rewarded with it." Unto this last. [Essay by John Ruskin]

Good bye my dears. May God bless you all each day & night at all times.

Your affectionate Faree
John B. Nash

[Page 323]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
24 Apl 1915

My dear Girls:/

Letter was posted to you this afternoon to catch the evening bag for Cairo, there to be in good time for the mail which should leave for Australia during the early days of the week commencing Sunday the 25th inst. Intention at the beginning was that the pages should be few but they were gradually added to, reaching the unlucky number 13 as the last.

I think one of the last paragraphs was that I visited General Ford who is Director of Medical Services for Egypt, and asked him to find me something to do away from No 2 G. H. He has promised to, at an early date, give me another position, and that to it Jerrom will accompany me. That is good. I said little about my chief except that I felt that my personal honour and professional reputation were not safe in the keeping of a weak commanding officer. This week has brought me to such state of disgust that this show is distasteful to me.

Jerrom has been told to pack up that we may be ready for a move with but a few hours notice. We shall get everything together tomorrow. Good night! God night!! Good night!!!

Before closing an amusing picture is in The Tatler of date 7 April 1915:–
A gentleman and aged lady are seated on a lounge, each is partaking of tea from a cup,

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"Member of a Flying Corps:-/ I’ll take you for a fly round some afternoon if you like to go.
She: No, thank you very much; when I go up I go up for good."

You may send this round ’twill amuse your friends, should it cause you to laugh or smile as freely as it has my face & mind.

Again good night. [Three lines of Xs and Os.]

"Simplicity of life, of language, and of manners, gives strength to a nation." (Inaugural address at Cambridge Ruskin.)

"You must begin your education withe the distinct resolution to know what is true, and make choice of the straight and rough road to such knowledge." (Mornings in Florence – Ruskin.)

12 midnight: I have been writing hard since 8 p.m., and have completed an article for one of the newspapers on school buildings in Egypt. Should it be printed, I hope that the girls will send to you a copy.

Pursuing my studies in French recently, I was much impressed with some sentences in A. Madame de Chantal par [by] Saint Francois de Sales. He writes about French birds which build nests upon the sea shore, just at the margin where the waves reach, soliloquising upon the wonderful way in which they are constructed for protection against the moving water while allowing entrance, and he builds a simile between this and the condition of a soul. It is all beautiful but the following lines made impression deep upon my mind:–

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"Ah! Que j’aime ces oiseaux qui sont environnes d’eaux, et ne vivent que de l’air; qui se cachent en mer, et voient que le ciel! Ils nagent comme poisons, et chantent comme oiseaux; et ce qui plus me plait, c’est que l’ancre, est jetée du côté d’en haut, et non du côté d’en bas pour les affermir coutre les vagues..."

[French translation: "Ah! I love these birds that are surrounded by water, and live only on air; hiding at sea, and seeing the sky! They swim like fish, and sing like birds; and what pleases me most is that their anchor is from above, not from below, to gain strength against the waves... "]

One requires to read the words over several times to get the swing of the poetically arranged clauses.

Matron Johnson has just sent to me a cup of tea and some biscuits. For them I am, but was especially obliged, when my appetite was not good, then they sufficed to help me avert a threatened sickness. Now thank God I feel equal to any work that may come my way. Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

26-4-15. 12 noon:/ Enclosed you will find receipts for two packages of stones posted by me today. Please send the receipts to Prof David & M.M. Bertrand. The stones are of the dessert. I hope that each of the receipients may value them because of the distance from which they come, & mayhap a kindly thought for the sender. When my baggage gets back there will be many specimens for you.

Late cablegrams announce that the Canadians have fought well in Flanders. We shall look forward anxiously for report of the haviour and bearing of our men in the presence of the enemy. Well fought battles will do much to help us bear up against the losses. Yesterday an officer, just arrived by the Shropshire, told me that Bert

[Professor, later Sir, Tannant William Edgeworth David, 1858-1934, born in Wales, was appointed professor of geology at the University of Sydney in 1891. In the early years of WW1 he took part in recruitment rallies and was instrumental in the decision to raise an Australian corps of miners and geologists to serve at the front. Despite his age, he enlisted in the AIF in October 1915 and was commissioned Major in the No 1 Mining Corps. He saw service in France, where he was mentioned in despatches three times and awarded the DSO. He returned to Australia in 1919 and was appointed KBE in 1920, becoming known as Sir Edgeworth David.]

[Page 326]

Norris is coming in charge of the next Shire boat; also that he was to be married before setting out.

The 25th inst. was the anniversary of the birth of Princess Victoria Mary, – 1897 A.D. –, & on my Shakespearian calendar is, what appears to me to be an apt quotation, taken from Pericles IV-6:
"Thou art a piece of virtue;
I doubt not but thy training hath been noble."
Think you not as I?

27-4-15. 2 A.M. I woke about 11-15 p.m., the mosquitoes were troublesome. At 12 midnight the orderly brought to me a cup of tea & biscuits. During the day the gardener had sent to me a plate of mulberries from the garden, because during the mornings he had seen me pulling some and eating them. After washing the berries, I sought the head waiter and asked him for some cream, none was to be had unless it were ordered, had to fall back on milk, this not a success. About 4 p.m. (26.4-15) I ate half the fruit, mixed the other half with sugar, this part tonight was a great success. Fancy midnight supper, alone in ones bedroom, mulberries, sugar, sweet biscuits, and tea. Hurrah!

My appetite has been very good recently, this should be followed in due course by increase in bodily weight, which must be an improvement from recent level, when it was too low, yet the condition of my physical parts at date of landing here was too heavy. For a decent chance to work, my capacity is first class, feel equal to anything mentally and physically, and if General Ford

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will only put me in position where will be possible to put for the effort, and direct others to do the same it may be that a useful time is ahead of me. In this rotten show, nothing can be done on account of the puerility & ignorance of my chief. Like all dear kind good creatures of the class, he spends most of his time flattering himself. Between him and the ignorant egotistical dirty ill mannered coarse voiced little commedian who is next in rank after me in the show, my place is not one to be envied. Mostly has my mouth been shut, as a voice producing emitting cavity, at meals and between times, a line of conduct for which I am becoming more thankful each day, because its effect is now being felt, and if it be that the General leaves me with the unit my prestige will improve and matters will be better. God giving me health and strength I shall pull through all right, but much precious time is wasted when one has to battle against ignorant lazy incompetence, it is always a dead weight dragging upon the best of intentions, more especially so in war time when anything may happen, & where the opportunities are rapid and must be grasped as they are rushing past.

At the end of the week arrangments are being made for me to give a lecture at the medical school in Cairo, and all being favourable it may be that the affair will pass off well, anyhow you shall hear further about it.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit

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27-4-15. Colonel Martin is away each day now. It may be that he is acting in place of Surgeon General Williams who has gone to London. I have no official information upon the matter, but from hints that have been dropped at the dining table by the Colonel himself and junior officers I believe that there is some arrangment. He never has had the decency to tell me anything & I have got to the stage when I do not care. I am simply awaiting my time for something to turn up, having confidence that it will come along and eventuate all right. The nuisance is that by the uncertainty I am tied to my post here in order to protect myself against a weak commanding officer, the worst of all scourges. However wait & see.

In this evenings issue of "La Bourse Egyptienne", one of the best of the newspapers published here, I have read:-/
"Les pertes subies par les Canadiens, au cours des journées de jeudi, vendredi, et Samedi s’élèvent à 21 officiers tués et 59 blessés. La liste des tués, publiée ce soir comprend le lieutenant-colonel McHarg (Vancouver) qui était un remarquable tireur, le colonel Birchall (de l’état-major), le lieutenant-colonel Boyle (Alberta). Les hauts faits des Canadiens, accompagnés des chaleureuses félicitations du Roi Georges, ont été transmis télégraphiquement au duc de Connaught. Le plus vif enthousiasme règne dans tout le Dominion. Les autorités sont submergées par les offres de recrues. Non seulement les vides ont été immédiatement comblés, mais aussi un nouveau mouvement très important se dessine dans l’enrôlement." – Reuter –

[Translation: The losses suffered by Canadians during Thursday, Friday and Saturday amounted to 21 officers killed and 59 wounded. The list of killed, published tonight includes Lt. Col. McHarg (Vancouver) who was an outstanding shot, Colonel Birchall (Military Staff), Lieutenant-Colonel Boyle (Alberta). Deeds of Canadians, accompanied by the warm congratulations of King George, were transmitted by telegraph to the Duke of Connaught. The greatest enthusiasm reigns throughout the Dominion. The authorities are deluged by offers of recruits. Not only were there immediate offers, a very important new movement is emerging in enlistment."]

These severe losses make one anxious as to what the wires will transmit within brief space now, as the result of the contact of the Australian troops

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One of the great advantages derived from leading an industrious, clean, and praiseworthy life is that one’s relations and friends can at the least unexpected moment refer to the acts performed with satisfaction and pride. At the time the good deeds may appear as of little value, but at a future date and suitable moment each one of them may count for very much.

"Whatever your faculty may be, deliberate exercise will strengthen and confirm the good in it." (The Laws of Fesole – Ruskin)

Another two days of the week have gone and no letters we still keep hoping that they will be here some day. Over eight days ago the Mongolia passed through the Suez canal & not a letter has come to me. Most probably anyone who who wrote to me waited for the last few minutes before the mail was time to close before commencing to bother about writing, then the letters were too late to catch the steamer. No good growling!

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!

28-4-15 – 3 p.m. No letters today.

From a phone message that has just come to me, while I am acting for Colonel Martin, it appears probable that we shall be receiving wounded from the Australian forces within a few days. If so the first portion of the work, for which we came from Australia, should be close to us. Let us pray that the incidence upon the men will not be so great as to tax our energies to the utmost, because then the lists to be sent to Australia would bring sorrow to many homes for those who are killed and anxiety for those who may be wounded. There is bound to be much cause for weeping, but against

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it everyone must bear up bravely. For the first time in the history of our young country the nation will be brought face to face with war of the worst and all that it means.

I am still in a state of mental unrest as to my position, I have had no word from General Ford as to my being placed in charge of the No 2 G.H., or as to my being taken away from it. Colonel Martin is here in the morning, goes off about 11 a.m. leaves me here to take charge and he comes back about the dinner hour. However I hope that something will change matters, they cannot be for the worse, therefore improvement is sure to follow.

In case of casualties you in Sydney will know about them long before information will be given to us. Of the wounded we may have closer knowledge, but not more knowledge, than will be yours.

This morning Jerrom brought to me two photographs of the hospital tents and marquees of No 2 G.H. as they looked when in full working order. Under separate cover you will receive copies. Let me hope that they may be pleasing and instructive? The gum tree forest is a feature of the landscape which cannot be equalled elsewhere in these parts.
Mena is far and away the most desirable, of all residences around Cairo, from a scenic point of view, the pyramids, the trees, the hills, give variety and picturesqueness which cannot be compensated for, on a sandy plain,

Car dear:/
You had a long stay at Blackheath, and from the notes of Joe & Kitty the air was beneficial to you. That is good. It is a change of scene from Sydney. A crowd of friends too would prevent ennuie.

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pay 5/- per day while staying at Mena House. Part of this is refunded the net cost being somewhere about 3/6 per day.

Egypt is all right as a holiday resort under ordinary circumstances, and it is good enough for our purpose. Australia, Sydney, is quite the correct place for me or any poor man.

The eggs may or may not be the product of Mohammedan chucks, however it be they do not suit me. A small one tried this morning resulted in making me feel uncomfortable this afternoon. No more.

Guy Asher nearly died here from Typhus fever. He is returning to Australia. His father arrived from Sydney by the Mongolia last week.
Good Joey, Kitty, to go to confession at St Mary’s. I shall go to the Jesuits, at an early date, in Cairo.
Mr Parsons has done well to live so long. He has been feeble for a prolonged period. Mrs P. always takes a kindly interest in him, & has a pleasant smile for her friends. You will be toffs when you go round in her motor. Please convey my regards and best wishes. Where the Earps live is a beautiful spot. To them too please convey my regards. The cooperative is an enjoyable and satisfactory way to work.
Tell my Kitty to enjoy herself, to become acquainted with the best girls, and to make life a happy journey for herself and others. Our Kitty is a sweet girl herself, and her talk is pleasing to many whom I know. What think you?
Mrs MacMurray is a wonder! Good luck to her, and to the doctor! She has a soft corner in her heart for you girls I think. Good! She deserves all the fortune that has befallen her. For years she worked hard, compelling success at every step. She was always kind to me. But it never occurred to me

[2nd Lieutenant, later Captain, Guy Baynton Asher, 21, student of Edgecliffe, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 14 October 1914 on HMAT A8 Argyllshire with the 1st Field Artillery Brigade.]

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that when she had command of money, she would use it so well. Again I write Good luck to her. Robert Paton must try again the examination. A failure should but spur one on further efforts. When this follows in a youth, something favourable follows upon the ill success, and it comes not to be what it appears. One of the great secrets in the game of life is not to accept defeat, and against what is classed as want of success to stick out the chest, stiffen the upper lip, and try another road along which to attain the object desired.

A cheery chap George Williams. An erratic George. Were I a rich man he might be employed to amuse me, with the anecdotes based upon his experience in London and elsewhere. A lovely liar he may be, but while he harms none and amuses some, the veniality of his offence may be forgiven.
The baby Moxham will take up Belles attention. Did you remember to convey my congratulations, if not even at this late hour do so for me to Father Mother, and wee Laurey. I have not met Doris Paton’s young man, our orbits did not cross in this part of the globe.
Glad to know that you all keep in good health, & are managing without trouble. I shall be on the look out for the sox. Clever girls. The sox &c that I have been wearing here are of the lightest suiting the summer season.

[A line of Xs and Os.]

Joseph dear:/ Good girls you and Kitty to be to confession. I shall go to the Jesuits in Cairo at an early date. Thanks for remembering me. You still have Wellington Corner where the wind comes round into Macquarie Street.

I must write to Jimmy Roach some day. If I go away from here to a command of my own

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my liberty will be increased, and more work can be fitted into each twenty-four hours. Why should a man keep a tooth-ache in these modern days.
I shall be on the look out for the snapshots.
The grey coloured paper is not comfortable to write upon.

Backhouse & Goyder are the best people to go to about letting the rooms. Mr G. is a careful and obliging man. It will be best to speak with them about tenants. Barr Brown is a bumptious sort, but there is much good in him.

The allied fleets are battling at the Dardanelles still. The Russians are doing the same at the eastern end of the Bosphorous. Not much progress has thus far been made. It is probable that Australian soldiers are being landed on the Gallipoli peninsula these days. From information to hand, to the hospital, I judge that there will be forthcoming in a few days a long list of wounded. Even before we know anything precisely the officers here, even the terrible Springthorpe, are quitened by the anticipation.
Mr Calvert was a fine old man. Of the best and most corteous. His familiar figure will be missed in Parliament House & elsewhere. R.I.P.

Note just here:/ 5-12 p.m. Word has just come from Cairo that some portion of our forces, lately at Mena, has been cut to bits, all the officers killed, the doctor and then the Chaplain had to lead the men, but that they had performed creditably. The medico and the Chaplain are likely to be Dr Cave and Padre McAuliffe, however we shall soon now be informed by the injured, on their return. Such is the penalty of war.

Another Note just here:/ General Ford has just spoken to me, telling me that he will send me on at once to a command of my own. It may mean my transference from the Australian to the British Army for a time. I shall leave this ill managed rotten show with sorrow, because

[John Jackson Calvert (1830-1915), public servant, clerk of parliament, cricket and rugby union administrator, and sports writer, served as Clerk of the NSW Legislative Council from 1 April 1871 until his retirement on 30 September 1914.

Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Mylles Wyamarus Cave, 29, medical practitoner of Toorak, VIC, embarked from Melbourne on 2 February 1915 on HMATB A51 Chilka with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance.]

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it is Australian, with pleasure because of the freedom which it will give me from the suspense of mind, and handicapping of body, which has been mine ever since I joined the ship, Kyarra, in Sydney. When the Colonel returns tonight I shall show him General Fords letter, and tell him of the message which came to me by phone. More of this anon.

Your letter:– The illustrated papers will keep you well abreast of the times with the war &c. The best maps published are those in the Illustrated London News & the like, the surface is raised, the names are distinct, the rivers are clear, and every position brought into relief. Whenever I get a chance I look through those which come from London.
Maria is bound to keep you all laughing. She diffuses happiness about her on every side, her humour of the best, and with qualifications of which she never knew the power. Glad my Tabby & Kitty look better for their sojourn in the Mountains. Home is a jolly fine place, should I ever get back what a pleasure ’twill be to see your good beautiful smiling faces, & to be on the balcony with you for a chat, or perhaps to be sent to sleep in the arm chair by your music. However not yet a while. It may be that God has been will be good to me and let all come about as I desire. If not well, the best must be made of what does come. You should ask Dr Paton to lunch or dine with you sometimes, he has your interests and mine at heart, nothing will be a trouble to him that you require doing.

Clever girl and thoughtful Tabby to make a pretty blouse for her sister Joseph. But one of the greatest pleasures of my life has been the knowledge that you four girls are so considerate for and loving to one another. Such has thrown

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heaps of sunshine into my life, and at many a moment when you little thought.

I wrote that a letter went from me to Mr Franki congratulating the family upon Noel being an M.B. of Sydney University. Shows what perseverance and a little ability may accomplish. A good and gentle Mother is always overjoyed at progress by her sons or daughters.

New South Wales is as big as Egypt, and Tamworth is a fair distance from Sydney. During March there may be high temperatures even in Sydney.

The St Mary’s Cathedral wrangle will work out all right. In the scheme of City improvements the ground near College Street must play an important part. Before you are very much older Queen’s square & its neighbourhood will be greatly altered, & for the better. The spot deserves proper treatment. There is always a heap of silly nonsense written and spoken when religious people take the floor. It is sad to listen to them, but it has been ever thus. Thank you for sending me the printed letters.

The Moxham baby is of course of the best. My love to it. No one here knows that the Dudley hospital has been disbanded, the information to hand is that it is still in existance near Boulogne. Tabby wrote not a word about Gladys Marks & her Belgian experiences. Kitty inserted a little in her letter about the lady & her doings.

You for the winter we for the Summer preparing. Yes the dresses that have come under my notice as pictures look hideous. Do not adopt them. Stick to some simple style, even though it be of other days than those coming. Modesty & neatness in dress become a lady at any age, & bespeak her mental qualifications.
It must be an agreeable change for Doris to come to Sydney from Blackheath. With the visitors away Cramond must be somewhat lonely for anyone.

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See that my Kitty has a suitable and neat coat with skirt. One that will make her look her best. [A line of Xs and Os.] For my Kitty. Lucky to get that 21/- from Allen Allen & Hemsley, I thought that it was a really bad debt.

If Jim grows as big as his Mother he will be a large sample of the genus homo. Good luck to him!
Weston did not reply to my letter, addressed to him at Suez. The Orsova is to be in the Canal again about May the 20th 1915.

[A line of Xs and Os.]

Kitty dear:/ Glad you liked my letters dear. It was good of M.M. Bertrand to read my Buddie letter to the sisters at Santa Sabina. I fear me that I must be more careful in the future, if my sentences are to be read aloud for the ears of such good people.
The nuns in Maitland love hearing them too that is satisfactory and amply repays me for the writing of them, but it means that I must take care with the matter and the manner of the writing on the sheets. Buddie has not written to me for ever so long. You still are the shopper in chief for the nuns. You are very constant to them. Most girls cease from performing the duties in a couple of years. Are you to be at the Ceremony in Maitland. Of course it has been passed long ago. I hope that Car Joe arranged for you to be present on Easter Tuesday, it would have given you chance to speak with my Buddie, & perhaps talk with her about me. Congratulate Kathleen Molloy (Sister ? ? ) for me should you have chance. I remember perfectly the little redhaired lassie.

All the Australian advertisements have been pulled down, not a vestige of a building is left, the sand remains, and in a few days will be as level as ever and the wind will have covered all traces of the Australians. As the breezes blow from the South the shifting sands cover everything except the exposed rocks, these like

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their brethren in the antarctic regions are but burnished by the particles as they are driven swiftly by. Here ’tis the grains of sand that act as burnishers, there ’tis the crystals of ice and snow that have like effect. When pictures from the Scott expeditions were before my eyes for the first time the rugged barren rocks standing midst the fields of ice and snow surprised, and question rose in my mind – Why are they not too covered with a white paul? Answer came from Prof David or other – Because the wind allows no particles to rest upon these smooth faces of stone. Same is it where rock, whether vertical or flat projects from the sand. When one looks across the dessert, the eye lights in the distance upon precipices, flat areas, or rolling masses of bare rocks.

I shall await with patience the coming of your photographs. It is long since I asked for them. Buddie should have long ago obtained permission from Mother Prioress to send me a newly taken picture of her, and when she was prepared for it. If a new photo of me, on my horse, is good, you will in due course receive a copy.
Ted with his family had a reasonable change to Adelaid and back to Tamworth. Yes the Germans soon captured Antwerpt. Our side takes a long period to take any place whether it be on the East or the West front. Do I know Gladys Marks? She was fortunate to get away from Belgium before the full force of the storm came.

[A line of Xs and Os.]
Thus are all your letters answered.

8 p.m./ All sorts of rumours being noised abroad as to

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across or upward, gradually making nearer and nearer to the goal. The men frequently proffered help but safety would not have been increased for me by their assistance. Some of the resting spots were not broad or long but each was sufficient. Without mishap or trouble we four reached the highest stones.
Before starting over the smooth face one of the guides prayed, asking a blessing from Alla (God) during our effort. The height is about 450 feet, and the length of each side at the base 700 feet. The apex is irregular as the stones are piled against one another. In a crevice in one of the sandstone masses, is fastened a stick and to this is tied a white silk handkerchief. The guides said a soldier man put it there. Had an Australian flag been in my possession, the emblem would be floating to the breeze there at this moment.
The descent over the smooth surface is the most difficult part of the task. The smoothness is the result of the outer faces of the sand stone blocks having been cut and polished. With face & front of body outwards, one sits on the ledge, finds a footing below, & passes one foot after the other downwards, holding on to any projecting ledge of rock to steady the weight. Before beginning the downward journey the same man by prayer invoked the blessing of Alla. There was no incident to note during the descent. My shoes were put on below the smooth ledge, then we walked gently to the bottom. Major Read and Major Grey were onlookers.

This afternoon (29-4-15) Majors Campbell and Read, wishing to emulate my climb went

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to the plateau and essayed the task. They returned in time for dinner, & brought the news that the former had reached the summit and the latter went not further than the line of the casing. They talked about the difficulties encountered, & Campbell said that he had to be helped by the men constantly both on the upward and downward journeys. He was told that I required no aid. He saw NASH deeply cut into a surface of one stone at the highest point. They talked of nothing else at dinner. I did not even mention the fact at dinner last night. Only tonight have I found out that the task was of any consequence. In such wise do different men look at the same piece of work.

9-20 p.m. The moon is at its very best tonight; sitting in my room, my head has but to be raised, and there high up in the Eastern sky, to the left of the Eastern face of Cheops is the orb of night, resplendent in all her glory. But no more. This pen would run on into more pages, did not my mind say stop. Good [A line of Xs and Os.]

30-4-15. 11-45 a.m:– The first batch of wounded are being admitted to the hospital. They must have come from the Dardanelles. I have not seen them yet, but as I am acting O.C. I shall visit them all directly. They are of no interest to me beyond just seeing them as I shall be away from here in a day or two. It is pity just at the moment when I might be of some use in directing the energies of the junior men. However it cannot be helped, the die is cast, and I shall be but for brief span an officer of No 2 G.H. I fancy I have the good will of Surgeon General Ford and that he will see that I suffer no further insult or wrong. However I shall be my own commander where I go, and away from any interference from or injury by Colonel Martin, the

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meanest of incompetent creatures I have ever met, not an idea above whiskey, tobacco, and puerile conversation. However no more about him. I am sorry that I ever invited him to our house. We certainly shall not do so again if both of us reaches Sydney.

4.50 p.m. Heaps of wounded men. None serious that I know of. Twenty-one in my ward. I took out one bullet from a man’s arm. He wants it back. If he gave it me I should send it on to you. This is my game & were a chance given to me I could do good work. However I do not despair and shall battle to the best of my ability.

The wounded men tell me that they were in a great fight at Gallipoli. About 4 a.m. on the 25 inst – Sunday – they began the landing. Each man had to jump from a boat or punts into the sea, wade to the shore, water to the shoulders in some cases, then run along a few yards of beach, at once commence a climb up the cliffs, very steep in places, catching bushes to help, no firing, orders to reach the apex of the ridge then use the bayonet, it was hot work, they collided with Turks & Germans, killing many with the bayonet. The fight continued well on into the afternoon, & even with nightfall it was not ended.

Many officers of all ranks were killed. Amongst the well known in Sydney – Major Blair I. Swannell killed – Captain McGuire, an Irish Rifle Man badly wounded – Mr McIntosh, dentist, working with Hodgson at 157 Macquarie St, reported killed – Two Colonels – and one Major of 11th & 12th Bttlns killed. Many others. A Father Fahey from W. Australia, & a Dr Butler from Queensland pulled men out of the firing line, and when no

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officers were left, each shouldered a rifle and led the men. The Priest, not a young man, shouted with broad Irish brogue Coome an buoys! Come an! Give it the Turkish ...! It is reported that he used very vulgar language. The last Sunday I heard him preach he beseeched "the buoys" to go to confession, and to cease from using bad language. From all the accounts it appears that the Australians fought well. Nearly every man here desires to get at the Turks and Germans again. I hope that the reports will be favourable.

8-30 p.m. In the evening papers there is published a cable message as follows: "There is great rejoicing in Australia, and New Zealand, on account of the splendid fighting shown by the troops in Gallipoli. The King and Lord Kitchener telegraphed appreciative messages to the Commonwealth and the Dominion."

After dinner I went around amongst the men, and had a further chat. One said that it was reported on the boat by which he came that Colonel Braund had been killed. I hope not.

Called to the ward.

11-30 p.m. Just returned from ward 9 where a large number of wounded men have been placed under my care. I found several bullet wounds full of interest, about them I may send a few lines to the journal. One required urgent operation, and his case I have just finished, the bullet went through his forearm from back to front passing through the outer bone, radius, about its mid point. I hope that he will do well now. Two more I shall operate tomorrow morning, one amputation of fingers, the other excision of a bullet which has passed through both thighs.

If one were in search of perfect weather conditions by night, they are to be found here just

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now. When I came to my room stepped on to the balcony, and looked out into the night the atmosphere was perfectly clear, the sky was a pale blue, the great big pale faced moon was like a silver globe high up above the grand pyramid, the stars paled by the brilliance of the orb of night, twinkled twinkled as of yore, the margins of the 3 large stone structures were silhouetted gainst the eastern sky; the walls, the road, the physical features of the edge of the plateau were clear cut under the clear moonlight, the lamps of several motor cars glowed athwart some little space from close to the base of Cheops, peoples voices gave sonorous evidence of those who had come from Cairo ticed by the splendid asphalt road with the unrivalled sandstone masses as its end. No wonder the Egyptian is content, unmoved by the passing show, a religious philosopher, the heritor of his eight thousand year old race.

Good night, this letter is far too long and can be but boredom to you who are so busy.

Good night again! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit.

1-5-15. 9 a.m. Busy this morning so shall add nothing. Good bye. Heaps of love & loads of kisses to each of you, and best wishes to all my friends.

Your loving & affectionate Faree

John B. Nash

N.B. You may realise from the foregoing that I answer the letter from each of you in detail. It is possible that I am as busy as anyone. J.B.N.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney N.S.W.
Australia

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Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
10 May 1915

My dear Girls:/

9.30 pm. Letters were posted to you today with hopes that they may have safe passage from Egypt to Australia.

Wounded men have been pouring into here all day. Our admissions up to 5 pm have been 420. As we are the hospital furthest removed from the seat of fighting, how full must those nearer be. We do not get the serious cases, as they are intercepted on the road to us. The fortune of the game I suppose. On account of the work requiring to be done the D.M.S. has, as far as I know, done nothing in regard to my removal. I shall be sorry to leave for the men and the works sake, but I shall have no regrets on the side of the O.C. – I have been & am loyal to him, only because it is my duty as a soldier and a man to be so, but my feelings for him otherwise are those of a very humble kind. Have just finished work and must sleep as I have been going hard since 6 A.M. Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!! A letter was posted to Mollie too. Like unto yours it was far too long. Have taken out four bullets during the day.

2-5-15. 9 p.m. Busy with patients and as acting OC. today. We have nearly 500 wounded men tonight. Those only slightly injured will be got away in a few days. Two were discharged from one of my wards today. Colonel Martin

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

said at dinner that several hundred more will be along tomorrow. I ask about the officers from the men, but rarely are they able to give more than hearsay accounts.
Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!

3-5-15. The crowd of wounded here are doing well, many of them will get out of hospital during the coming week, and soon thereafter some will be in the fighting line ready to dodge or stop the stray bullet as it comes through the air.

9 p.m. Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!! Hurrah!!!!!!!
Thirteen letters for me by the post tonight some of yours bear date on the envelope of 31-3-14. I must read them immediately.

Another event, an order came from General Ford D.M.S. Egypt directing me to be at the Abassia Barracks at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning, & to report personally to him when I had taken over charge. This I shall do. I have already arranged with Col. Martin & I have sent to him some papers to sign. I am now wondering if he will sign them. In my new position it may not be possible for me to write to you so often, however we shall see. Col. Martin refused Jerrom leave to come with me, but General Ford promised me that he would come.

Kitty dear: Your letter was opened first. It had an envelope to itself. Before going on to the others I shall answer it. The matter is arranged in more correct form & pleasing manner than in any former letter from you. Many thanks for it. The first date is 25 March 1915 & the latest 29th March.

Glad that you all liked my letters & that Maria & Doris were also pleased with it. Hy Lucy’s letter is always interesting, he is a man of wide experience who can express himself neatly & clearly. Keep to it every Saturday. Yes a costly war it is at pound;1000 per 1½ minute. How Mrs Franki must have stared when Noel produced the fiancee. But

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her boys have sprung many surprises upon her. Tickets for you and for me should have come from the Agricultural Show people, if I be not back next year & write for them & say that I directed you to do so.

Clarrie Bridge had a rare voyage round the world, I wrote to him some time ago. I wrote to Mr. Bennet formerly of the Orsova, but the letter was returned from the Admiralty "Not Known". Good to ring "Our Buddie" up on Easter Sunday. My best wishes to Nellie Commerford. I have wondered how Mr Potts is. When writing to Jack MacNamara I desired him to convey my best wishes to his Principal. I must write direct before long.

The Editor of the A.M.G. has not sent me copies of the journal. Very thoughtless of him. I have written several articles for the paper. Dr. Peck sent to me a copy of the London Times with information about the speech of Revd. Dr. Littleton. A schoolmaster is always "A man amongst boys and a boy amongst men". The Archbishop is making money out of his Manly land. It is fit to sell it. Intact it was a splendid estate worthy of the palace & the College. A very mercenery spirit to sell it. I am in first class fettle now, eating, sleeping, & able for any amount of work. The rain was making up for an absence.

Joey dear:/ Your letter next as it too had an envelope to itself. As of Kitty’s so of yours, the most interesting and satisfying of all the ones you have written to me. Glad that you liked the article in the Medical Gazette. The men always work well for me, because I am sympathetic with them, keep an eye upon them, &

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I am always at my post without a pipe in my mouth. Our knitting Tabby. Very pleased to note that you have adopted my suggestion of setting down your thoughts from time to time & then posting the whole of them. Good! Gooder!!! Gooder!!!!! My cooking and working Joey too.
Mr Moroney is thoughtful to call upon you when he is in town. My regards when you see him. Must write soon to him.

Dot no doubt likes staying with you in Macquarie St. Coats & skirts are, to my mind, the best for the Summer season. A letter is here from Dr. Paton, I shall open it soon, as your most recent ones have been answered. There are others from you dated 6th April on the envelope, I shall go through them before many minutes. Cohen is a bad boy. The St Marys people appear to me to be acting fairly by the city in regard to the frontage to Phillip Park. I notice most of the letters upon the subject had but initials at foot.

Dr. Kennedy who is leaving for Australia tomorrow told me that he had read the extract from my letter to Mr Mathew Harris, as published in the D. Telegraph. Thank you for sending it. Julius Knight is growing too old. My Kitty is an uncomplaining lassie about her wrist. She is persevering in regard to the violin & the orchestra. She is a sweet Kitty. No palms here on palm Sunday. There should have been.
Pat Watt has not answered my letters. Good Joey to sleep on Sunday afternoon. Yes a lot of money makes even flowers to grow apace. I hope that the Hordern people play the game after the manner of decent men. I never did & do not like the Norton Griffiths business. However the

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Labour people have adopted it and if they get the value of the money in work the country can easily stand it. It interests me muchly. All those subjects are of our country & to me educative. The country people would shout hurrah for the rain. Here ’tis a perpetual drought, but the climate is lovely from an aerial point of view, & irrigation makes the Mud of Egypt yield abundantly.
Del Butler appeared to me to be a refined young woman, and her Mother impressed me very favourably. Good! I hope that you enjoyed the races. Girls are sweet who are particular in speech and tasteful in dress.
I posted a letter to Mr Neil Macdonald yesterday. He is very kind as are the members of his family. I hope that you will not let the rooms as bedrooms. People sleeping on the premises are a nuisance & you should have enough money to manage with. Maria in best form would make the air resound from the piano while Tab & Kit sewed. Thanks for your big prayer. I say some daily for you. Good Night.
 
Tabby dear:/
My best wishes to Dr Kelty. He had a pleasant trip I hope. It was mean of Dr. Dunn to leave my rooms, but it cannot be helped. I am sure that you will manage all right. But dont let the rooms as bed rooms if you can help, it is not convenient or nice to have people in the house at night.
Monsignor OBrien. R.I.P. He was a good looking man, & a gentleman in every fibre.
A letter from Ted is amongst my bundle tonight, it will be opened later. Good man Ted. Tell him McGee near Hunter St, in Castlereagh St cuts my hair in Sydney. The Australians

[Monsignor James J O’Brien (1842-1915), Rector of St John’s College, University of Sydney from 1888.]

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look to be soldiers of the true fighting kind, and now they have proved it, and given the lie direct to their detractors. Good men!
Mrs MacMurray is of the best. To her my kind regards & best wishes as also to the doctor.

Young Herbert Maitland is a budding young particle. Snowy Baker & his crowd had a bad shaking up. It is necessary to be careful with motor cars.
Glad to know that my letters arrive regularly. At this end the post office should be of the best but there are doubts about it. I am now first class. I shall call upon Dr Shuter in a few days now as it will not be so necessary for me to be always on hand, I shall be my on [own] chief, & I hope to be surrounded by a loyal crowd. Of course I shall. Shuter is a rich Russian.

It was best not to go to supper with Herbert Maitland & his friend, girls should always be careful not to make themselves cheap before men, and to be fastidious and careful in their conversation. All these impress men favourably in regard to women.
Your sentences make me fancy that I hear Maria’s interpretation of Bethoven. Good Maria!
Yes if we get back how shall we greet one another. But the day looks far off. Still can we hope that ’twill come sooner than now appears probable. God grant it. I fear me that Dr Paton is a poor prophet.

Cutlets, potatoes, pumpkin, Junket, fruit prepared & got ready by our Joey. Good clever Joey. Give her a kiss from me, forty Kisses.
Right Oh! Right oh!!! Right Oh!!!!!

A letter from Doffie with a late fee stamp upon

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stamp upon it & dated 6th April, contains sentence Sir Francis Suttor died on the 4th of April. And now I notice that your other letters are dated 6th April. I shall read them next. Sir Francis has worked hard for his Native land. He deserved well of N. S. Wales, and filled the presidents chair in the Council with dignity and satisfaction R.I.P. I must write to Lady Suttor.

A letter from Ted, & one from Rene Silk. Nice of her to write. My love to her if you see her.
One from Col. Fallon, all about Military matters and the drought.

Tabbie dear:/ Yours of April 6th opened. The rain was the best that could come to N.S. Wales and Australia. Col. Fallon wrote that the drought conditions were of the very worst. Let me hope that there will be no more dry spells for a long time to come.

Mrs Franki & Kitty were brave to chance the rain, I hope that neither got wet.

I must write to M. Chayet again at an early date. I thought that you had all the powers necessary for selling land in the power of attorney. A nuisance, I shall have it rectified.
Dr. Shubers Chalet is his summer house on the dessert, to it he comes from Cairo to breath the fresh air and take afternoon tea with his friends, and sometimes dinner.

I have not met Harry Stokes the friend to Doris. It has not been possible for me to move about freely, after tomorrow I shall be able to do so in comfort as the danger to my reputation will

[Sir Francis Bathurst Suttor (1839-1915), pastoralist and politician, was president of the NSW Legislative Council from 1903 to 1915.]

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will have passed. Reg Bridge was thoughtful to write home and ask his people to care for you. I must write to him a short note. London is an attractive place for any kind of man with capacity for thinking.
Nothing had been done at Queen’s Square before I left. If artistically developed a scheme for its treatment should produce one of the most beautiful of the kind in any city. It is pity if it be done by an ignoramus or the otherwise incompetent.

I have not seen Pierro Fiaschi lately. I hope that Joseph enjoyed the races. Penshurst looks well from a distance as a home fit for any one to live in.

Joseph dear: / Yours of the beginning of April. The photos by Doris. Many thanks for them. What has my Kitty done to her hair. I did not know her in the new style she has adopted for carrying her cheveux. The jakaranda, the corner of bricks, & the greenery behind Kitty make a picturesque background for two girls of the best. Kitty near the peltate leaves [shield-shaped leaves] and the filter is somewhat dark. How well the fern & other plants have grown Joe dear. Why they quite envelop you seated in the corner. And Non looks ready for bed with dishevelled locks and white robe. Kitty & Doris are shaded by the Jackaranda. Very pleasing to me all. Thanks for them.

The Germans have nothing the best of the war in the destroying of ships. The casualties have been dreadful. Wonder do I what you will think of the list of Australians, both dead and injured? One has to admit that the German at war is a savage of the worst

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order. One does not like to retaliate in kind but it is hard not to join in the chorus of denunciation.
A Labour Ministry in South Australia, the first I have heard of it. Thanks. I think Victoria is the only State where Labour is not in power, were the men only to work conscientiously the States would boom with prosperity notwithstanding the war.
Ian Hamilton & all others today believe that in the Australians there is a first class fighting spirit.
I do not know Crawford Vaughan in Adelaide.
Glad that you enjoyed the races dear. Michael did not teach you how to make money. How has fortune dealt with him of late?
Olga usually looks "nice". My regards to the Regans when you meet them.
Poor Mrs. Leonard Dodds. A bulky lady fit for any Museum. Eh? Did you walk the lawn with her? And petite Mrs. Earp, always suggests a speechless doll to me. George has in her a treasure.
Jack Deorey, I told you, wanted to come to the war with me, but of him none for me.
Of course you looked at the best my dear. Sorry I was not there to admire you.
As right as a bank now in health and spirits. The man who saved my life under the directions of Sister Johnson, as just brought to me a cup of tea and biscuits. When I was very sick the only food I really enjoyed were the tea with biscuits at midnight.

The hour is 12-5 a.m. – 4 May 1915. I shall complete the answering of your letters before I retire for some hours of sleep. Jerrome will

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be here at 6 a.m. to complete my packing. We move off at 9 am for fresh fields and pastures new. Praying for the best.

It was thoughtful to ring up our Buddie My letter reached Buddie rapidly, but you should have received one a day sooner than she, unless it be that hers was delivered on Sunday Morning & you had to wait until Monday. Is Mollie Power as jolly as ever. The Maitland girls have been accomplishing wonders for the Belgian & other war funds. Rene will be an organiser of note before the war ends. She wrote that my Caliban is not visited by her this year.

If we here had our way, some postal people had been hung shot and quartered long ago. We would be as very Germans towards them. The officials in the post offices here are civil and courteous, they are all Christians, Copts, because education is much desired by them as a class, a contrast to the Mohammedans, who do not desire the children to be taught, Alla being all sufficient for them and their children.
The supply of Munitions is a problem with more combatants than the Turks, Lloyd George, Kitchener, French & others cry out with loud voices more guns, more projectiles, more of all destroying engines & projectiles. It is hard to know what to believe in the cablegrams. The fighting in France appears to be about even still. Holman has plenty of knowledge & heaps of brains.

Glad to learn that you were pleased with my cable, I may send you another at the end of this week. Why has Mary O’Connor not written to me. I have written to her & her mother.

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Cohen ha good intentions I think but his performances are not up to his desires. You will find someone to take the rooms soon. Have you advertised them?
Wonder who will be President of the Legislative Council now? I shall read the newspaper articles with interest.

Hamed back again. My regards to him. He is of the hopeful crowd. I see no prospect of the end this year. Mrs Fisher has reputation for being quick witted & well informed. Makes up for the slowness of the old man.

The forcing of the Dardanelles is a rough proposition, and there may be much fighting before it is accomplished. Field Marshall little commedian Springthorpe knows all about it every morning at breakfast. Oh what relief ’twill be to get away from being an observer to him licking his fingers, eating from his Knife, stretching himself at table, and practising many other dirty tricks, and from listening to his coarse voice & filthy conversation. What with him and a weak suspicious O.C. I have had a rotten time indeed. However the fates are propitious and I shall pull through all right.

Kitty dear:/ Heavy rain is damping but it is very necessary in Australia. Sorry the Show was not up to your expectations. When I take you again it may be better weather and more favourable conditions, then we shall enjoy it. Hurrah! Of course my Annie looked sweet setting out for the races. Sweet Annie!
What an enthusiastic Musician you are becoming. One evening at the Town Hall, a day at Santa Sabina, & on Sunday in the Orchestra at St. Marys.

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You must be developing a rare musical talent.
Please remember me to Mr. Asprey and my other friends. One of our sick men must have developed a cough, as for an hour I have heard him endeavouring to get something out of his lungs. Sorry to learn that Noel Franki has not been well at the Balmain hospital. Glad M. M. Joseph is allowing Buddie to have her photo taken to send to me. Hope that you liked mine on the horse I require some more & have ordered them.

I must write to Sir Herbert Maitland congratulating him on his Knighthood. Should have done so before. It was good of Lady Maitland to ask you & Mary OConnor to her place. Why has Mary not written to me.
I shall hope for the arrival of the Sunday times. No newspapers have been delivered to me of late.

To night when I was arranging with the Colonel about my leaving, I asked that Jerrom should go with me. The request was refused. However General Ford has told me that he is to go. When I see the General tomorrow I shall have Jerrom ordered to come with me. He was sad when I told him how the Colonel had acted, but it will be all right.

Good night My dears. God bless you all. Thank Doris Adams for taking the photographs, they will find place in my pocketbook, and will be often looked at.
Best wishes to all my friends. To Mgr Travers, Mgr Moroney & others. I wrote to the former during the week, to Colonel Fiaschi and others
Good night! Good night! Good night! [Lines of Xs and Os] Car. [Lines of Xs and Os] Joe [Lines of Xs and Os] Kit

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Read Gossip on J. L. Trefle. He was an honest man, not of great capacity, but of the best. I wrote to his widow.

Have read all the other articles. Now to bed
Good night

5-5-15. 11-15 p.m. A running beastie of some Egyptian species has just with great speed caused across my table. What was it? Like a centipede! Gone why bother. It looked scared. Then why did it venture.

If you know any wicked words, and you were here this moment, your assistance would be enlisted to swear loud deep and long. There are two carbide lamps here. One is working fairly well but has the jumps the second refuses to pass the gas through the burner. It comes close up to the lighting point but beyond that no. My ingenuity is exhausted by efforts to make both shine bright. If they would but do it, several letters might be answered before I go to bed.

My lines are cast in a New Spot to-night. They may or may not be in it for long. Yesterday morning I left Mena & No. 2 GH. Shall I ever go back? That cannot be answered with surety by anyone. However here am I my own chief. Cols Martin & Springthorpe are far away, the former can pursue his own course while I mine, & the voice of the latter cannot annoy me. What a nuisance ’tis to be educated to a standard wherein truth is valued, knowledge respected, and puerility in the aged not appreciated.
Information has reached me this afternoon

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that Pierro Fiaschi is to be along tomorrow to act as one of my officers. He will just suit me, and it may that it will be good for him. He has been making the pace too warm in Cairo, & my influence, as an old chap, may steady him. He is deficient in ballast, while possessing heaps of ability.

I am just wondering what has become of Jerrom. Col. Martin refused to let him come with me. General Ford ordered that he was to be sent along with me. Col. Springthorpe would not act on the Generals Order. Jerrom called upon me at Abyssia about noon today, left his belongings here and told me that he would be back during the afternoon, but ’tis now 11-30 p.m. and he has not come. No doubt he will find himself before long. The light has the jumps & the betting is that before many minutes – out shes gone. Blow it! [indecipherable] some was required for swearing. Now try to light it again. Wonder shall I manage? She is going, but badly, a mere flicker, it with the jumps. Was Out again. I fear me this time hopeless. It is strange how one cannot make things go like this on first acquaintance. The doctor who was here before me said that the Carbide lamp was a nuisance. Thus far I agree with him. It is probable however that the fault lies in his ignorance and mine. Time will tell.

The list of killed and wounded Australians, the sequel to the Dardanells fight not yet out. You may have it, we have not. There is no doubt but that it

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I [it] will be cabled to you before it is allowed to be in the newspapers in this part of the world.

No tea tonight. I have biscuits cheese and a bottle of lemonade on the table I shall consume some of them soon. The light is so bad, an oil lamp, that writing & reading is not much longer possible. Mena had first class electric light. Can do without it, and without other things also when it’s necessary.
Good night! Good night !!! Good night!!!!!

On receipt of this letter, unless you be otherwise advised by cable address your letters "C/o The D.M.S., Cairo, Egypt." If necessary I shall arrange to collect them from his office. Good night
[A line of Xs and Os] Car [A line of Xs and Os] Joseph [A line of Xs and Os] Kitty

Letters came from Mrs Abbot of St. Margarets hospital, and Hugh D. MacIntosh this morning.

8-5-15 – Note how rapidly the Month of May is rushing on. Yet by the end much may have happened in many places. The war in Europe appears to be waging with increased fierceness, yet neither side is able to move forward, beyond the sea-saw which during the whole of the winter months was the outcome of the contests in France both North and South. Galicia is the place where the backward and forward movements have been over more miles but even here the Russians have gained something and weeks afterwards, they had returned to the place from which they had set out. All this while not abating our confidence, still pushes the end further on into the future. Is

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it, think you, better to be as is Dr. Paton, sure that the ending of the war is near at hand or to be of those who cannot see it, and who when they think cannot find a termination within the space of years. Each thinker is in bad plight, and I know not which gets most satisfaction for himself or who gives of it to other people. We can but wait and see.

Here, to the East of Cairo, during the early hours of three mornings my horses head has been turned in various directions.

Heliopolis close by me, the City of the Sun truly midst the sands of the dessert, is a specimen of Oriental Magnificence which on the whole mayhap ’twere hard to beat. The Palace Hotel where is the hospital run by Ramsay Smith I have written about formerly. It is now the centre of the greatest hospital in Egypt, being a tribute to the ability and energy of Smith & Barrett, the latter of Melbourne. Had it been my good fortune to get in with them, my full power for work might have been utilised. However own show here may develop, and if not something else will turn up and I shall pull through.

The palace of the Sultana Mother, is a large place in its own grounds. Externally it is surrounded by a sandstone two feet high as a wall, from which rises iron palisading. The grounds at the moment are divided into various sections. The most easterly serves as a domicile for milch cows, sheep, and the like, suggesting that for the use of the household supply is here kept. Perhaps to guard against any tampering with the food by evil minded persons. Soldiers act as sentries at each gate. Grass plots, the greenness of which bespeaks careful watering, beds of flowering plants such as phlox, petunias, geraniums, and the like, are at the very best, giving a touch of varied colour to the grass & the grey with brown of the building stone, truly is one impressed as he rides past,

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the building of Stone, many storied, much windowed, is in first class order suggesting neatness and education of those upon whom responsibility falls for maintenance in both painting and decorating, these showing to advantage the architectural characteristics. From the highest point, by date floats, the Egyptian flag, a red ground with two white crescents. Many other private houses bespeak, from the outside, much wealth while the gardens indicate the tastes of the owner.

Here and there green spaces, recreation grounds, golf links, point to joint action on the part of the residents for common good. The asphalts roads, the side walks, the shops, the electric lighting, the street lamps, the trees, are of high degree in perfection, as becomes the luxurious. Were these set out otherwhere than with the dessert as a boundry all would be satisfactory.

Today is Saturday. In good health but in not in good writing fettle this week.

11-30 a.m. a copy of the Catholic Press of date 1-4-15 has just come to hand. Who sent it? The address was C/o A. G., London, but it must have come direct, there has not been time to reach England & return to here. I did not find a paragraph marked for me to read. No other papers have reached me of late.

I saw an account of the Norris Lane Mullins wedding. A lenten affair which went off well. Good luck to them!

To my friends please convey my best wishes and regards. To yourselves Heaps of love & loads of Kisses from your loving and afft faree
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney
N.S. Wales.

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Lieut. Col. Nash
M.

Mena House
The Pyramids
Egypt
3 May 1915

My Mollie dear:/

What do you in Australia think of the Gallipoli fight? What will you say of it when you read the lists of officers and men who have been killed and wounded? One fact appears evident, it being that the men from the island continent fought well and proved themselves worthy of their breeding. Will the end of their mission be successful? Time will tell.

We have about 450 wounded men here, for the most part each is pierced by a bullet which has passed through some part of a limb. The bullet used by the Turk is a human projectile, sharp of point it pushes aside the cotton & woolen fibres of the clothing, thus avoiding carrying poisonous materials from them, it cuts a clean round hole where it enters, passes rapidly cauterising the tissues thus rendering them aseptic, stars & everts the skin at exit. The sequel is rapid healing of the wound. When near to nerves or large blood vessels it pushes them aside mostly bruising not cutting them. A wide bone is clearly punctured, a narrow one is broken in pieces because there is not width wherein to make a hole. Pieces of shell and irregular bullets caused larger and more serious wounds. We being at the farthest point from the area where raged the contest we see none of the immediately

[Page 364]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

serious cases. The flood of wounded has prevented my being moved from No. 2 G. H. Everyone has been so busy with patching soldiers up, that no moments are left for considering moves. However it may come soon.

Personally my mind is somewhat fogged by war news to hand during the last few days The authorities serve up news as they think will be best for ordinary folk, that belief in their statements is not midst one’s profession of faith. In the end the truth can be also tracked from the sentences supplied. Of course it must come out in the end. The powers that be in, a country or rather Empire like ours, can deceive some of the people all the time most of the people for some of the time but not all of the people all the time. They must let us know after a time.

The Australian hospitals and their personal, will for the most part, be kept in Cairo for the Egyptian Summer.

I posted a too long letter to you on Saturday morning, others with Australian addresses were stamped and sent on today.

Good bye for the present. [Lines of Xs and Os]

5-5-15 – 10.20 pm. Yesterday morning at 9 o’clock I left No. 2 G.H. to come to a place on the other side of Cairo, named Abbassia, there to take charge of a hospital. It is not as good a show as No 2. but, it has some advantages, firstly I shall be chief, secondly I shall be away from Colonel Martin, thirdly the voice of the Little Commedian cannot there reach me & cause me irritation. These two, absent from the precincts of my present above, are much appreciated. I heard today that Captain Pierro Fiaschi is to be my assistant here, if so

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we shall do good work for the soldier men, and that is the main purpose of our mission.

On Monday night thirteen letters came to me. Four from the girls, the best they have ever sent, because on several days each added a small portion to what had been anteriorly put together, the sum being much information that I desired, to keep me in touch with what is happening in Australia and New South Wales.
No letter from you for ages, ages, & ages. A sentence in one of the letters from Macquarie St., informed me that M. M. Prioress had granted permission for you to be photographed that a copy might be sent on to me. For this much thanks in advance. And the date of the letters reminds me that you should & could have written of Easter Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, had you done so your words and sentences should be with me now.
The girls spoke to you by phone on Easter Sunday and on Tuesday Morning they received a cablegram from me. These were written about in their letters hence your delinquencies are present in my mind. It may be, of course, that you were so tired of reading my effussions that had accumulated during the seven weeks of lent, that you feared to make attempt to answer them. If this be so I must apologise. For the weeks that went before the lenten season no thought was in my mind of the arrival in N. S. Wales of my letters. I must not forget another time, if there be letters to be written and posted in 1916. Wonder shall there be? Who can tell. This time last year none expected that such crowds of Australians would be in

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Egypt in the year of grace 1915. Yet here we are. Not only here, but our comrades at the present, lying wounded in any hospital from Alexandria to Cairo, and worse still many of them dead on the feild of battle, midst the hills and shrubs of the Gallipoli peninsula, as a result of a fight against the Turks & Germans. We here, anxiously, await the casualty list, for confirmation of the rumours as to who have been killed and who wounded. One thing we know that gives us and you satisfaction, is the manner in which both officers and men proved themselves worthy of their forefathers, at the same time, honouring their Mothers. Yet ’tis little satisfaction to the dead. For them we can be say God rest their souls and class them midst the illustrious. Bravo do we say of them. Bravo!! Bravo!!! Bravo!!!!!. Good luck to them all the time & every time. The task set them is said by the experts to have been, one of the most difficult of military exploits. In Heliopolis hospital there are more than fifteen hundred wounded. What think you of that? All Australians. There are many hundreds more in other places.
Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!.
[A line of Xs and Os]

8.5-15. The days of May are slipping on. The wounded Australians still continue to pour in here from Gallipoli officers & men alike. We have had no list of the killed. Lists of British officers appear each morning but none relating to our own men. Naturally we should like to know. We are given no information this morning. This is depressing. In fact, the telegrams for several days now have been sorry reading, even though they are purposely made favourable for us, the convincing side of the sentences as to sincerety is entirely absent. It is probable

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that the Military leaders on both sides expect during the Months of may or June to fight battles which will give advantage. The side that gains it must profit much by the success. As you know my great respect for the German weight and training, you can easily imagine that my mind is not quite confident as to the result whether it be in France or the Dardanelles. In this last place, I should not be surprised if the task set our men has not been too great. However they must ultimately worry through. This is the British way. The German way is exactly otherwise, as the Teuton leaves almost nothing to chance having weighed the pros and cons and the side issues that may be to others entirely unexpected. The Australians at Gallipoli were guilty of all the acts which bespeak the novice, no fear, rapid advance, far beyond the point of controll, shooting bayonetting German or Turk. No quarter was asked by either side, the bullet and the bayonet were launched on their deadly missions, we know some of the effect upon the Australians, we have been told about what happened to the enemy, but to how great extent he paid his tribute in dead & wounded is indefinite to high degree.

This is Saturday, so you letter must be closed. But few of your minutes will be required in the reading of it. A change from previous weeks. Good bye! Good bye!!! Good bye!!!!!

To Mother M. Joseph & her Sisters my kindest reg & best wishes. To yourself heaps of love & loads of kisses,
Your lvg & affnt Faree
John B Nash

[Lines of Xs and Os]

Sister M. Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
N. Maitland
N. S. Wales

[Page 368]

P.S. 9-5.15. Sunday. You have no idea how happy I am in my new show. No mean petty small minded creature like Martin, a constant menace to any decent man, and the voice and dirty habits of the Little Commedian thirteen miles away. My show they may call not great, and the gentry will be abusing me in all sorts of ways. Never mind that is their part of the game not mine. It is a nuisance to be particular, but it is my way and for being so the responsibility is mine. Accept it willingly do I.

Yesterday after noon General Sir John Maxwell with his staff and Surgeon Gen. Ford called to see me, and to inspect the hospital. All went well and gave me a good commencement. Distinguished company too. Lieut. Prince Henry of Battenberg. Lieut The Marquis of Anglesey. Sir John Maxwell is chief of all the British forces in Egypt. A bluff soldier who takes a man at his worth for work and tells the duffer straight out that he is of no use. The right sort of soldier.

On waking this morning the first question that arose in my mind – "Where shall I hear mass?" Answer came. "Oh! The King of the Belgians was Chief of the syndicate, who are credited with the building of the modern Heliopolis. The beautiful Church, modelled on the Byzantine style, in the centre of the City has large plain white crosses surmounting every dome and spire, it may be a Catholic Church of the Roman communion. Get horse, ride there first and find out. Set out on the horse at 7.30 a.m., gallope across the sand, trotted along the streets, arrived at the Church door, gave the reins to an arab, accosted a man whom I took to be French – "Monsieur. L’eglise Catholic, si vous plais?" "Yes Sir. The Catholic Church", came prompt reply. Sorry that I used French words. Read a notice on the right hand side of entrance "Roman Catholic Church." Walked inside.

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, there were about fifty persons seated & kneeling . An acolyte was extinguishing candles on the Lady altar, he lighted two candles on the main altar. Just in time thought I. At one minute to eight o’clock a beareded padre walked in to the altar followed by the Acolyte. Mass began sharp at 8 o’clock, finishing at 8.30. There were about twenty Communicants. The interior of the Church is artistic in every line curved or straight. I must ask after what model it has been constructed. Simple in details severe, artistic, impressive, devotional, architecturally proportioned in every particular.

"I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again. I leave the world and go to the Father." John XVI.

Good bye again. Busy today. Not yet got work going well here. Hope to do so soon. General Ford told me that he wants not keep me here longer than to give the place a satisfactory start.

"Men ought to despise the finish of workmanship which is done for vanity’s sake, and to love the finish of work which is done for truth’s sake." Modern Painters.

Every good be with the Community & you now and always.
Your affnt Faree
John B. Nash

[Lines of Xs and Os]

[Page 370]

[Pages 370 to 378 are a nine-page letter, dated 9 May 1915, from Dr Nash to his "Girls". The pages are out of order and the letter is transcribed here in the page order in which it should be read. See individual images for detail. (At the top of the second and following pages of the letter is the word "Girls, which is)]

Lieut Col. Nash

C/o The D.M.S.
Cairo
Egypt
9 May 1915

My dear Girls:/

Letters were posted to you at the head post office in Cairo. Let me hope that the contents will be pleasing to you.

This afternoon I drove to Mena, with object to settle my accounts with the Manager & to see some of the patients. At the door of the Caravanserai I met Col. Springthorpe, I just said good day & went on. I concerns me little whether I ever see Col. Martin, Col. Springthorpe, or Major Grey ever again.

Captain Williams, one of the best, went with me. We were back at our posts at 6.30 p.m. partook of dinner, chatted, then I came to my quarters, had a shower bath, got into my pyjamas, sat at the table, commenced to write some more letters, and am now chatting with you

An anecdote for Mary O’Connor & others. A rather overbearing eyeglassed Major was inspecting companies on board ship. He surveyed John Smith carefully, adjusting his eyeglass to make sure, then remarked as sequel to a glaring look: - "Ha! Ha! No shave!" John Smith replied like a flash. "He! He! No razor!" Even trained soldiers could scarce restrain a smile. When J.S. had shaved previously, he borrowed a razor from a pal.

[2 – image 371]
11-5-15. Do you know what happiness is? Since leaving you at Circular Quay my position under Lnt Colonel Martin has been such as to make for unhappiness all the time. It was of no use complaining, but now I am away from him & his show. It is sincerely to be hoped that with Martin Springthorpe and Gray I shall not more have anything to do. To each as to any one else I shall be politely civil on every occasion but beyond that nothing.

The Isolation hospital in which I am now in charge is not much of a show, but it will develop, and General Ford has told me that I shall not be kept here for long. Where to next lies in the laps of the gods, and what kind of gods, God alone knows. As you know never a man set out with better intent to do good work for his show, it was annoying to find my efforts blocked at every step.

I fear that letters to you will for the future be brief. However I shall do my best to set out a few words every day.

The Jackarand is a favourite about Cairo. At the present moment nearly every tree is in bloom, some are as one sees those in the Sydney Botanical Gardens in full bloom, and then flowers interspersed with green leaves.
Another common flowering plant is the Oleander also now blooming, mostly of the red petalled variety.

This is a beast of a day. The wind is blowing off the dessert, bringing clouds of dust which spreads over & gets into everything.

Patients are pouring in here in large numbers this morning, giving to every body heaps of work, and to make things worst one of my men is sick in bed, an unfortunate man too. An eye must be kept on all of them, else a tangle would soon come about. It will come right.

My peck of dust will soon be swallowed here.

[3 – image 378]
What do you people think of the sinking of the Lusitania? If the Germans cannot win the war, they should be made to pay dearly for this wanton murder. What more is it? The destroying wilfully of a great ship, laden with non-combatants of all ages, from infancy to old age, rich and poor. A reign of terror is all right for the man who can terrorise. But can William of Germany with all his vaunted legions, withstand for all time the British French & Russian onslaught? He appears to be having the best of the fighting just now and I should not be surprised to see him victorious on this years fighting. Can he be so at the end of 1916? I think not, anyhow as far as our Empire is concerned. You know that faith in the Russians has never been a strong point with me, and in the staying power of the French it is a mistake to believe too highly. It is supposed from the telegrams that they have done well so far. Better than might have been expected. Can they keep it up. The histories of decadant nations give the answer, No. Let us hope that, in this case it should be yes.

12-5-15 – 10 am.
At the end of this week, tis in my mind to send to you a cable message. You may be somewhat anxious about me, a few words will relieve your mind, letting you know that I am still in Cairo.

This morning I was for a ride to the North of Heliopolis, towards the Nile river. The cultivated la[n]d, irrigated by canals and drains is the same as near Mena. Men, women, children, don’t keep, camels, working the fields. … buffalo, shed, goats camels, and donkeys grazing on the lucern & other fodder or helping in the labour.

The barley is ripe or nearly so. Some fields have been reaped and the threshing is taking place. For doing the manual labour involved in separating the grain from the stalk, Bedowin Arabs wander round from place to place, camping on any vacant spot, in their primitive tents. The coloured tents in the paintings by de Leener [Jan de Leener, worked 1890s to 1920s, Australia] are very swell affairs, but the design is much the same as that put up by the humblest. Material of some kind supported by pieces of bamboo or other wood. The men the women the children goats sheep & donkeys huddle up

[4 – image 377]
on the lee side of the canvas structure. They look to be of the humblest in the land. One girl was cutting the wool of a sheep with what looked like a small table knife, the mutton was resting uncomplainingly upon the left side, the wool, more like mohair than that from our fleeces, was placed on the ground alongside the sheareress. I pulled up watched for a little and then said quies! Good, Inter-quies!!! Very good, and rode on.
Another woman was grinding corn. Two large flat stones are apposed, the surfaces rubbing together being roughewn by the grooves. A hole is in the centre of the upper one through this the corn is dropped, a wooden handle projects from the top side of the upper stone. With it the stone is turned round and round, the corn is ground between the nether & the upper stone. Thus the meal and flour were made in & before the days of Noah, & so they are done here today. The women probably did it then & so they do today.
Primitive really! Wonder are they all happy? Mayhap.

Milk: If a householder requires milk here, a man brings round the cow or the goat, milks the fluid into a basis or jug collects the money and goes on to the next house.

Some large jakarandas looked splendid all the branches bearing full blooms.

The palaces on the edge of the cultivated lands are enclosed by high plastered stone walls, within which are extensive orchards, stabling accommodation, flower gardens, & other signs of luxury.

Captain Williams, with whom I live, had charge of the princely relations of the late Kehdive, when they were under surveillance in the Citadel Gentlemen every one of them, educated at Oxford, also in France, with money in abundance, none of them liked the incarceration, the Kehdive had gone away, they were left. Williams is just the man for such a job, and I have no doubt that he, performed it well. He comes from Queensland & is a great contrast to the three Mena men with who I was in close contact at Mena. He is of the Harold Sparks build and type. Mirth flows forth from him during each meal, whereat he keeps

[5 – image 376]
Captain (Dr.) Plant & me highly amused. He saw service in South Africa as a private, of it he tells us much in an amusing way.

14-5-15. 11-45 pm. During every day this week I have looked for letters from you none has arrived. On Wednesday several letters and papers came from Melbourne, but not one from Sydney. A mail arrived but why not from your city it is difficult to understand. We shall now have to wait till next week

On Thursday morning, Ascension Day, and this morning (Friday) I visited a most interesting place. It is at Matariyyeh, a town about two miles from where I am writing, on the other side of Heliopolis. It is on the site of Old Heliopolis. An obelisk, brother to the Cleopatra’s needle that is on the Thames embankment, marks the site of the ancient city. It was brought as all other large blocks of granite from far up the Nile, and has battle gainst the elements of time and weather for some six thousand years, a venerable land mark that has capacity, as far as one can judge, to stand for as long a time in the future as has been its midst the centuries that have passed.
To Christian people the Virgins well, the Virgins tree, the Balm garden, & the Chapel connected therewith are the attractions. With them are associated traditions of the Holy Family during their residence in Egypt. In the 2nd Chapter of St. Matthew is narrated the causes for and the flight into Egypt and the return to Nazareth of Joseph Mary and the child Jesus. It was at or near the Virgins well or spring that their humble habitation had its site. The Jesuit fathers have a presbytery in the garden, and judging from present appearances they exercise a loving care over their charge. I have not yet spoken with any of them but I must do so at an early date, but first I shall call at their house in Cairo. Letters to the principal

[6 – image 375]
have been in my possession since I was in Alexandria, up to date they have not been delivered.
The new Church was entered by me on Thursday a little before 8 a.m. I just had time to say a few prayers and then galloped back to breakfast. It is in the Balm garden, entrance being through iron gates which are in the surrounding walls. A native boy held my horse The Church in cruciform with a surmounting dome & subsidiary domes. The long arm of the cross is for the congregation, the three other arms are for the main and two latteral altars. The seating accomodation is for about 120 persons and as many more might comfortably find standing room. The interior suggests religious piety of the highest order, and care of the best by those who look to it.
The main altar is decorated in simple style. Above it in a recess is a Holy Family group, lighted by a window in the surmounting dome. The Virgin seated, the child standing on her knee and St Joseph standing. The grouping and setting are pleasing suggesting much that that has been written of the family from which has dated modern events and upon whose history has been built the morals and ethics of close on two thousand years, of a character and class which we say to be and think to be of a standard far in advance of any previous civilisation or of those which now survive in the world. Such being the case ’tis to me a great privelige to have opportunity for visiting and taking notes about the plot of land and its features which have been trod and utilised by so holy and such epoch making people.
The altars in the latteral arms of the cross are well cared for. Stained glass windows serve to light the congregation’s space, below them are arranged the relief pictures of the Stations of the Cross in ordinary sequence, and lower still are six frescoes, three on the left

[7 – image 374]
three on the right. From rear to front they are
1. "Massacre des Innocents". Herods soldiers are depicted killing the infants in the presence of their Mothers.
2. "Ordre due Depart". An angel is telling St. Joseph to set out for Egypt, he is seated in the centre of the room, and his carpenters tools lie on the floor close by. The virgin an child recline on a raised couch in the corner of the room.
3. "Fuite vers L’Egypt". The Virgin, with child on lap, is seated astride a donkey, their family luggage hanging in small parcels across the neck of the animal, St. Joseph leading it.
On the right from the front to rear:–
4. "Halt au bord du Nil." The Virgin with Child on lap is seated near a sphynx. An angel stands just behind them. St Joseph has the donkey at the river drinking. All is dessert sand around relieved but by a few date palms, varying sizes.
5. "L’arbre de la Vierge". The Virgin is seated on a knotty root of the tree, the child on her lap. St Joseph standing close by. The donkey tethered on the other side of the trees trunk.
6. "Entree a Heliopolis". The Virgin with child on lap is seated aside on the donkey. St Joseph follows. The group under the arch of the great gate which served as entrance to the city.

The colour tone of the pictures is pale blue, and the vestements of the people a dark blue. The paintings may not be of high artistic value, but they set out the story in graphic style for each who looks and thinks.

On Friday morning at 7 O’Clock I was again at the Church in time for Mass. A French priest officiated, three of his colleagues were within the altar rails. I was the congregation. A Notice at the gate gives warning – "Mass every morning at 8 O’Clock, during May at 7 O’Clock also.

[8 – image 373]
On Assencion Thursday, two Sisters of the Church had in charge some fifty children, while there were some men and women ready to hear the Mass to be said at 8 O’Clock.

I enclose you some pictures.

To night when at No. 1 General Hospital I was speaking with Ramsay Smith about the Chapel. At once that indefatigable worker said "Oh I have some photographs of the place, exterior and interior, he showed me the negatives and he has promised to have some pictures struck off for me. I offered to pay for them but he said that he would have them done. I hope that he will as I should prize them much for sending to you. They would be original and unique. One of you could take them to Santa Sabina to let M. M. Bertrand & the others see them.

The Virgins well is close by. The water is clear and sweet, attested to by my drinking from a glass of it presented to me by a Native. The Sycamore tree, (really a fig tree), which now represents the original, is a knotty gnarled decrepit specimen, bowed towards the ground to so great extent, that to prevent it from falling supports are kept applied to each part. If not two thousand years old it suggest great age and slow growth. It is enclosed by a special railing, but is marked in every inch by names carved upon it by the ruthless knife of the visitor. Mulberry and other trees flourish round about.

The Balm garden is so called because formerly the trees called "Balm" waere grown there, and from them was extracted the perfume which could not be equalled, the juice exuding from the cut inner bark, the oil after a long process of treatment separating from the rest of the fluid. It

[9 – image 372]
It was the property of the ruler in Egypt, and he distributed it to various potentates & other people. A drop was much prized for batysmal purposes, especially by the Abyssinians. Do you remember to have heard of this before? I shall post to you a book that will give to you more information than is set out in these sheets.

I am glad that before leaving Egypt it has been my good fortune to visit so holy and interesting a shrine.

Wounded still continue to pour into Egypt from the Dardanells, train loads of officers and men come to Cairo each day. As yet no list has been issued. We wonder if you yet have been provided with a roll of those killed. Some of the wounded are not recovering. I have been told that Dr. Joe Kenny, brother I think to the girls from W. Australia who one time were at Santa Sabina was killed with others of his Ambulance.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!! I shall finish this for post tomorrow. [Lines of Xs and Os.] Car. [Lines of Xs and Os.] Joe. [Lines of Xs and Os.] Kit.

Just to think of it, when I was outside a few minutes ago, walking to the office, some drops of rain fell upon me. They were really wet.

15-5-15. Saturday – Posting today. May add something as a supplement tomorrow in another envelope. No letters from Sydney yet. Shall hope for next week.

Good bye my dears. God bless you. To all my friends best wishes & kind regards. To yourselves heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your lvng & affn Faree
John B Nash.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St.
Sydney
N. S. Wales.

[Page 371]

[Page 2 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 372]

[Page 9 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 373]

[Page 8 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 374]

[Page 7 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 375]

[Page 6 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 376]

[Page 5 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 377]

[Page 4 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 378]

[Page 3 of a letter dated 9 May 1915. See page 370 for transcription.]

[Page 379]

[An account by Lieutenant John Williams (11th Infantry Battalion) of his voyage on HMAT A11 Ascanius in November 1914, including an account of the sinking of the German cruiser Emden. Printed document (eight pages with a handwritten note by Dr Nash at the end.]

S.S. Ascanius,
High Seas.

At about 4 p.m. on October 30th 1914, we heard the familiar voice of the Adjutant, Lieut. J.H. Peck, warning the Officers of our Battalion 11th A.I.F. to report at once at the Commanding Officers Tent. After the many disappointments regarding the date of departure we were too slow to attribute any special significance to this order, but nevertheless promptly carried it out. We found the Commanding Officer (Col. J. Lyon Johnson) awaiting our arrival. After the customary morning salutation he informed us that Marching Orders had been received and that we were to make arrangements forthwith in our respective Companies to entrain for Fremantle at Helena Vale Siding, which is situated half a mile west of our Camp.

By noon the whole of the Battalion less two Companies, "A" & "B" were on board the Troopship Ascanius, and duly quartered.

The two Companies, "A" & "B" embarked on the S.S. Medic. I found the Troopship a vessel of 10,040 tons very comfortably fitted out for Officers, N.C.O.’s and men, and a striking contrast to my mind, to the Troopship accommodation provided during the last South African campaign. We found that, with ourselves the 10th Battalion, South Australians, and the crew, we had nearly 3,000 souls on board. Allow me here to mention that to care for our spiritual welfare we had his Lordship the Right Rev Dr Cyril Golding-Bird, Bishop of Kalgoorlie who ranks as a Captain, in the Battalion, and the Rev Father John Fahey, who also ranks as a Captain, who is entrusted with the care of our Catholic brethren. Two Doctors attended to our Medical welfare namely:– Dr E.T. Brennan Perth, Senior Medical Officer and Dr Nott, Adelaide, Junior Medical Officer. Four Military Sisters comprise the Nursing Staff, two from South Australia and two from West Australia.

The troopship is fitted with a fine Hospital and every facility for caring for the sick. At

[Lieutenant John Williams, 41, a clerk at Military Head Quarters, Perth, WA, embarked from Fremantle on 2 November 1914 onG HMAT A11 Ascanius with G Company, 11th Infantry Battalion.

Lieutenant Colonel James Lyon Johnston, 51, sharebroker of Boulder, WA, embarked from Fremantle on 2 November 1914 on HMAT A11 Ascanius in command of the 11th Infantry Battalion.

Lieutenant John Henry Peck, 28, soldier at Military Head Quarters, Perth, WA, embarked from Fremantle on 2 November 1914 on HMAT A11 Ascanius with Head Quarters, 11th Infantry Battalion

Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Edward Thomas Brennan, DSO MC, medical practitioner of Fremantle, WA, embarked from Fremantle on 2 November 1914 on HMAT A11 Ascanius as Regimental Medical Officer with Head Quarters, 11th Infantry Battalion. He landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 with the 3rd Brigade and was mentioned in Divisional Orders for "having performed various acts of conspicuous gallantry or valuable service". He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1916 and the Military Cross in 1917. He returned to Australia in late 1918.

Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Harry Carew Nott, 26, medical practitioner of Lower Mitcham, SA, embarked from Adelaide on 20 October 1914 as Medical officer with the 10th Infantry Battalion. He returned to Australia in early 1916.]

[Page 380]

4 p.m. on the date of embarkation we put out into Gage Roads where we spent an uninteresting time until 4 a.m. Monday, November 2nd, the interim being spent in settling down the troops, and regulating their accommodation.

No civilians were allowed near the troopship during embarkation, nor were they allowed to visit the ship whilst anchored outside the harbour.

As already stated we weighed anchor at 4 p.m. on November 2nd, and were immediately joined by the two British and one Japanese men-of-war, our first out was quite uneventful. The sea was calm, few men were sick, and it was a glorious Australian day.

On the morning of November 3rd at 6 a.m. everybody seemed to be on deck. It was generally supposed that the fleet of vessels carrying the Australian Forces would assemble at this time, but it was not until 3 p.m. that a most glorious and historic sight was witnessed, one that has never been known in the history of the world, and probably will not be seen again, at any rate in our time. The whole of the ships carrying the Australian Forces had now joined issued, together with their escort. In all there were about 46 vessels 37 of which were troopships, carrying approximately 35,000 men the pick of Australasia, who were going abroad to assist the Mother Country in upholding the cause of the King and Empire. The escort probably totalled another 10,000 men. It was a glorious and majestic sight.

On the 4th nothing of special importance occurred. The sea became a little rough and there were a few vacant seats at the various tables. The evenings commencing from the 5th have been made somewhat dull and monotonous by the fact that all lights, except those absolutely essential for the working of the boat, have to be extinguished, and even the remainder have to be veiled. Frequent rumors were current regarding the possibility of encountering the enemy the greatest concern being attached to the possibility of

[Page 381]

meeting the famous German Cruiser the Emden.

On the 6th it was discovered that a few cases of measles on board, and two on pneumonia, with the exception of the two latter, all the patients were South Australians.

I will here endeavour to name a few of the Troopships in the fleet, and their tonnage.

Euripides 15,000 tons; Argyllshire 10,392; Shropshire 11,911 Afric 11,999; Benalla 11,118; Rangatira 10,010; Star of Victoria 9,150; Hororata 9,491; Omrah 8,130; Miltiades 12,050; Orvieto 12,130; Pera 6,735; Saldanna 4,934; Katuna 4,641; Hymettus 4,606; Suffolk 7,573; Wiltshire 10,390; Medic 12,032; Ascanius 10,010; Star of England 9,150: Geelong 7,954; Port Lincoln 7,943; Karoo 5, 127; Marrare 6,443; Clan McQuorcodale 4,121; also the Southam, Anglo Egyptian, Armidale and others whose tonnage I am unable to ascertain.

I referring to the Australian Imperial Force I omitted to mention heretofore that it included 10,000 New Zealanders. Fine weather again prevails, and everybody seems well and contented. The ship’s officers were found to be very nice and obliging the Captain, an old sea dog named Chimes, has readily and rightly been styled the modern George Washington by everyone who comes in contact with him when he has a few moments to spare, nevertheless she appears to be a good and worth seamen.

On the 7th we found ourselves travelling very slowly, and if possible more cautiously. Tropical heat was now being experienced, and every person was more or less languid. The Commanding Officers, in their good judgment have ordered the men to do only such work as is necessary for the preservation of health and discipline.

Yesterday I omitted to mention that a man from my own company named Power was admitted to Hospital, and as I have had in my time two serious attacks of this

[Page 382]

wretched complaint one on a troopship I can sympathise with him This morning the doctor told me that in addition to the two or three serious cases of influenza and forty or fifty of sandy blight and other minor complaints.

Today rumours regarding the possibility of touch with the enemy have become more pronounced, and the additional precautions taken indicate that there is some substance in the rumour.

For instance, Dinner had hitherto been held at 7 pm was ordered for 5 30 pm which indicates clearly that no lights will be allowed in the saloon even for the purpose of dinner.

On the 8th the Euripides was seen to pull out to the flank from her leading position in the fleet heaved to for a few moments and then regained her place. This was done I regret to say, for the purpose of disposing of the body of a soldier named Kendall, who had died a few hours previously. Our own man Power I also regret to say, has according to the Doctor, no possible hope of recovery.

The sea is fairly rough, and the weather is hot and sultry.

The latest rumour is to the effect that there are some strange warships in the vicinity of Cocos Island, and in view of this fact our men have all been exercised in life boat drill, and posts allotted to Officers and men alike in case of an attack or other danger. There is a Government wireless station at Cocos Island, and it is said that since receiving the messages about the strange vessels the following signal has been received by several boats in the fleet, the letters S.O.S. This is the signal of distress, and interpreted means, "Save our Souls."

Early the following morning the same signal was taken by the wireless operator, and on receipt of this, three of the warships including the H.M.A.S. Sydney turned back to Cocos Island at racing speed. This was the morning of the 9th November, which by the way was the Anniversary of the birthday of the late King Edward VII. Great excitement prevailed when it was announced that our own Australian Cruiser the Sydney, had encountered a German Man-O-War and forced her to beach on Cocos Island to prevent sinking. It was now the hope and wish of everyone on board that the strange warship would prove to

[Page 383]

be the famous Emden, which had created so much havoc among merchantmen in the Indian Ocean. Shortly afterwards a further message came through stating that the capture was no other than that of the Emden, and that the cruiser had gone in pursuit of the collier, which had left Cocos Island early that morning. We are informed that the exchange of shots between the two vessels was about 600 from the Sydney and a 2000 from the Emden. The Sydney used 6 inch guns while the Emden had only 4 point 2 inch. The German casualties are I believe, 237, while those on the Australian vessel were under 30. It is reported and results bear out the statement that the shooting of the Germans was very erratic, so our first victory and the manner in which our baby Australian fleet underwent its baptism of fire are things that Australians may be very proud of. The occasion was duly celebrated right throughout the fleet of transports, champagne being opened to do honour to the occasion, while Officers and man gave vent to their feelings of patriotism by singing the National Anthem, Rule Britannia and other patriotic songs.

I omitted to mention that the Sydney is a third class cruiser or and similar to the Emden in size. The former however had the advantage in armament.

At 11 am today the 10th the troopship Medic repeated the greavesome performance of the Euripides, and buried the remains of Sergeant Courtney, who had died from the same complaint, pneumonia. At 3.30 pm on the 11th I was called to the hospital by an orderly to see private Power, who reported to be dying. After a wait of 35 minutes the end came peacefully, and one hour later we had our first experience of a funeral on this ship. Power was 19 years of age and a native of Victoria, where two of his brothers are now training to go abroad with the second Australian contingent.

On Saturday the 12th we had an interesting fixture in the shape of Military Sports, in which the men cheerfully took part. The results were very satisfactory, and served the dual purpose of exercising the men as well as cheering them. On this day the more or less distressing order was received from head quarters the flag ship Orvieto, that telegrams or letters intended for transmission from Colombo should be left open for censorship and further that any

[Page 384]

closed letters would be delaided no communication would be allowed with the Island of Ceylon and no troops allowed ashore under any circumstances. All mails would be forwarded by tenders to the flagship and thence to the shore by the customary postal boat. We expect to cross the equator at midnight tonight and arrive at Colombo at noon on Sunday the 15th. Little or no information regarding the progress of the war, or the doings of the world has been afforded us since leaving Fremantle; and it is hoped that a good supply of reading material will be available at Colombo. Many of the troops on board are seedy from the effects of inoculation and vaccination which have been carried on in a fairly large scale as time and opportunity affords.

Sunday the 15th. This day found us anchored off Colombo. Everybody on board eagerly scanned the shore but permission to land was absolutely denied all ranks. About 4 pm our vessel was visited by the Brigadier, Colonel McLogan and the Brigade Major, Major Brand who after inspecting the ship stayed to dinner and were introduced to the Officers. Unfortunately very little reading matter was available here, and considerable doubt prevailed as to the accuracy of the war information supplied in the papers. One item of news however; which should bring sadness to the hearts of every Britisher was the death of that grand old soldier Lord Roberts.

After many of the vessels had coaled and watered we sailed from Colombo at 11 30 am on November the stay in the harbour having been monotonous and uninteresting. All the Officers and nearly all the men are now in perfect health and only two beds in the Hospital are occupied.

The 18th was another uneventful and monotonous day. Flying fish and a few porpoises and a view of the other ships of the fleet in the distance being the only objects of interest. Tonight the Company Commanders of the 11th Batallion gave a little complimentry dinner to Col. J. Lyon Johnston, the C O and his staff It proved a very pleasing and harmonious little function.

The 19th was particularly tropical and hot, but nothing of interest took place except that one of our engines the front one

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got a little out of order, We had to slow down during the repairs but soon regained our position in the fleet.

This morning the 20th, we passed the Maldive Islands and are now wending our way through the Arabian Sea. It is a beautiful day, fairly cool with a calm sea. Flying fish are plentiful. Rumours of trouble are again becoming prevalent this time with the Turks, when we reach the Suez Canal.

I must now describe an exciting little experience which occurred this morning, the 21st at about 4 30 o’clock. Everyone was awakened by what appeared to be a collision, and on rushing out on deck from my cabin, my first impression proved to be only too true, our line of ships composed the Euripides, Argylshire, Shropshire, Ascanius and Benalla, and for some unknown reason, though many rumours are current, our vessel ran right up to and severely bumped the Shropshire, about a quarter broadside on, and in endeavouring to get out of this grave position, another bump was experienced The result meant very little to the Shropshire, but tore a hole in our ship about 20 feet long, and about 4 inches in width. Alarm bells and even distress signals and sky rockets could be heard and seen. It was exceedingly dark, and a fair sea running. The consternation on board can be better imagined than than described. The conduct of the Officers, and the troops has been the subject of very warm compliments from all quarters The men behaved positively heroically; put on their life belts and moved quietly to their allotted places, where they remained perfectly calm and, untill an hour or more later, when it was ascertained that the damage was not of sufficient importance to cause immediate alarm. This aspect was not known to the men, and untill they were actually dismissed, they did not know at what moment they might be ordered to jump over board and swim clear of a sinking ship and await rescue. Many terror stricken faces were apparent, but there was not one case of outward fear or cowardice. The Ascanius, I understand had been adjudged unworthy of negotiating the Red Sea, and is to be put in at Aden for repairs. This incident of the collision will probably form a Naval Enquiry later on, when probably you will

[Page 386]

be able to read more about it for yourself. I do not want a similar experience.

Notification has been received that mails may be posted at Adan without censorship and thus the coast is clear for everybody to write their secret impression to this loved ones he has left behind and avoid the indelicacy of the same being by some inquisitive official. Tonight we expect to come up in view of land again in the shape of Socotra Island, which in our case is about two days from Aden. As the mail closes on our ship at 8pm on Tuesday night the 24th inst. I propose to close this narative and get it ready to mail you, but will continue to note everything of interest and suppliment my first effort by the a similar one from England.

[Handwritten note:]

II
Dear Girls:/
This is an original account by Captain Williams of the 10th Battln. Infty [Lieutenant John Williams, 11th Infantry Battalion]. He is a friend of the best Australian. Joined the force in Queensland. Was in South Africa. He will make a name for himself here if luck favour him. He starts for the front in a few days. I shall be sorry because he is a manly fellow honest, and fit for the Company of Men. Such a change from Martin, Springthorpe & Gray. He left Brisbane as Liutnt & is now Captain; & he will soon be Major, he has capacity for any position. A natural soldier whom any Senior officer of fighting instincts must push on.
J B Nash 10-5-15
11 a.m.

[Page 387]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

c/o D.M.S.
Cairo
Egypt.
17 May 1916.

My dear Girls:/

It is about 10 p.m. on Monday the 17th May with you. About eleven hours thereafter i.e. about 9 a.m. on the 18th of May you should receive a cable that I handed in on Saturday addressed to you. It was dispatched to allay any uneasiness in your minds in regard to me.

Saturday yesterday, & today, I posted letters to you, Mollee, & Dr Flynn, and others, they should be carried south by the Orsova which is timed to leave Suez on the 20th May. I wrote to Mr Weston, as he was going North but no acknowledgment of my letter has come to hand.

Much better in health and spirits since I came to Abbassya. Eating well, sleeping well, working with pleasure, dodging round in comfort. That Martin, Springthorpe, and Gray, with the vulgarity and insolence of younger men, was too much for me. Wonder how I stood them for so long. In my lifes experience, not such a vulgar lot has been of my acquaintance. Two decent men are associated with me, for which the Lord be thankit.

Look out in the Catholic Press for an article I am sending to them on Matarieh. I hope to have it illustrated by original photographs taken by Col. Ramsay Smith. My ideas may differ materially from other people, but the interest in the ground trod by the Holy Family, should be great to every Christian.

We are told that the fighting at Gallipoli is still severe, and that our men are in it. There appears to be

[Page 388]

no doubt as to Col MacLaurin, Lieut. Col Braund, and Sgt. Larkin having been killed, but there has come no official confirmation.

From information received it is probable that the letters and papers, which should have come to me from you during last week, have been sent by mistake to the Dardanells. An official thinking that all Australians had left Egypt, sent many bags of mail matter to the fighting area. It is not likely that we shall never see them. However, we can hope.

When for a ride this evening, I was wondering if by possible chance your photos were in the mail bags that have been carried to the Dardanelles. What a nuisance if they were.

19-5-15 – 7.30 am. My horse died yesterday after having been kicked by another animal during the night, and as neither of the other horses here is fit to ride, I am not out exploring this morning.

Another anniversary of my birth day has come round, and here am I in Egypt. Were you to have the making of a morning with ideal sky atmospheric and temperature conditions not one of you could improve upon what is present here at this moment. While under the shower, open to the heavens above, the Nile water sprinkling upon me, I remarked to the man in the next compartment "What agreeable water this is?" – Reply came at once from Jerrom (I could not see him) – "Yes! Not so hard as at Mena". I agreed with him. He is now shaking up my bed, has taken the blankets into the sun to air, and will when I go to breakfast at 8-15 a.m. polish out the room.

Last evening I presented myself with a birthday present. A bunch of violets cost 2½, they are in a glass at my elbow as I write.

I am betting myself 6d that a cable will come from you today arriving here at a time of day which, when compared with the hour of dispatch, will be several hours ahead. The dots and dashes will have raced the sun.

The Shakespearian of quotation this morning is:–
"Cheer your heart
And let determined things to destiny
Hold unbewailed their way" A & Cleopatra iii – 6.

Yesterday when passing a bookshop in Cairo, I stepped inside and asked for some Shakspearian plays. I found

[Sergeant Edward Rennix Larkin, MLA, of Milsons Point, Sydney, enlisted on 21 June 1914 and embarked from Sydney on 18 October 1914 on HMAT A19 Afric with the 1st Infantry Battalion, 1st Brigade. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.]

[Page 389]

an edition of "The Tragedies". Just what I wanted as it contained Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, and the others which I did not bring. The two first written must be read through before I leave Egypt. The issue is "Everyman’s Library, edited by Ernest Rhys (evidently a Welshman) and published by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. London". There is a glossary of 13 pages but no notes. However ’twill do for me here.

The Ruskin of quotation is: "Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see." Modern Painters. Perfectly correct! To look and to see truly are mongst the most uncommon of human attributes. Very few persons learn to look. There is an axiom in the Medical profession "More mistakes are made by not looking than by not knowing", and in accord with my experience there is not sentence more momentarily true in regard to the work of the members of the Medical man.

19-5-15 – 9 p.m. – Joe dear:/ The best composed and neatest letter you have ever written to me arrived this evening. For it many thanks. You put it together at various stages on different days, this method gave you chance to write much more than can be done in a spasmodic effort a few minutes before post time. You put in not sentences bearing upon business matters. Upon these I like to be kept posted.

It is hard by pictures or any other means to stir the lazy man or the unpatriotic woman out of the lethargy which often follows upon having too much food and a sufficiency of money. However it takes a lot of differing people to make up a world. Those who will fight and work must pull through for those who wont lend a helping hand. It has always been the same. Empires & kingdoms have been lost when

[Page 390]

the slackers and loafers in the Community become the more numerous. You[r] description of the "Will they never come" was clear and interesting. Many thanks for it. If it be necessary for more to fight than will volunteer, then the loafers must be compelled to stand behind a gun.

I half expected a cable from you today in reply to mine forwarded to you on Saturday last. No one was informed that today was the anniversary of my birth. None here personally interested in the Old Man. You will have remembered, and will have spoken about the event amongst yourselves.

My Kitty appears to be quite an enthusiastic musician. Good my Kitty!

Nothing to pay on the letters my dear.

The war still rages fiercely as far as one can judge from the papers. The Dardanells problem is harder to crack than some people expected, and it may be long before Constantinople is in the hands of the Allies. Elsewhere in Europe the great fights appear to vary in result, today one side gains a few kilometers, tomorrow it is the other contestant who has achieved something. A stubborn and bloody fight, truly, without parallel in any previous age. Mirabile dictu!!!. When will it end? God alone knows.

The papers of this evening announce great changes in the British Cabinet. What does such mean? It is not clear to me

Glad that you liked the Egyptian pictures. Some go forward this mail depicting the New Heliopolis. In the great Palace Hotel, No. 1. General Hospital, from Australia has its headquarters. A great institution run by Ramsay Smith of Adelaide & Barret from Melbourne, two capable industrious men, who have knowledge enough to manage any concern.

[Page 391]

I thought the D. T. had been glad to print the Egyptian wonder. Never mind, you liked it and the pleasure of writing for you is my chief recompense.

Well in every way & comfortable in my quarters. I now wonder how I put up with that set of savages for so long. No more about them I shall anxiously await copies of your photographs.

[A line of Xs and Os.]

Hope you entertained MacNamara before he took you to the theatre. It was good of him to do so. He is a generous chap in all regards.

You giddy girl to gamble at the races. At Alexandria races are held each Saturday now. During the winter months there was lots of racing here. I should have liked to, but did not have opportunity to be present at a meeting. The Arab horses ought to have been worth seeing. My idea you know, is that all girls should wear boots that the ankles may be sufficiently supported.

Strange that people should be calling to see me. Where has Dickey been? I think that I know Dr. Darling slightly.

Flowers will struggle through as the New President, not a dignified or well informed chairman, but as men are he can pass. I noted Mr. Holman & others talking about abolishing the Legislative Council. Such may come about some day, but the time is not yet. Wonder how has young Fred Flowers come through at Gallipoli? Many of the Ambulance men have been killed.

The rain will have been very useful where it has fallen in Australia, its fall brings prosperity in its train. Some day I must again write to M. Chayet. Glad to learn that his wife & sons were not suffering too much from the incidence of war. My regards to him. The struggle in Europe gives no indications as to when it will end. Not this year think I.

Please thank the Ushers from me for being so good to you. It is sweet to see members of a family polite considerate and happy amongst themselves, nothing pleases

[Fred Flowers (1864-1928), house painter and politician, was appointed to the NSW Legislative Council in 1900, and became president of the Council in 1915 following the death of Sir Francis Suttor.
His son, Private Fred Flowers, No 187, 25, a painter from Kensington, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A14 Euripides with the 1st Field Ambulance. He served at Gallipoli and in France and Belgium, and was killed in action on 18 September 1917.]

[Page 392]

me more. Glad that you admire it too. Simpleness, gentleness, honour, and clean mirth become both sexes old and you[ng], as also those in every station of life. Think you not so too? [A line of Xs and Os.]

Oh yes my dears, much thinner than of yore. ’Tis good! As hard as nails and able for any work. Too fat when I came here. Best now.

The sphinx takes well on all occassions tell Maria his bulk & fixity of tenure allows of little movement, no matter where the Camera be placed or how unsteady may be the operator. The same may be written about the pyramid, the bulk whereof is greater than is that of its neighbour.

No letter from Pat Watt yet. Naughty girl!!! Tell Maria to convey my message to Strathfield.

My love to Maggie Phipps and the girls. I hope to meet John Hare on this side some day.

Glad that M.M. Joe is still interested in my letters.

[A line of Xs and Os.]

Letters reached me from the following today: M. M. Bertrand, Mr. Travers, Dr Doyle, Miss Knowles, Dr. & Mrs Harris, C. P. Hyman, & General Finn. In due course each will be answered.

My Kitty dear: Yours without a date, arrived all correct, for it many thanks. One came from Joe & Buddie too, Car’s may be here tomorrow. ’Tis well that you were interested in my letters, that recompenses me for writing them Oh yes, thin my dear & better able to work, & do my share of the allotted task in the great work.

Frank Fox & his wife are made of the correct stuff. The first duty of any woman’s son is to fight for his duty and his country’s cause. At least so think I. Where would the Nation be, how would the women fare were the men not ready and willing to fight in defence of ideals right or wrong? They are but weaklings, breaks [brakes] upon the Coach of State, who are not ever ready to strike a blow for freedom or in self defence. A bas les tous. Yes they are men of grit who wait not for an officers Commission.

[Page 393]

Jack McGlynn [McGlinn] has been for several weeks at the Dardanells. Wonder what his luck has been? Hope the best, & that he will get safe home. No list of the killed in battle has yet been published here. John Patrick McGlynn was in S. Africa, and did good work. He is a first class soldier.

Mrs MacMillan & her husband are always desirous of being kind to you girls, they lived at Macquarie House when we lived there many years ago, Mr. McM writes under the pseudonym "Gossip".
I must write to Dr. Maitland some day soon.
Your sentences referring to Jerrom and the donkey will be read to him.

Many thanks for the papers referring to Mr. Flowers and Mr. Willis. I am glad Holman had grit enough to stand by his promise to Willis. I must write telling him so. Willis is a true Briton.

For your good wishes I thank you, & reciprocate them all. Your letter was of the best. God bless you. Now to bed as I have answered the letters from three of you, & shall reply to my Tabbies when it comes.
Good night! [A line of Xs and Os.] Good night!!! [A line of Xs and Os.] Good night [A line of Xs and Os.]
[A line of Xs and Os.]

22-5-15. Tabbie’s did not come, shall expect it by the next mail.

The Orsova was timed outwards on the 20th. Wonder did she pass along the Canal a few days ago? If so she will have letters from me for you. Please convey my regards to Mgr Weston. Ask him did he receive my letter written Care of the Orient Coys agents at Suez? It should have been delivered to him as he was going north.

Today is published in the papers account of the death of General Bridges. What will you in Australia think of the casualties. The list must be growing each day. We see little of the names in print but we hear about such and such officers having been killed. Some men were telling me tonight, that they saw Colonel Braund in the firing line and that there was no braver officer. He was rather severe.

[End of this letter; possibly a page is missing.]

[Page 394]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

C/o D.M.S.
Cairo
Egypt
24 May 1915

Dear Girls:/

This morning letters were posted to you at the G.P.O. Cairo. Also to Mollie, Mr. Travers and several others. To you also were consigned photographs, which mayhap will give you pleasure.

At 6 p.m. on returning from a business jaunt to Cairo I found a cable from you awaiting me:– "Col. Nash. Hospital. Cairo. Via Eastern E.F.M. Sydney – 21-5 (Date) 2-55 p.m. Many returns nineteenth all well. Nash." The implication to me is that you dispatched the message on the 21st of May. and that It reached me on the 24th. Whence the delay as the Sydney date indicates that it was not handed in as a week-end message. I shall ask at Mena tomorrow. Thinking that you would address to Mena, I wrote to the telegraph operator there asking that he should repeat to Abbassia.

Much pleased to learn that you are "All well." Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!!. May you all ever be so.

A letter to Mother M. Bertrand has just been finished, which maybe will amuse her to read. Many subjects are treated of briefly on its sheets. Enclosed in them is a post card, the Holy Family in the recess above the altar at Matarieh. I must pay the shrine a visit within the course of a few days.

[Page 395]

You will note no stamps on the envelope. This because an order has been issued to the following effect: "If the O.C. of Unit writes in the lower left hand corner of an envelope ‘Franked’ no stamp will be necessary for letters being sent by soldiers to friends in other countries," Saved me about 3/- this week, & will be the same in others if my pen continues to set out words for enclosing in envelopes.
Good night! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe [A line of Xs and Os.]
 Kitty.

25-5-15 Went to Mena House this afternoon, as a message came through that letters & papers had arrived there for me. Found a whole bundle. One from Kitty, one from Joe & two from Tabbie. One from Maggie also Doffie, & Miss Garran.
Hurrah! Hurrah !!! Hurrah!!!!!

The Sunday Sun bearing date April 11th 1915 came as directed. The management appear to be still pushing it to the front, nothing like industry and a modicum of intelligence in this work a day world. One never knows what may come tomorrow if he can but wait. The one essential is that inestimable blessing from God, good health.

Thanks for the cutings about B.R. Wise, and the ry. [railway] accident. Good fortune was on the side of Dave Watkins & his fellow travellers.

I fear me that might right arm, as to its muscles is giving way, but as a typewriter should be here in a day or two I must take to it again, then new sets of muscles & those of the left arm will come to the relief of those which alone can work a pen.

Tabbie dear:/ Your letter bears date at end 20.4-15 just five weeks ago. For it my best thanks. Glad that you liked the letters. I am hoping that

[Page 396]

those recently gone forward, about the Holy Family and kindred subjects will be [pleasant] reading. To me they have been highly interesting.

An acknowledgment of the article about the trip to Sakara came from Miss Garran. The article is to appear in the May number of her journal. I hope that ’twill be instructive reading for the nursing profession.

A parcel of photos was posted for you yesterday.
Hope that the "nasty cold" from Joe has quite flown and that her voice has suffered not from the laryngeal discomfiture.

In the best of health am I. As jolly as a sand boy, sometimes a little overdosed with onions in the food. What matter?

Sorry that Captain Williams in pushing forward to the Dardanells. He is as entertaining as was poor old Sparks. One of the best. He is anxious to get to the fighting line with what is left of his battalion, there to meet the Turk face to face and take his chance midst the flying bullets and other projectiles. Brave man! He was through the South African War & did good work there. If he be not killed or wounded he will soon climb up the tree of promotion.
Nothing to complain about here my dear. With Martin and that crowd, disgust was my only trouble, none of them is worth bothering about and I am not likely to be quartered with them again unless I be chief, then their wings would be so clipped that none dare fly beyond allowance in language or aught else.

Harry Clayton thought that he had been promoted Major, but the ignorance of Lt Col. Martin & himself led them into a personal promotion which had to be withdrawn. Clayton left the No. 2 G.H. soon afterwards. Why I do not know. Never bothered to inquire.

Mrs. Rouse is a dear well informed old lady. I

[Mary Eppes Garran (1856-1930), daughter of Andrew Garran MLC, was secretary of both the Australian Trained Nurses’ Association and the Bush Nursing Association.]

[Page 397]

must write to her again at an early date. Please convey my regards to her when you see her, also to my other friends. Ken Garrick is a good looking giddy young fowl. He is old enough to be possessed of some sense. In the eyes of his grandmother it may be that he can do no wrong. He & I might meet in Egypt or elsewhere who can tell?

At Mena today I was informed that your cable was. Why should your young hand shake my dear? It will be time enough for it to do so when you climb to my present number of years, yet it is not apparent to me that mine is getting to the shaky side. Is my writing worse, more illegible, than of yore?
Please thank Lady Maitland for being so kind to you. I must write to her husband some day soon. You still go to the Earps. The music is a good idea. My Kitty has grown enthusiastic on the musical side of her training. A pleasant occupation, & one that keeps the faculties trained. Good!

Good for John Hare Phipps! Maggie will enjoy the jaunt to this side of the world. Pray do I to meet them somewhere someday?

To me those people are savages to begin to talk, or continue doing so while music of any kind is being discoursed by an obliging individual. Ignorant savages! Archie Ranchaud is a man who plays music.

Please remember me to M. Chayet. Sorry are we all that our feet are not in his native land. Everyone here who pretends to be educated talks French, and one who does not do so is at a disadvantage. Rene [indecipherable] will be somewhat amusing. Fancy travelling all the way from New Caledonia to France as a fighting man? Good luck to him & my regards to his Father & Sisters.

Sorry for the omission in the Power of Attorney.

[Sergeant, later Warrant Officer, Kenneth Hannell Garrick, No 568, 24, chemist of Collingwood, VIC, embarked from Melbourne on 10 May 1915 on HMAT A14 Euripides with the 24th Infantry Battalion.]

[Page 398]

I am in hopes that you will have better luck with the rooms soon.

Though the Dardanell news might be worrying you, hence my cable last week. Glad of that the endings to my letter please you. They are a departure from the very much hackneyed one "Yours faithfully" & its mates.

In regard to the birthday your decision was a wise one. Good.
Frank Coen is a hero to set so good an example to his fellows he will soon be promoted if he takes an interest in his work & keeps abstemious. [A line of Xs and Os.]

And Joe dear:/ Many thanks for your chatty letter. Yours bears date 15-4-15 to 17-4-15. Glad you went to the concert and looked for my Kitty midst the philharmonics. How is it that she has become so enthusiastic of lat[e] in the musical line? Please tell me in your next?
Yes the water & sewerage rates are always high in the city but especially so in Macquarie Street.
You are great girls for sewing and cleaning up, but midst them lies all the secret of happiness, so you are and will be well repaid.
Let me hope that the article in the Nurses Journal will look well and be pleasant reading.
With you the evenings are shortening with us lengthening. Tonight the sun had not set at 6.45 p.m., and we live but 31° north of the Equator. Each day of the summer is teaching me more clearly why they are wise who sleep from 12 noon to 4 p.m. daily, working before and after those hours. The morning and evening temperatures here are not to be excelled for comfort, the mid-day heat is great.
The bombs dropped in England, if they do but little actual harm, are disconcerting, especially to the timid & weakly. Did you ever think what it means to cross the North Sea in a Zepelan or a flying machine, carrying

[Page 399]

missiles of destruction for war purposes? Few would ten years ago, have believed such to be within the bounds of realisation, at least for many decades of years to come. It is the petrol engine that has made the aerial ship to rapidly be perfected.

The way, in my opinion, to write a genuine letter, is to seize a few minutes now and then frequently to hold converse with a pal or a friend. Glad to not[e] that you are subscribing to such opinion. After work a talk with one loved should be refreshing and reinvigorating.

My love to Maria, tell her it pleases me read such cheerful accounts about her health & happiness. Send word to the naughty Pat, that no letter has come from her to me, say to send an uncorrect one no such as has been edited by Sister M. Borgia or other erudite scholar just a plain simple original scribbly blotted crooked over-the-page spidery, one thought out and written by her with a blunt pen, only half enough ink & no blotting paper. That will be of a child and to me highly acceptable.
What an unhappy visitor my Kitty is? Grows more like the Old Man everyday! Her eyes give no trouble. That is first class. With her musical studies she must be trying them too. Glad that your cold has flown from you.

Wrote to Hershell during the week. Did not forget to refer to the baby nephew. Glad that your friends are not forgetting me and that they desire some pleasure from my communications.

Clarie Bridge is in a service where disaster may be brought to one at any moment. It is of the game racy being one of the risks to a sailor man.

[Page 400]

If the medicos keep on leaving Australia few will remain to look after our own people. But ’tis war, & who knows what that will bring about. And such great war too? Dr. Hollwood [Hollywood] from Maitland also in uniform . My regards to his wife & to Mollie.

My horse died a few days since, he will be replaced by another shortly, and as there are heaps to choose from I hope to pick one to suit me exactly. The Macdonalds are very kind to all of you.

What is rain like? When next we from Australia see and feel the drops of moisture falling from above, every one will leap for very joy. What is rain? What is rain???

Dr Darling appears to be an agreeable man. I met him a few times before leaving N. S. Wales. My regards to him.

[A line of Xs and Os.]

Kitty dear:/ You restless visitor, like unto the Old Man always desiring to get back home. Glad that you were pleased with my letters dear.

A letter from Buddie dated the 17th March reached me today, it was addressed to London, and was therefore a month late in finding its way to Cairo. Nevertheless it was welcome.

The Australians fought all right, none better, when they were set against the Turks. If 200000 Italians now come to their aid at Gallipoli, it may be that in six or eight weeks they will be able to push on to Constantinople. Let us hope so?
If Weston has gone South & you see him, say that I expected a letter from him as he passed through the Suez Canal.
You are a brick to stick at the Music so as to play at the concerts at the Town Hall, & at other places. Hurrah! Hurrah!!!! Hurrah my Kitty !!!!!. [A line of Xs and Os.]

[Captain, later Major, James Joseph Hollywood (or Holywood), 33, medical practitioner from West Maitland, NSW, embarked from Sydney on RMS Mooltan on 15 May 1915 with the 1st Australian General Hospital, Special Reinforcements. He returned to Australia in mid-1916 on the troop ship Karoola.]

[Page 401]

I shall take as much care as possible of myself Kitty dear. [A line of Xs and Os.]

Good night! Good night!!! Good night !!!!!

26-5-15. 11 a.m. A find for you. Two original photographs from the Dardanells. Each showing the kind of country over which our men had to fight & the foliage on the side of the hills.

In No. 1 see: the ships in the distance across the water, the steepness of the hill, the shrubs behind which Turks or anybody else might hide & covered by which fire could be delivered, the ambulance men unarmed looking for the wounded, the men in the middle of the lower part of the picture are attending to an injured man. Note the emergency case for the ambulance men in the lower left hand margin of the photo. Australians in Turkey.

In No. 2: The 7th Battalion reinforcing the firing line. Note that the men are armed and the packs are on the backs. Many of these men were killed or injured. The photos are dated 25th April, that was the day on which between 4 & 6 am the Australians landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. The sandy nature of the hills and the shrubs are well shown. It has been a disastrous piece of Country for the Australian soldier but he played his part well upon it. The black mark in the top left hand corner suggests an aeroplane. The man who gave me these says that he can get some more at Mena. I have promised to drive him out there tomorrow to look for them. They should be to you and your friends instructive & interesting.

About Harry Claytons promotion. The OC., as usual acting stupidly made him a brevet Major & having no authority to do so, he had in a few days to withdraw the title and revert him to Captain. No man with ordinary common sense would put his junior in such a humiliating position.

A really hot day this morning in Egypt. During the early morning the wind changed round and is now blowing gently from off the dessert, hence

[Page 402]

the discomfort. 28.5.15. Hot! Jolly hot!!! Yesterday, the day before, & during the night. From noon till 5 p.m. the heat is greater than any to which my face has been subjected before. It may be that the turning back of the suns rays by the sand gives greater effect to them, than the same hot air would possess were it first to touch a green surface. However with brief experience and only on the edge of the dessert with all agree that the title "Burning sands of Egypt" is well deserved.

At the moment of writing 8 am the promise of a scorching day is great, and most likely the promise will be kept. However ours is the task and it must be carried through without growling. A letter is partly finished to M. M.Thomas, it will go forward by the same mail as does this.

We are not feeling quite secure in this country. It is somewhat apparent that the would be turbulent element has an idea that our troops are being beaten in Turkey, and that the armies of the Allies are not making headway at other points in the theatre of war. The local change is much in evidence in the altered demeanour of the aggressive Native. He who is a sympathiser with the Turk, as a Mohamedan, and with the deposed Kehdive lately driven from the country. Insolence in behaviour in the street is now not uncommon towards a white man. Such would not be dreamed of a few months back.

This Ember Friday at 9.40 a.m. is developing into a real scorcher. What it will be at 4 p.m. one can but imagine, however if I be not grease by then you may expect report.

[Page 403]

11-30 p.m. Report. Till 9.30 p.m. there was not abatement in the heat, then some cool Zephyrs projected themselves from somewhere into the atmosphere surrounding us, and as I write it flows in my window disturbing the leaves of the journals upon my bed. Hope do I that they may grow during the night into a cool breeze that will be strong enough to prevail for a few days.

The Kyarra arrived at Suez yesterday evening or last night. Nurses came by her from Australia and New Zealand. They commence work tomorrow at No. 1 General Hospital at Heliopolis. Several doctors also came but I did not hear their names. It may be that some of the newcomers are of my acquaintance.

Howe near to the end is the month of May. Your felicitations by the week end cable for my birth anniversary were received with much appreciation. This reminds me that this letter should reach you about the 1st day of July 1915, when a sweet girl whose photograph, as "My Leo", hangs from a peg close beside me, and in company with Lord Lister. May her days ever bright as each year comes round & may the 1st day of July 1915 be for her crowned with holy graces and flowing over with all the health happiness and prosperity, that I desire for her. Mayhap a telegram from me shall arrive to congratulate my Joseph.

The early bird does not always get the worm. e.g., This morning I was ready for my bath and went to

[Page 404]

the shower. Not a drop of water in the pipes. At 8.45 Captain Plant passed my door. I loq [said] "Oh Captain there is no water in the pipes. But you had better try the tap again, ’tis more than half an hour since my attempt to get the sprinkler to work" –Five minutes afterwards I looked out my window and the water was flowing freely from the rose upon the head of my colleague. Botheration!

Feel inclined to eat two biscuits and drink one more draft of water before I get to bed. The Biscuits are at my hand. Three have I taken from the tin, half of one is in my mouth. Shall it be a bottle of lemonade or water? A glance at both will decide because the carafe & the bottles are in a canvas bucket on the window ledge where whatever air that moves will expend part of its energy on the cooling of the fluid. I shall decide. A draught of cool water has been quaffed. More biscuit is swallowing it down my red lane. Another dose of aqua pura will be used to was[h] the fragments of biscuit to the stomach, then to bed.

We are sending some New Zealand troops homewards tomorrow, they are unfit for active service.

Rumour says that two war ships have been sunk in the Dardanells. We are not informed by what weapon. There is talk that a German Submarine has worked her way through the straights of Gibraltar and the Mediteranean Sea to the Sea of Marmora.

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If so it is a great feat, unparalleled in seamanship, because she could have had no convoying assistance. Many weeks ago there was some information to the effect that an enemy submarine was in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar. If so where has she been since? One is forced to admit, from the information supplied to us, that in submarine work the German seamen have been much more enterprising than have ours. Why is this, if correct, correct?
Good night! Good night!!! Good night !!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joseph. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kitty.

Please tell Maria, that no horseback exercise these days. Why? No horse. All the geegees here have influenza, further the air is too warm I am asking Col. Ramsay Smith to give me a motor bike with a side car for my own use. He said tonight that he expected to be able to do so. This will be better than a horse in the hot weather.
Again: Good night! Good night!!!! Good night !!!!!

29-5-15. 9.30 a.m. Twelve men arrived here last night from the Dardanells. They bring very bad accounts of the progress, or rather want of progress of our people. They say that the fighting has been severe and that it is more than probable that we shall not be able to take the hill "Kalessi" or some such name which is marked as being 700 ft. high. More of this in a following paragraph

This morning I sent away 15 men for New Zealand as invalids, by the Kyarra leaving the coming week I shall be invaliding to

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more than one hundred men going to all the States, including Tasmania. It is a dead loss to us and every man is sadly needed here at the moment.
The natives in Cairo are better informed than we as to the progress of our forces, one, as he drives round, can notice the changed demeanour and insolent behaviour of some. It is a little disquieting, but before this reaches you the cable will have given to you some information. We shall be all right because the Egyptians cannot have much ammunition or many rifles. Without these and trained leaders the populace here would not be able to accomplish more than ordinary harm.

29-5-15 – 11-40 p.m. Working hard all day sending some men away to New Zealand and preparing for a crowd to be dispatsched to Australia by the Kyarra at an early date.

At 8.30 p.m. while working in the office the phone bell rang: - Yes! Hallo!!! May I speak to Colonel Nash please? Right oh! Here he is. May I speak to Colonel Nash please? Yes, on the right spot, Col. Nash is speaking. Is that you doctor? Yes who speaks? Sister Draper from Sydney, arrived yesterday by the Kyarra via Suez. I have a package for you. Where are you staying? At the Heliopolis hotel? Take a seat in the foyer and I shall be with you in less than half an hour. Right O! I put on my belt, cap & gloves, then armed with a fly whisp I set out. An ambulance waggon was bowling along the road, a signal caused the driver to pull up. He

[Staff Nurse, later Sister, Elizabeth Helene Draper, a nurse of North Sydney, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 13 April 1915 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 1st Australian General Hospital Special Reinforcements.]

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within few minutes pulled up & I alighted at the entrance to the hotel. I soon found Sister Draper and a friend. How do you do? Glad to meet you in this land of Egypt! What sort of voyage did you have and so on? "Voyage! Do not mention it. We came round the North of Australia. The coolest part of the whole journey was in the Red Sea. Near Colombo & Aden we were nearly all killed with the heat. The ship travelled 5 miles one day. The firemen would not work. Each 24 hours brought its troubles one way and another. The same Captain and Chief Officer as when you were on board."

Sister Draper said:– "I called to see your daughters before leaving about the 13th of April. They sent all sorts of sweet messages for you. Desired me to say that they are all in the best of health and spirits. I was also to give to you this small parcel. And how have you been Colonel. Looking much thinner than when we spoke together last. Looking hard though. We brought with us nurses from Victoria and New Zealand. The ordinary episodes midst the women on board. On the whole they were a good lot. We learned before leaving that Col. Fiaschi is coming in charge of No. 3 General Hospital from Australia."
Over some ginger ale & lemonade we said much else about you, Sydney Macquarie Street, and of mutual acquaintances.

The Box: It had two one penny stamps on one side. How so when it was delivered by hand from Australia to Egypt, Australian stamps of new design, & each was obliterated with a postmark? Must have been the stamps for an earlier delivery through the post. My address and "Flowers only "on the box & on a loose label. Strange on the back of the label is a postmark "Sydney 23rd Feby 1915." How so? Must have been piece of an old label, used when the box was sent through the post. Is’t correct?

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A tin box, such as pieces of wedding cake are want to wander round in. Eh? Inside some layers of wool, the fibres discoloured black or brown. Pieces of dried vegetable matter suggesting leaves and flower stalks of the long ago. The remains of what were once flowers and their stalks. A bow of dark green ribbon, with a tunnel through the centre where had been enclosed no doubt the flower stalks. Is’t correct? I cannot make a diagnosis as to the variety of flowers. Not even with the aid of my nose added to sight. For the kindly thoughts which prompted you in the sending go forth to you my love and kisses. It has always brought to me great joy that in regard to you girls:
"The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good" is entirely applicable.

And now for breakfast, then for work, after to Mass, then more work, & these letters to be posted this afternoon.
Good bye. Good bye. Good bye.

12.15 p.m. Went to the bassilica at Heliopolis to hear mass, the hour being 10 a.m. A French priest officiated. Captain Cameron went with me. He is to take the place of Captain Williams who is off to the Dardenelles in the course of a day or two. A good place from which to be away just now. Think not so?

The priest did not waste time. I thought that it being trinity Sunday there might be a sermon, but not so.
A busy yesterday, nothing doing to day so far but none can tell what may happen before the day has ended.

I enclose an interesting photograph showing how the dessert was in six years converted to the city of Heliopolis, the city as it now exists. A wonderful place surrounded by san[d] on all sides. Why so much money should have been expended in such a waste of sand is to me and others a veritable mystery, but there must have been some reason moving those who expended so much money. The king of the Belgians is said to have been one of the men who found a large part of the cash, & on[e] of his countrymen, baron Burien was a very large contributer, this man has a magnificent house near to where the sultana Mother resides, from the

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outside it gives one the impression that within must be comfort combined with luxury. This Baron out of his private purse constructed the Basilica, as also the convent of the Sacred Heart, a very large private expenditure, because each is a magnificent building. He was in Brussels when the city was taken by the Germans, and was held as a hostage for some time as you may remember. I do not know if he is in residence near to me at the present moment. You will note a marked difference between "Avant six ans" & "Apres six ans". Is’t so?

The Egyptians owe something to Australia for the eucalyptus tree, it is the best growing tree here which is not one of indigenous to the soil, no of these, unless it be purely an ornamental shrub can compare with the specimen from the sunny south, it grows in groves all over the inhabitted and irrigated land; it cannot flourish where there is no water, but nothing of any size has done that adown the ages; if a census of trees around Cairo were taken about Cairo, I fancy that the gum tree would be next in frequency to the date palm. The fig trees and the mimosae which are native to the soil are very poor representative of the tree kind, being curly and knotty in both stem and branches. The white and blue gums, for the length of time that they have had for growing in the country are very good specimens.

30.5-15 – 10-15 p.m. This evening about 6 o’clock I was at a convent in Zeitoun for an hour. The community is a French one, but a nun hailed from Dublin who talked English, with such an interpreter we conversed all right with the Mother Prioress, though I frequently felt inclined to kick myself for not being able to do more than build up a crooked sentence or two. Some people are dullards in the art of spoken words. The convent is not large as buildings are classed around Cairo, but every sister had happiness written on her face. The New Zealanders have been camped alongside for six months, and they never cease talking about the kindness which the sisters have showered upon them, their doors were always open and every man in uniform was free to come and go as he liked. The Romans had frequent opportunity to hear Mass or be at benediction. The Prioress is a fat, good looking, not old lady.

Good Night. God bless you. This to post in the morning. And much do I thank Him for that "The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good."
Heaps of love & loads of kisses from your afftn & lvng Father
John B Nash.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St – Sydney

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter M.]

c/o D.M.S
Cairo
Egypt
26 May 1915

My Mollie dear:/
Your letter dated the 17th March, St Patricks day reached me yesterday, having been to London on the way. Two months and eight days. By the same mail came letters from the girls, one from each, dated up to 20.4-15, they were addressed direct to Mena.

Many thanks for the green harp, it is now fastened by a pin to the Shakspearian calendar in my room.

Glad to learn that up to the 17th March you, and the Sisters, had liked my letters, those relating to Mattarieh should be appreciated by any community of the R.C. Sisterhoods. Think you not so? Letters come fairly regularly to hand now day.

Mena House is a very comfortable placed to live at. The hot days are just coming, today 26.5-15 has been a real roaster, the worst day in Sydney could not equal it.

My climbing of the second pyramid Kephren was a something that very few young people are prepared to undertake, the coming down the great trouble as one has to face outwards and there is but little foot-hold or hand-hold.

Let me hope that all your new sisters are progressing famously, gradually taking in kindly manners to the new life upon which you have ventured. Good luck to them all!

My Buddie’s short legs have some trouble in reaching to the pedals of the organ. What a game an organiste has with the feet, one does not know of this till he has watched a performer at close quarters. You did well I know.
Hurrah! Hurrah!!! Hurrah!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.]

[Page 411]

Rolf Bolderwood [Rolf Boldrewood] struck the popular fancy, and his books have had much vogue for many years. I never met him personally, but of him I have had many accounts. His books never appeald to me. The titles and their subjects were of the crude kind which should die out before many more years have passed unless one of them becomes the Robbin Hood of Australia. Then he will be surrounded by legends from which vulgar robbery and murder will be entirely eliminated.
"When the fellon’s not engaged in his employment: his employment,
Or concocting his fellonious little plans: little plans,
His capacity for innocent enjoyment: ’cent enjoyment,
Is just as great as that of any other man."
[Slight misquote from "The Policeman’s Lot", The Pirates of Penzance, W S Gilbert.]

Hope Edna Ryan is long since perfectly recovered. Kind regards to Dearie. Glad that she enjoys my letters. If Dan desired he can make what extracts he pleases from them.

To Nellie Commerford my best wishes also to her people. May the best of fortune ever be with them.

Yes I revelled in water melons when my years were in the teens. A few have been on the table here lately, but one slice is quite filling to my tastes. The rock-melon in Egypt is not so highly flavoured as in New South Wales, so much the better for me. A large one here can be purchased for 2½d in the street, and for much less if one were a good buyer. Within a week all kinds of melons have become very plentiful.
I shall write a short letter to M. M. Thomas

[Rolf Boldrewood was the pen name of Thomas Alexander Browne (1826-1915), pastoralist, police magistrate, goldfields commissioner, agricultural writer and novelist. He is best known for his novel "Robbery Under Arms", first published as a serial in the Sydney Mail in 1882/3, and then as a book in 1888.]

[Page 412]

posting by the same date as this will be placed in the post office. She is such a knowledgeable lady that one fears to offend by not being classic enough in his sentences and construction. However I shall risk her criticism.

Yes, the girls keep me fairly well posted in the political news, and the newspapers being confirmation of their first hand sentences.

How quaint youngsters always are. A Captain Williams who lives with me is a real anecdote teller, his memory is good, he always strikes the point correctly, & out of the commonest event can make amusement. You remember how excellent Mr. Sparks (R.I.P.) was in that regard, well friend Williams constantly reminds me of my former friend. Rude words are often so rounded off that they convey no offence. Sparks never used strong language. Williams interlards all his sentences with the very strongest.

’Memberest though thou how a ’ticker friend to me once said "Me! Me! Me! Nicey Nan. Nan Nan."

To all my friends please convey my best wishes and say to them for me good luck.

The various paragraphs in your letter have been referred to.

Of what shall I write? Much is there in this old land, but the weather is chief as affecting us living at the moment. If the days continue to be frequently as have the last three, and we are to remain here for the summer months then expect that spots of grease will be all that is remaining to represent Australians now in Egypt.

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Profiting by previous experience, the Sultan, his entourage, and all those rich enough to follow his example, have gone to Alexandria, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, for the summer time, there they will be far removed from the dessert, and the cool breezes from the water will frequently blow upon them, while here in Cairo the inhabitants will be sweltering in the heated air. However such cannot be helped and all may be well with us. However we shall do our best & battle along, if God gives to each good health.

27-5-15. Hot. Jolly hot.

Last evening my pen commenced to spill out words to M. M. Thomas, but the spirit which animated it was not active enough to do justice to any subject. However before the hour for posting arrives it may be that some thoughts will result from the working of the brain cells within my skull, then she will have opportunity to criticise the mental capacity of the Ego that has acted.

10.10 p.m. Hot! Jolly hot!!! All day.

Hot now as I sit in my room writing a few words to you, and munching a biscuit which will be washed down with some water or some lemonade after a little. You would laugh to see me, seated at the table nearly everyone else in bed, my room amply large but not richly decorated; a bed in the centre of the room; the windows and doors wide open; packages scattered here & there; writing materials of all descriptions on the table – another piece of biscuit. Blow the fly! One of the persisting insects of Egypt. Again he is at my face. Again. Again. Again. I must kill him with a whisp. He has departed. –

[Page 414]

books, boots, lamps, & many small parcels on a shelf above my head; Our family group. A photo of Joseph, one of you as a Dominican, & a print of Lord Lister, hanging on the pegs, clothes of various kinds on other pegs. – Another bite at a biscuit, and now some moisture to wash it down –

I shall now add a few sentences to my letter to M. M. Thomas.

29-5-15. Did so last night & this morning. Hope was with the sentences that your senior colleague may derive pleasure from the deciphering of my words. Were there a typewriter here I should use it, then how happy you all will be made. It must be done because my arm muscles are giving out, and may become spasmodic, were this to happen, there would be no more lengthy communications.

While writing to you I am sitting in my office making observations as frequently as possible, by raising my eyes & glancing along the corridor as to how the men are working as to the general condition of the place.
All is going well.

This Ember Friday is a real scorcher, and has so continued all the day. Nothing like it in my opinion in Sydney, of course I may be in error if the thermometer is used as a cheque upon my personal observation, yet is it more important to have one’s feelings as judge than any thermometer, falacious they may be from the point of view of correctness. The typewriter that is being used by me is of the latest construction and if I were expert at the working of the machine you would have but little trouble in making out my words. What a comfort that would be to you?

[Page 415]

31-5-15. 6.30 a.m. My letter to M Mary Thomas is just completed. In case she has difficulty in reading it I have recommended to her that your aid should be obtained for deciphering.

This must be ready for post soon, therefore little can be added.

The atmosphere in the morning is best in all the day here, but there is a busy morning before me, which allows me but to complete and enclose this in an envelope. There is much to write about, but in my next for you ’twill be placed if moments will allow.

To M. M. Joseph & the Sisters my best regards & kindest wishes.

For you indeed my dear do I thank God that "The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.

Heaps of love & loads of kisses for you from
Your loving and afftn father
John B Nash

To Dan Ryan & Mrs Reynolds my regards as also to Nellie Commerford & other friends.
J.B.N.

[Page 416]

[Page marked "3". Pages 1 and 2 of this 17-page letter appear to be missing. At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls" –]

Kitty dear:/ The 26th Jany to 1st June 1915, How long? What should be done to the persons responsible for the delay. The letters have not been to London. Find him at your end, then all of you tell him in accounts land deep and long what you think of him and his methods. Some gentleman, probably who draws his pay regularly, yet between drinks has not time to bother about his work or the requirement of the people who pay him for services which he is supposed to render. Such people are the curse of our country, & of all countries.
Yes Kitty dear it was sad about the Hollingdale girls. I had not heard of it or read about it till your letters came. An unhappy episode in the week end trip. Such things are always occurring for some reason or another. Do you know why?

Sorry the breakfast toast that you made was not for me. However when we meet again, your toast will be appreciated.

Remember me to Margaret, if you see her. The Jakarand trees here are in full bloom just now they look splendid. The Poinsettia is a beautiful tree here and its scarlet flowers, in large clusters, are splendid. There are many of them at Heliopolis and elsewhere. They are Native to Madagascar. I wonder are there any in Sydney. Ask Mr. Maiden? To the Maidens my kind regards.

Glad that you are attending to the fern in front of the house. The fellaheen here are constant workers on the land, their industry and the water from the Nile produce crops which mean food and money for the 12000000 people who, at the present moment, live with their flocks and herds on the12000 square miles of cultivable land in Egypt. Wonderful.

[Page 417]

As anticipated in some of my previous letters the first list of wounded Australians that we have seen are published in newspapers that have come from Perth by the last mail, date about the beginning of May. Letters have come to hand bearing dates as recent as the 9th May from Western Australia, there should have been those by the same mail, of date 2nd May from Sydney.

The accounts of the fighting at Galipoli published in the Sunday Times of Perth are substantially corece [correct] as confirmed by the men who have been speaking to me here after their return from the front. Some were battling for four weeks, others for a lesser time. It is agreed by all that the Australian fought as of the best, in fact too well because they went ahead so rapidly that they were not held in hand by the officers. In this way many officers and men were lost who would otherwise have been still with us. We have not yet seen the names of Col Braund or Sgt. Larkin in the lists but we missed the four first issued.

2-6-15 11 a.m. Another letter just brought to me from you. It bears address A. G. London, but it has not been to England. From you Joe dear, is dated 21-1-15, and has taken all the time to come from Sydney. Not much use writing about it now, but it is no wonder that people complained when they knew that the fault was with the incompetents in Sydney. It is always thus with the government employees, a few of them are conscientious but the majority have not that which is ordinarily called conscience. This I know by long experience. How a man can take money for services which he does not give has always been to me not understandable in view of the fact that the humblest amongst is told the christ-

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-ian difference between right and wrong, the very basis of the ethics which dominate our daily life. However we have to counteract the bainful effects of it to the best of our ability. There is consolation to the worker in that he, in all probability gets the most put [out] of life. The letters to the care of the Agent General easily raced those entrusted to the care of the Sydney Barracks people. I shall tell this to Mr Watkins to whom I am writing to day. The typeing of my written matter is a good idea because at the best I am not a champion caligraphist. There is no room for disagreement upon this point. Friend Herkell will be quite a soldier when he returns to Australia. He is of the best. Good luck to him. I must write to Nan in reply to her letter. Why has Mary O’Connor not written to me? Please tell her that I am very angry at her neglect.

At your end you can stir up the authorities when things go wrong, we here can say nothing; were one to do so he might be shot by or of some big bug. It takes the untrained Australian some time to realise this view of the position.

Yes the Australian may know not the fear for bullets, but by sad experience he is daily learning how little he knows about the war game as compared with the Turk who has frequent experience of the bullet’s mission. Carefulness is one of the points to be developed in the education of a soldier, because a dead soldier is of little value to himself or to his people; and every man who life is lost diminishes by his fighting power the chances of success for his side. The men tell me that the enemy are up to every move in the game & play them all. Another advantage that the Turkish soldier possesses

[Page 419]

is the longer rifle and bayonet that he uses as compared with ours. This has resulted from the teaching of authorities for many years, they always laying it down that in future wars close fighting could not take place, because men would not be able to get near to one another owing to the shooting power of the modern rifle. While experience of the present great war to the moment, has demonstrated that not at antecedent epoch have men got closer to one another before charging with the bayonet.

The first thing that the untrained Australian had to do, was to go for the enemy with the fixed bayonet, not one shot was discharged from the rifle of many before it was used for close work. It is really wonderful how the men did it, and gloried in the performance. One man while narrating his experiences to me kept on repeating:– Oh it was great sport, and he was on the spot for a month, fighting all the time, he returned slightly wounded and is ready to return. Is it not remarkable how a man is prepared to face the music when he has seen many comrades killed near him. It is a peculiar feature of the thinking parts of some men. The question of personal risk is either taken very lightly or never presents itself to them at all. Strange.

Much of the water used by the troops during the early fighting was brought from the ships in barges, one day the turks sunk the barge, then those on shore were very short for three days. Water can be obtain-by sinking but it is not to be depended upon, and if possible men should have the distilled fluid from the ships, there must be lots of all kinds of germs in the soil because it has been inhabited and worked upon for thousands of years. At first we were told that there was not much cultivated land but later, and more correct information tells us that the farms are plentiful. As a sequel there is bound to be

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[Reverse of previous page, showing strips of tape used to mend a tear.]

[Page 421]

cases of tetannus and gas gangrene amongst the wounded.

After one month, practically five weeks now, the allies hold but a small semicircle of land on the peninsula, and it was taken at the first rush, and that because the defenders thought the land to be too hazardous for sane men to attempt. Were the men sane who did risk it. Had the troops been possessed, or rather their leaders, of sufficient knowledge of the game of war it is very doubtful if they would have risked the task. Some one has blundered and a victim will be demanded very soon by the people who are supplying the men and the money. will it be Ian Hamilton? Or whom? Time will tell. Our men cannot hold on much longer, because there will be none of them left to do so, unless large reinforcements come to their aid. From where are these to be derived? All this makes our position very critical. But few Turkish prisoners have been brought to Egypt. A fact which is much commented upon by the natives in this country, they too are probably much better informed than we as to the true position of affairs; it is but reasonable to expect that they are because they are much more closely in touch with the life and language of the south of Europe than our leaders can be, at the very best. However we shall pull through. But when?

Plenty of episodes of individual heroism are to be heard on all sides, which go to show that the age of chivalry is still with us when the necessity demands. Good luck to those who do so carry themselves towards a fellow soldier in the field. It is persistently rumoured that at least one medical officer will be recommended for the victoria cross, a Dr. Brennan from Western Australia, also a Dr. Butler from Queensland, also Father Fahey from Western Australia,

[Page 422]

is certain to receive some decoration for his gallantry, and as far as I have so far heard he was going strong when the last men left the front a few days since. I shall make enquiries from some men who have just come via Port Said. By Jove ’tis becoming a greater fight every day. No part of the world could have put up such a fight as is being done by Germany. How think you on the matter?

News just to hand. The writing of it will interupt my notes about the Dardenelles for a line or two. It is rumoured in town, Cairo that General Williams died in London yesterday. If it be true you will know by now. Old Mo as he was familiarly known to his intimates, did good military work in his lifetime, he never looked the soldier but he played the part very well as far as the medical department was concerned. R.I.P.

Second item: It is said as a fact that the Turks came on to the canal during last night went on to a barge tied on the water and took of [off] the whole of the crew. What do you think of that? And I am credibly informed that it is true. The man in command of the section of the defence to which the barge belonged should be soon selling lace or such like material far removed from the seat of war. It is somewhat disquieting to think that so poor a watch is being kept on so vital a line in the defences of Egypt; but anything is possible in the times of war. In times of peace men forget the art of fighting not grasping the significance of being always ready, and trained to the requisite standard in every particular.

To the Peninsula again. The streacher bearers have had a bad time many of them having been shot, either by accident or deseign. Dr. Kenny from Western Australia was brother to the Kenny girls who one time were at

[Page 423]

Santa Sabina. R.I.P. There are others whose names you may have seen but of whom I have not heard. One soldier said "We lost sight of Dr. Butler for a few days, when we saw him again he presented a sorry plight, his clothes were all torn mud all over growth of stubble on his face several days old, he looked as if he had been having a very rough time. However he polished up and was soon going strong again. He is of the best. "Stray bullets did a lot of damage. The worst of all fire was the enfilading, it came at us from every side and did a great deal of damage. It is always taught in military books that enfilading fire is the most disconcerting to troops, this can be easily understood, when one thinks how uncomfortable it must be to have missiles pelting at you from the sides as well as from the front; the last alone is bad enough.

Food like water was brought to the shore from the ships in barges. The enemy was constantly endeavouring to sink them by gun fire. It was really wonderful how well the ships kept the men supplied with all sorts of food. We could cook the food during the day because then fires made no difference, but at night time not even a match could be lighted without bringing the fire of the enemy upon the men.

The enemy appeared to have loads of ammunition, they being able to fire several shots to our one, they may not be great shots but they try often enough and must get some home because they have every inch of the ground measured. There is great digging of trenches with them as with us. Sometimes when the enemy is digging gun pits a shovel will be held up as a challenge to our men to fire, the implement will be swung backwards and forwards as if to say, you are not game. It must not be forgotten that the trences [trenches] are often

[Page 424]

less than fifty yards from one another. It is not truly wonderful? An anecdote is told of a certain major who was called by his men, made Major S. He said, When I beat the kerosene tin three times you will charge. He did beat the tin. His men up and charged, and when along the road to the enemy things became hot the gallant major dropped into a gun pit and waited till the affair was over. ’Tis thus the words were spoken to me.

Every man stands ready with fixed bayonet at about four o’clock each morning because it is at that hour the attacks are expected, every fourth or sixth man keeps careful watch while the others are almost as equally as ready as he.
The trenches all communicate with one another, and each can be walked into from many directions. Telephones heliographs and flags are working all the time, by their means information is kept constantly travelling from one point to another. Lemnos is all sandstone. Galipoli is good growing land much of which is cultivated.

The enemy never fires his guns at night because the positions might be discovered; they also cease firing when the aeroplanes or the balloons are in the air, to prevent those watching from above discovering them as targets for the guns upon the ships. Luminous shells and flares are often thrown into the air at night and they are frequently followed by hand grenades. Both sides use these. The fuses are so arranged as to allow of a man counting three and then throwing the tin or what else it may be. It is said that one was given to a stuttering soldier to throw, he counted on-e, tw-o, th--r-ee, off went the bomb and his head with it. Some what unfortunate I hear you say.

[Page 425]

The shell fire is far and away more disconcerting to man than is the rifle shots, because when near each one bursts with an explosion & then scatters its contained missiles in all directions. The larger the shell the more noise does it make and the greater its power for doing harm. The Turks fire mostly six inch shells. Our people fire any size up to those of the Queen Elizabeth ship which weigh over one ton. Just think of it, a weapon manufactured by man that can hurl more than 2240 lbs. of metal through the air for ten or fifteen miles. It is truly wonderful. The noise with the burst of the six inch shell is described as being dreadful. A man of experience in the South African war said that more shells were fired during one day at Galipoli than during the whole of the fighting with the Boers. This may or may not be true.

It is a legend that shells never fall two in the one spot, but this must no longer be given credence, because many strike the same spot, and in rapid succession. The ships of the navy shelled many villages, but the gunners always avoided the mosques, a very desirable procedure, to make a good impression upon the Mahomedan people. This is one of the secrets of the success of the British with foreign people, because the religious views of those amongst whom they happen to live or govern is at all times given due respect, so in fighting they pursue the same line of policy, the wisdom of it is proven by the fact that our own men, onlookers at the falling of the shells notice, how much more so are the Turks to make a mental note of it, then in good time results much to be desired will follow.

There was no rain during the four weeks that our men were on the peninsula. It is very difficult to locate the situation of the big guns being used by the enemy, and he takes every care to keep his weapons from being discovered. The poppies are in full bloom in the fields, and their brilliant colours give a picturesque touch to the landscape. The houses of the farmers have red roofs, which looks like the tiles that are used in North Sydney & other places. One story going the rounds is: An officer in a certain position desired that his men should leave it as it was a very warm corner, some of the men thought that it was necessary in the interests to hold on to the position and they told the officer so in language more forcible than polite, they did hold on and it was soon found that it would have been very unwise to have left it. It is the the anecdote and you have it for what it is worth. Many men say, "The war is terrible, I never anticipated anything like it, yet it is grand." "It was all right after the first few days because then the food came along in plenty, it was somewhat rough for

[Page 426]

the earliest hours". These remarks show how important it is to keep the food supply up to the highest standard in quantity and quality, men will do much when well fed that they could not perform when short of food.

Gaba Tepe will give much trouble before we get possession of it, it will require a lot of taking, so say the men. The turk has a silencer on the muzzle of his rifle, which is of great use in concealing the point from which he is firing, it is especially useful to the sniper who, when he can keep from being found out is capable of doing much injury. This shows to what an advanced state the German officers have brought their weapons? I have often heard of the desireability for a silencer for the rifle, but I have not earlier heard of its practicable application.

Another advantage possessed by the enemy is the longer rifle and bayonet that he uses, a few inches in this regard is of much value in hand to hand fighting, as any one can imagine who thinks for a moment. In fighting with the fists the man with the long arm has the advantage, so is it with the rifle, when men are in close touch with each other. The officers fought real well, some may not have liked it but if so they did not show the distaste.

Men in the trenches become very angry with one who is not careful about exposing his head or other part because one so doing draws the fire to the spot where he is seen. A Scotchman told me that the Australian is a great fighter and the more men he has to fight against the better he appears to like it. The Turks know when there is to be a charge ? they then leave the front trench and wait in one further back, from this as the Australians charge they pour in bullets in very rapid manner. The engineers blow up the wire entanglements in great style. There are none more brave than they, doing their work in a wonderful manner.

An officer, an old soldier named Heating (six medals), and a private met a Turkish patroll, they fought for three quarters of an hour, hard going, not less than one hundred Turks, the three men came in laughing thinking that they had played in a first class joke. Heating knows a lot about the game, and but for a liking for whiskey he would be much further on in his regiment.

There is plenty of young dead timber everywhere, this is used for fuel, and gives chance to heat up the rations, which is a godsend, then with jam and biscuit a man is right. Russian Jews with donkeys carry most of the food to the fighting line during the night. There is one Scotchman who works with two donkeys, he never gets tired, working unceasingly, resting one beast while he uses the other, he brings up food and transports wounde[d] to the beach, every one knows the Scotchman with the donkeys, he belongs to the army medical corps. The army medical were shelled terribly. Colonel Sutton’s lot particularly

[Page 427]

Hurrah. Hurrah. Hurrah. A whole heap of letters from you and others. Your letters bear date, from the 26th of January to the 24th of April. That of the earlier date has been delayed in Sydney as far as I can judge.

Tabbie dear: You were good to write to me so much information. Please do not worry so much about the money matters, you and Joe put your heads together, you will find that all will work out well and there will be sufficient to meet your needs, if not when I return I shall straighten matters out for you. Please have a talk with Mr. Finney about anything that you do not fully understand, it is part of his business to know about business matters and he will help you all that he can. Please do not fear to talk with him?

The parade through the streets must have been a great sight. I can just imagine the crowd on the balcony. Some day I hope to be there again if not why fortune will have frowned severely against me, yet do I hope for the best. How kind of Mr Bridge to remember me. A very nice letter came from him today, he still thinks you to be of the best. I am very much obliged to him for taking such a fatherly interest in you girls. He will have a note from me before long. Meanwhile will you please convey to him to Mrs. Bridge and the family my best wishes. Glad that you entertained them all hospitably. I shall be very sad and come straight home when relieved from duty if I feel that you are stinting your selves unnecessarily, some times the idea gets into my mind that you are doing so. Please do not do so?

I hope that the chance will come to me to see Maggie Phipps and the members of her family. In these days no one can tell what will happen during the next few weeks. The two girls will miss Maggie very much, she has been quite a mother to them just when they wanted one badly. I admire her for it. I am glad that you asked them to stay with you for a little. We may not be rich but we can be kind to those of our acquaintance, and I have known them all their lives, also their mother their father and their grandparents.

This afternoon I bought a copy of L’illustration? it will go forward to you, because it has as supplement a first class picture of General Joffer, [Joffe] and also other pictures of merit. It is of the best type of French illustrated papers. As far as my observation has gone the maps in the illustrated journals are mor[e] clear in depicting the battle fields than are the daily or weekly journals, because the paper used is of better quality. Think you this observation to be correct?

[Page 428]

I am pleased that you still get the journals from parliament house. Bother forgot to turn off the red tape. This an easy typewriter to work? I must buy one like to it some day.

The GErmans – they do not deserve one capital letter much less two to their name – have had no respect for holy shrines or anything else during their progress through Belgium and France, when the reckoning comes these things will be remembered. Glad that you thought the troops to look better than their predecessors, they are all wanted here very badly at the present moment. The war is becoming more wonderful each day. Now that Italy has come in on our side the task for the enemy will be greater for the rest of the struggle.

The casualty list from the Dardanelles grows each day. A man who has just come here to day told me that Harry Clayton was doing work in the firing zone for some days relieving a Captain Tebbutt? he was safe when the soldier left some ten days back. That is good. If I gather more information about him I shall write it out for you. There may be lots of opportunities for me to see fighting yet, I hope to do so before I return, but at present my duties keep me here, where there is plenty for me to do, one batch of patients coming tomorrow number fifty, there will be others of whom I have had no advice. On Saturday I may send a large number back to Australia on the Kyarra.

Mr. Vallon’s brother was amongst those who have had bad luck, he has a large number of colleagues not in France alone. Sir William Manning, and John Wheeler were well known to me. R.I.P.

Glad that you thought that I looked happy in the photo, I tried to put on my best smile that it might please you, the later one I think to be an improvement on the first, but no further copies are to be had of it owing to some difficulty about the plates, further enquiries will be made about it within a day or two.

The letter from Shepheards hotel was written while waiting for some one. Oh yes Jerome looks after me carefully, he becomes anxious if anything goes wrong with me, we are both happy here ? he I fancy was not perfectly secure in his mind with that bounder Martin, no decent man could be. From all accounts business matters with you must be slack, but all will be right in time. With the war and the dry weather and so many men away from the country how could they be otherwise. I always thought that Jack Meyers had an idea that the Meagher speech was a fair effort for an amateur. If my dear Father had made me a barrister my success had perhaps been greater than it has been yet am I content and if you be made happy I desire no more.

[Page 429]

Yes my dear I do sincerely thank God that while making you fair he had also made you good, because you have never done aught but done me credit in every way, by act and thought. Clever and gay truly is the festive Maria, my love to her, the second letter that she wrote to me has evidently gone astray. Good man Bruce MacLaughlin [McLachlan]? It is well that the cold has gone from my Joseph, please tell her to take care of herself, and you keep an eye on her for me.

Joseph dear: Glad that you liked the photograph wherein were the pictures of Colonel Braund, Sgt. Larkin, both since dead, and Jerrom. The idea of having it taken struck me at the moment. I say the reproduction in the Town and Country which came with the letters this afternoon, a most unusual happening for a paper. I told Jerrom that his wife and daughter had called, he was well pleased. I have loaned the papers to Captain Williams as I am busy answering your letters to night. The town hall show for Dr. and Mrs. Phipps went off very well. Good.

I am sure that my Kitty will make herself very agreeable to Mrs Fisher for her there will be the attraction of being near to our Buddie, they appear to be as great chums as ever, but it has always been a great consolation to me that you four girls were ever kind and considerate to each other, in this also hath God made you good.

How strange it is that amongst the British when a disaster happens the recruiting becomes more numerous, under ordinary circumstances one might expect the opposite to result.

Your second letter Tabbie dear: I told to you about Sister Draper in my letter of last week. It was thoughtful of her to call. On this side no one knows what is to happen next, or with whom one may rub shoulders tomorrow. The letter to Dr. Harris must have done some travelling before getting to Macquarie Street. Perhaps it was the Maloja that brought your letters, I should have liked to have met Maggie Phipps. Kathleen and her sister will not care for Wallsend after having lived in Mosman for so long. You all think that soldiering has improved Bruce MacLaughlan. It does the same for every man who is worth his salt as a man. A letter from Kathleen Bryan came to day, she was standing on the steps of St. Mary’s watching the military march Colonel Holmes we have been told is coming in charge of the new brigade for this

[Lieutenant Bruce Harding McLachlan, 22, a clerk from Mosman, NSW, left Sydney in August 1914 and served withgeneral Holmes in New Guinea, returning to Sydney in January 1915. He then embarked from Sydney on 19 June 1915 on HMAT A61 Kanowna with the 18th Infantry Battalion, 2nd Reinforcements. He was wounded at Gallipoi on 22 August 1915 returned to Austraia mid-1916.]

[Page 430]

he and Willie Watson are both soldiers of the first order. Sorry about Jarret, he was a peculiar sort. I hope that the Bacon boys are still safe and sound, it is a little too much to expect for those who have been at Galipoli, as it has been a very hot corner during the visit of the Australians, you will all have conclude thus much before now. My regards to Mrs. Bacon and Mrs. Franki when you meet them.

Kitty dear: Your letter bears no date but it was written I judge sometime about the end of April, it has a blot for the name at the termination, that because you were in a hurry no doubt. I had a short note from Mrs. Begg of Waverley, I was sorry for her son, he was a nice lad

Father O’Reilley the new rector of St. Johns. Cannot say that I am pleased, it might have been better to introduce some new blood of a high class. Mr. Flowers to be President of the Legislative Council, he will do all right, I did not think of Jack Fitzgerald as the new vicepresident, he is a competent man of independent means and thinking powers, I should like to be in the chamber with him, he is not as heavy as Flowers, yet for an Irishman he h[a]s not a huge sense of humour, a valuable asset at times, but not so at others, I expected that Mr. Travers would have been given the position.

A letter from Mr. Watkins told me about the accident to the Melbourne express, he with others had narrow escapes, it is time that some one of the railway men was made an example of, they have been too much shielded. I have replied to the letter from Mother Mary Bertrand. You were quite amongst the soldiers at the camp with the Watt girls. Just fancy a nun missing my weekly letter, I never expected so much honour. I can just imagine Our Annie calling – "Dinner girls, din[ner] Dinner. Come quickly or the food will be cold. And then when you did not come at once her calling in a louder voice." How did you enjoy your stay at Cessnock? It is rather a picturesque country town? it was not many years back small village, but the presence of black diamons [diamonds] has made it grow rapidly in to a large place and prosperous too.

Wounded men of various kinds are still daily pouring into Egypt from the Dardenells, men from here are not so keen to go there these days. Can one blame them, though when they get to the firing line they will do as well as those who have gone previously, I never had doubt as to their fighting capacity, even the little Hyman will admit it by now. A man just back from Galipoli told me that a British staff officer said "These Australians are great fighters and terrible swearers."

[Page 431]

This evening while sitting here I wrote letters to Mr. Flowers, Mr. Fitzgerald, Sir. Herbert Maitland, and Mr. Usher ? thanking the last named for the kindness of himself and his family to you girls. I hope that he will like my letter, the address is Neutral Bay, I cannot think of his Christian name, however it may come to me before the morning when the envelope must go to the post.

I have been busy all the day. There are two hundred and fifty patients in this hospital, each one sick in some way or another, and requiring looking to, this entails a lot of work upon my limited staff, but each is working in first class manner for me, so that there is no trouble. I expect to ship one hundred of them for Australia by the Kyarra on Monday or Tuesday, poor beggars I am sorry for them, but it cannot be helped.

This morning we received a severe shock when we read the telegrams to the effect that the Germans had taken presmsyl [Przemysl, Poland] from the Russians. The telegrams from Petrograd are always so coleur de rose that the believers thought that the cossacks might be in Buda Pest in the course [of] a few weeks. The germans are putting up a great fight, and it looks as if they will be able to keep going for a long time in the future. Bob Paton wrote in his last letter that: "There is a feeling in my bones that the war will soon be at an end," I fear that his bones are but poor indicators of coming events, it were well for many people if they were better. Think you not so?

A New Zealander, who was for three weeks in Galipoli, told me in my room that but for the firing of the war ships they could never have effected a landing, and that after the men from his country had fought gallantly, during Sunday the 25th of April, they would have had to get back to the transports if it were possible had not the australian and Indian soldiers come to their assistance. This presmysl [Przemysl] business will have some bearing upon the movements of troops going to the Dardanelles, because some German troops will be set free from the eastern fighting area, these may be moved over to the West and may give our fighting units in that place too much of a task before reinforcements are to hand in sufficient numbers. The fight being put up by the Germans in truly wonderful, no other nation in the world could have done the like.

The lamp has gone out, the paper has gone wrong. Good night. Good night

Heaps of love do I send to each of you, with loads of kisses, and may all sorts of good fortune be with you now and always. The light is not good enough to work by. My kind regards to all my friends and to yours
Your loving and affectionate father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
Macquarie Street
Sydney

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C/o The D.M.S.
Cairo
Egypt.
9th June 1915.

My dear Girls:

This afternoon there was delivered to me several packages, mostly newspapers but one was not of this nature and came as a very pleasant surprise. When it was opened, the first that met my gaze was the pleasing sweet smile of My Kitty then My Tabbie with hat on head, and thirdly My Joseph with the tousled hair.

Each was pleasing to me and I greeted every picture with a kiss. Many thanks for sending them. Joseph dear you have the most serious face, but even in it there is a smile for me. The three smiles are very much appreciated in this far off land of heat dust and colour, by an old man who loves the originals as well as tis possible for him to love any one.

Please forgive me for the bad typing, for some reason or another tonight my fingers are not diving in correct style, my musculature is out of order to a slight extent. I have not been out all day. Think that I shall take a run to Heliopolis for a few minutes, after I have been round the wards to note if my lambs are settling down for the night. It is 9-40 p.m.
   
10 p.m. They are settling to sleep for the night. The asphalte is jolly hard, a few of the more sick have beds but the majority have a mattress on the hard floor, some few slept last night on the sand. The photographers here do not appear to me to be of as high a class as are those in Sydney. The Mahomedan, who makes up so much the largest portion of the population is to much of a philosopher to bother about such trivial affairs as having his picture put upon paper, a superfluity no doubt he thinks. It may be, but if so it is a very pleasant one for those who desire to have a representation of loved ones who are not present. I do not wish to rise to the heights of satisfaction which might make me look upon such matters as not of the pleasantest.

The temperature is high to night, if one might choose a sleeping spot, the best is the roof of the building, it may be that the rich people spend the early part of the nights during summer on the top of the houses, from 4 to 8 a.m. are the pleasantest hours of the twenty four, but even during them the comfort which was with riding in the early morning is absent in this month of June.

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[At the top of this and some following pages of this letter is the letter G or the word "Girls".]

the other postage packages were papers from Melbourne friends, Table Talk and Punch up to the 25th of April. Mrs. Knowels and a Miss Drury were the senders. An Orient steamer is time to pass through the Suez canal southwards on the 15th of June, by her this letter should travel, any how I hope to have it ready for the post for that steamer.

Wounded men arrived again in large numbers, during the last forty eight hours, the fighting at Galipoli has been again severe, the progress being made by our side, if they are making any is of the slowest. Think you no so? During a talk this afternoon with two men, I was told much about several of our officers. Each of them was in the battalion that left Sydney and went to Turkey under the command of Lieut. Col. Onslow Thompson. They told me that the colonel was killed during the day of the 25th of April, the Sunday when our men landed on the peninsula. The battalion was pushing on in pursuit of the enemy, "The colonel was leading a charge and encouraging his men to do it well, when he was struck. We saw him leading the line of bayonets, he fell, and had to be let lie on the spot, as it was not possible to remove him. He was found seven days afterwards, when it was noted that his papers and money were intact but his wrist watch had disappeared". He was a man whom I liked? he was a member of the Board of the Sydney Hospital, I have written to Sir Matthew Harris, the foregoing particulars.

10-30 p.m. must take a run out for a few minutes. For the time present good bye. [A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit.

10.6.15 – 12.40 a.m. Went to Heliopolis, called at a cafe & partook of fried sole, with a lemon & bread, washed down by lemonade. I thoroughly enjoyed the fish, it was fresh, we never see such at our mess table. A jolly Frenchman, well condition keeps the restaurant and calls it "Brasserie de l’Avenir."

10-6-15. 11p.m. Letters were posted to you and others in Australia on Monday last, with the hope that they might have rapid transit south.

Kitty dear, when you see any one of the Curtains please say that the letter from Mrs. Begg reached me safely.

When they are ripe, I shall collect and send to you seeds of the Pointiana Regia, it is a flowering tree of the most brilliant kind, the blooms being bright scarlet or deep blue, it comes into flower just after the jackaranda, it should grow well around Sydney or Maitland, here it is used in the streets. did I not tell you about it in my last letter? It bears very freely, and some of the specimens at the Zeitoun convent are laden with large pods, the Irish sister told me that I might have some when

[Lieutenant Colonel Astley John Onslow Thompson, grazier of Camden Park, Menangle, NSW, joined the Army on 15 August 1914 and embarked from Sydney on 20 October 1914 on HMAT A14 Euripides in command of the 4th Infantry Battalion, 1st Brigade. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 26 April 1915.]

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[Page 3 of the letter. Some words appear to be missing between page 2 and page 3.]

Word was sent to night that three train loads of wounded would arrive in Cario tonight, that five hundred of the wounded will be sent straight on to No. 1 general, and that the others are to go elsewhere. Just think of it after nearly eight weeks of strenuous fighting on the peninsula, our men are on the small piece of ground that they took during the first twenty four hours, and that notwithstanding strenuous efforts they have been unable to get further. Wounded continue to pour in here, and this is the perifery of the hospital zone. The congestion is deep enough here. What must it be in the hospitals that are closer to the scene of action? How many have been wounded altogether, The number must be now very large.

Very few prisoners have been brought along. It is very desirable that as many as possible should be landed in Egypt for exhibition, and the only conceivable reason for there not being presented for view is that they are not on hand.

The demeanour of the soldiery and general population is becoming changed, I refer to the native soldiery, sure indication that they are provided with knowledge that is not in our minds, and information that speaks not favourably to our cause. It is of little use being anxious yet one cannot help noticing the signs of the times. The motor car drivers tell me that the natives in the streets are becoming cheeky. No[ne] has better chance than the drivers to make observations as they are so much about and at all hours of the day and night. A French man was talking to me last night, and he said: "What a wonderful number of motor ambulances you Australians have sent from your country?" The work that they do is of the utmost assistance in helping along the military work around this city, without them it were not possible to cope with the work.

One hero has just come to my hospital. He happens to be an Englishman from Ireland. Others will come later, I shall wait till 1 a.m., after that hour I shall leave anything that turns up to the clerks.

11-6-15. Five men came in after I went to bed, making the inmates 241 this morning. The conundrum of the moment is. Will any Australian who has been at the Dardanells come back without the mark of bullet upon him? He will certainly be a rare bird should he do so.

After being fed well the things in most demand by the soldier as he exists in hospital is tobacco of some sort, his preference is for cigarettes, he will accept them as a gift or purchase them for himself, the australians being the most highly paid men willingly buy, the Englishmen being the lowest paid, get them from me as a gift, and not having orders upon which the men from New Zealand can draw I also give them some. The men returning from the Darda

[Page 435]

-anells, if they be English may not have had smokes for weeks, the Australians have been much better looked after. As compared with the Australian, the man from the old land has little capacity for looking after himself, he has been kept so much in one groove for the greater part of his that he cannot get out of it, and in varying viscisitudes he soon comes to the end of his resources, it is somewhat of a handicap for a soldier, many of those returning have hardly a piece of equipment remaining, all having been left on the battle fields of the peninsula, even the Australian is content to get away himself and bothers very little about his goods and chattles, the only trophies they bring are rifle cartridges, they are easily carried in the pockets, there may be in the mind of each man a certain amount of satisfaction at getting away but slightly wounded.

A man who was in the North Mount Lyell mining disaster a few years ago has just be[en] to see me, he is one of the seven who escaped, and now risked the Turkish bullets, escaping from these with a slight wound.

I enclose for your perusal, in case it may not come before your eyes, a story cut from this morning’s papers, The Last Shot.
Such is the game of war as she is played in reality

The king of Greece appears to be recovering from his pneumonia and operation for the following empyema, the course of his illness is exactly similar to that from which so many of our people suffered at Mena, and upon whom I operated, he should now get right, but it often takes a patient a long series of weeks to become quite right.

Your photographs are on the table in front of me, arranged in a row Tabbie to the right, Kitty in the middle, and Joseph to the left ? Each smiling at me ? Jo just (Swear at these big letters, I neglected to alter the machine): Kitty looks to have the best head of hair. Is’t so? I like the style of the pictures. If there were one of my Buddie to hand my eyes could look at the whole family, promise has been made to me that one of our Maitland sister shall be sent, permission having been given by the chief for its being taken. Kissed each of the pictures before putting them back in the envelope.

A father King from St. Patrick’s cathedral Melbourne, came to the hospital yesterday and said Mass, at 7 o’clock, I served. What think you ? The last time that I remember having done so was in Limerick for a Padre Ryan, in the year 1882. Just try to think back that length of time ? Word has come that letters are at Ghezeirah palace for me, I shall send for them after a little, Jerome can go in the car.

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Twice this week did I send to No. 1 G.H., as word had been sent that letters were there for me. When Jerom called he got some letters, but there were none from you. This a disappointment. I shall hope for next week when an Orient steamer passes North through the canal

12-6-15. We are somewhat pleased to day because several hundreds of Turks landed in Cairo as prisoners, this will impress the minds of the native population, a very desireable factor to be brought about at the moment.

A cable came from MacNamara this afternoon. I have replied to it and sent a second message to Buchanan, asking that the matter be expedited. I do not see how it can be managed here. And now to bed. Not in tip top fettle these days. Good Night. Good Night. Good Night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Carrie. Joseph. Kitty.

13-6-15. This is Sunday. And 10-30 a.m. I have just returned from Mass. We went first to Zeitoun, to the convent chapel, but we were late for there; then we went on to Heliopolis. I knew the time at the Basilica, but trusted to Captain Cameron for the hour. There was a great crowd of new soldiers, enough to fill the church comfortably; I did not see amongst the officers or the men any that I knew, one man looked at me hard but I did not know him, sorry now that I did not speak to him
Jolly hot this morning, and the air will heat up during the afternoon it always does in this part, the sun having an effect far beyond any thing that you know of in Sydney.
We have heard nothing more about deaths amongst our people at Galipoli, you have later information, indeed the papers from W. Australia will bring to us the earliest lists, this is strange but true. Sunday never got as far as Cairo, nor did Friday, hence all days of the week are very much alike and did one not keep a sharp look out, or consult his calendar every morning he might easily get astray.

A man from Queensland has told me that the Pointiana Rega (Golden Mohr tree) is common about Brisbane, and that he has seen very large specimens growing there. He also said that he understood that the ones growing here had come from his country, Queensland, but this is not correct, because several persons informed that their habitat is Madagascar. I enclose some of the seeds for you, others I shall send to Buddie. They should do all right on the Maitland flats, of course there may be some already flourishing on the banks of the Hunter.

[Page 437]

I shall send you some more after a time, when they will be more thorughily ripened. Owing to the pods being large and numerous there will be no difficulty in collecting a supply. Good bye for the present, I am going to dinner. I have a great desire for a rice pudding. Why? I do not know, but it has been with me for two days, and were you near I should ask you to make one for me. I miss some one to look after the things that are placed before me to eat but that cannot be helped for the present, I fancy sometimes that you spoiled me when I was at home, neither can that be helped at this stage of my existence.

Enclosed you will find a neat account of what it feels like to be under a Zeppelin. I do not know what other people think, but it looks to me that the Germans are enterprising beyond expectations with these engines of destruction. You may remember how some months back it was being constantly noised abroad that the enemy was in possession of but a certain number of these great floating bags, and announcing number this and that has been destroyed there cannot be more available. Yet even now they appear to be more numerous and enterprising than has been exhibited during earlier phases of the contest. And so the great game goes on, becoming beyond the grasp of the ordinary intelligence.

In the newspaper of this evening we are told of the speeches being made by Mr. Lloyd George to get the workmen of Britain to make shells and other munitions for the fighting line. Is it not dredful to think that such an appeal is necessary, when the best of the people are fighting so strenuously for the safety and honour of the Empire.

This afternoon I was surprised by an old friend calling upon me, a Dr. Pentland formerly of Maitland and Singleton , he came as medico on one of the troop ships and is temporarily attached to No. 1 hospital. He looks much older than when I last saw him, that was in N. Zealand last year.

And now to finish for this mail. Good bye my dears. Ever Ever shall I thank God that He who made each of you fair has also made each of you good. To my friends please convey my best wishes and kindest regards. To your-selves do I send heaps of love and loads of kisses.
Your loving and affectionate father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney.

[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Carrie. Joseph. Kitty.

[Captain, later Major, Alexander Pentland, 62, medical practitioner of Terrigal, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 12 May 1915 on HMAT A32 Themistocles. He returned to Australia in June 1916 and went on to serve as a medical officer on transport duty.]

[Page 438]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

C/o D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
15th June 1915.

My dear girls:

My weekly letter to you was posted yesterday and it should be carried to Australia by the Orient steamer that is advertised to go south through the canal during the week. Let me hope that it may have speedy voyage and that its contents may be pleasing to you.

Reading a copy of the leading news-paper, published in French in Alexandria, my eyes lighted upon a sentence which expresses well the relationship of the strangers to those who are native to the soil: "Les étrangers sont the levain qui fait lever la plâte le ferment des énergies créatrices". Discussing the matter the writer truly tells that such has been the case within the State since the time of the Pharoes. To be subject to some outside influence appears to be necessary to the well being of the Egyptian type of mind, there being required a some one to direct the mental and physical powers into proper chanels. The history of Egypt confirms the correctness of the sentiment underlying the sentence written above. And further ’tis printed: "L’Eyptien due peuple est par nature stagnant. La charrure qu’il emploie est gelle d’il y a 5000 ans; les couffins dont il se sert pour emporte les gravats ou charger des matériaux dans des sacs ou des tombreaux, on les trouve sur les monuments pharoniques. Stagnation c’est le mal de l’Egypt; progression celui de l’étranger".

In response to telephone message from me No. 2 G.H., replied that there were letters for Jerom and me. The motor car was soon despatched for them, and a fine large bundle greeted my eyes, also several papers. I have read the letters, one from each of you girls, in every case written in stages and containing much valued information upon many subjects that interest me. You will have reply on following sheets of this. Meanwhile many thanks for them. Other envelopes contained sentences from Dr. Paton, Doffie, MacNamara, Mrs. Reynolds, and David Storey. To each some day reply will go forth.

16-6-15. I have looked through the papers you & others were so good as to send to me. In the D.T. [Daily Telegraph] of the 11th May, I read how badly the press of your city takes the sinking of the Lusitania by the Germans. It

[Page 439]

has caused a thrill to run round the world as fast as the wires had power to transmit the news. Not a slow process. The sequel to it all is that after five weeks President Wilson, of the U.S.A. writes a note to those who perpetuated the crime. Great blaring of the American press heralded the despatch of the message. It has been received. The leading French paper here wrote of it in the issue of yesterday: "Le fait est que M. Wilson semble jouer a cache-cache avec l’Allemagne: Je vais aller vous trouver dans ce coin là bas, lui dit-il, Bon, je vais aller me mettre dans l’autre, repond-elle. "Ca peut durer comme ça quelque temps."

Tabbie Dear: Your letter bears date 12-5-16. Many thanks for it my dear, it was interesting and full of information, it would be hard to supply all the sentences that my mind would endeavour to assimilate. However you were very good. How does My Kitty manage with the odours at the retreat in St. Mary’s? A piece of penance that is with one all the time, inhibiting ones praying capacity effectually, however it may be that then they are more acceptable, in that the difficulty of concentrating the thoughts is so much increased.

Yes my dear Australia must be feeling the effects of the war in "dead earnest. How must they in Belgium, France or even Germany, not to mention England, feel it? With them it must be indeed terrible.

Normand MacLaurin had but brief spell at soldiering. It is no doubt glorious to die fighting for ones country, but it is far more satisfactory to live and see your country victorious. Think you not so? A large number of brave men were killed. R.I.P. The number of the casualty list in the paper of the 12th of May was 20 th. [20,000], you have as anticipated much more information than we get. Our Kitty must have been disappointed that her Maitland jaunt was put off. I suppose that you scan list of names eagerly each time of appearance. Yes the boys were reckless, prodigal indeed of the one life that God gave to each, forgetting that it does not come back, once being lost. It was a glorious fight, but it was not war. Seven weeks ago since it was commenced and today they are not further advanced than they were twenty four hours after landing. They landed wonderfully, and they have dug themselves in wonderfully, and there they are like rabbits. But [t]o the cost in that most precious of all things, life.

[Page 440]

The arm chair generals know all about what should have been done, of course, they find it so easy to criticise, when at a safe distance from the shot and shell. We had at Mena field marshals by the score, happily I am free from them here.

Rene Silk might be a success on the stage. My best wishes if she makes the venture.

We all pray for a move in some direction along the various fronts where the contests rage, according to the cables every day. Most people have come to mistrust the news, because each cable is so like the other, and the armies are in the same spots as they were six months agone. But what is the use of going over the familiar talk. You all take a lively interest in Bruce MacLachlan [McLachlan], he must be a soldierly chap. Good luck to him. The training of a soldier produces gentlemen out of him who is worthy. I may have chance to meet him on this side.
The managing of the typewriter makes me almost swear.

Kitty appears to have a lot of privates as friends in the encampment where Dr. Phipps presides. My greatest regret in life is, and has been for some years, that during the first twenty year of my professional work there was not within my anatomy sense enough to make me save money which might have made you possessed of enough money which lodged safely in the bank would be counted as an independance. alas, the start made by me was good, but the keeping going of the intentions and acts of my first eighteen months of professional work was the weak spot in my progress. I thought that I, an M.D. of a swell University, was a swell, and that it behoved me to act as such. Unhappy thought, it crossed my good intentions in regard to becoming rich by slow degrees by more and more, the result being that instead of being rich at fifty my fortune is at as low an ebb as ever. However you will be able to manage for a few years, and after that there be none who can tell what is to happen. You can hope for the best, it may eventuate.
I have heard nothing about Harry Stokes.
The Lusitania. Yes, an episode of the worst. Mater Phipps always reminds me of your Grand-Mother, my Mother, an Irish woman of the very best. R.I.P. Pease convey my best wishes to her when you see her again, several of her sons help to hold the fort. That is good. What better can a woman do than give her sons in the defence of their country? Glad to know that you think the Johnson girls to be of such good class. To them please give my kindest regards. The small income that they have will be found to be useful. Their Grand-Mother Johnson was a woman full

[Page 441]

full of wisdom courage and common sense, she had a hard struggle to become rich but she did it, and to her is due the whole of the incomes that the girls command, the other half of the household had been useless without her. The Themistocles arrived before your letters. To day I have seen several patients who came by her. She called only at Colombo. The voyage by her was rapid and comfortable. I have not heard from Herschell of late. He is arranging for another six months, that does not suggest an early end for the war in his opinion. Does it? You are sure that the world is coming to an end. Perhaps not yet.

Kathleen Bryan writes to me an occasional chatty letter. I am glad that you asked her to come in to see you. They are humble but very good people, and have been very faithful to me in many ways. My regards to any of them whom you may meet. Dr. Paton has been a prophet much astray in regard to the length of the war, and in regard to its protraction, suggest to him that must not forget the 15000000 women of Germany who value to their side has not yet been brought to bear upon the situation, nor will it till the time comes when the Emperor and his men have their backs to the wall, when that will come is not yet in sight. I read in a cable the other day that German guns can still drop shells into Soissons, not sixty miles from Paris, a distance of moment from the frontier of the Father-land. It is a great fight for one nation to sustain, and there be none other in the world, than William’s, that could have done it. Thus much for him, but he must be whipped, but he will take a lot of beating. Paton, George Waddell, Bertie Schlink, and the rest did not reckon on the strength of Germany. Glad that Bob lunched with you.

Kitty must be a master of the violin in these days. Good Kitty. Noel had bad luck with his applications to become a soldier, but it cannot be helped, he is destined to be a farmer and in that line there will be lots to accomplish in the years that are to come.
The widening of Macquarie Street will make it a thoroughfare of the best order, one of which the citizens will have cause to be proud. I hope to see it some day. When? Echo but answers, When?
I am all right my dear. Be not anxious about me, I shall pull through all right if God gives to me the necessary health and strength. So far He has done so and I hope that I am duly thankful.

Joseph dear: For your long and interesting, many thanks, letter Yes my dear, you must have thought the war news to be dreadful, and it was bad enough to satisfy the most blood thirsty. Soon you will be short of doctors in Australia, those remaining will make fortunes, while we poor

[Page 442]

beggars will find nothing to do when we get back, all our patients will have been taken by the stays at home. Never mind, we shall find a crust somehow.
Heaps of the wounded continue to pour in here More train loads to day, and it is seven weeks since the first fight took place in Turkey. We were promised, if my memory serves me correctly, that two weeks after the ships of war began to bark at the Dardanelles the city called Constantinople would fall. Has it fallen yet? Is it likely to fall in the near future. The cable lies are so persistent that they now fail even to elicit remark.
I am sorry for Jack Paton, he has kept to soldiering for a very long time, I saw him start in the 4th regiment at Newcastle many years since, he was never in my opinion of the highest class, but he did his work well and climbed the ladder of rank step by step. It will be pity if any trouble should come to him He married a little girl named Donnelly.
My Kitty has a cold. Now why my Kitty? But later sentences assured me that it had cleared away. Good, my Kitty.
Glad that you styled my letters lovely

President Wilson has done very little in regard to the wreck of the Lusitania. Think you no so?
Dust. You should have been here to day. The wind was hot beyond anything that you have ever felt, the sand of the dessert was flying in all directions and in thick clouds, and the sun set as a while ball in the western sky, in such manner as to suggest the moon rather than the orb of day, this due to the atmosphere being filled with the sand raised high above the surface of the earth, yet not so high as to reach the sky. It was queer spectacle to see the sun in such state.
You will have seen Dr. Kennedy before now, he is a lad whom I like, and though not strong he tries to do his piece of the work set out for him.
Glad you liked to learn about the troops leaving, it will now be somewhat interesting to look back upon at this stage of the war. You are becoming an interesting correspondent because you read the letters that you receive and answer the various sentences as they have been set out, thus giving the reason for their being so set out.

Clarrie Bridge has not so far answered my letter, it was sent to the care of the Admiralty, I hope that he is having good luck, he is a nice boy. Reg is becoming quite a sqell [swell] in London? It will be great experience for him to have controll of so large an institution as the Middlesex hospital, if one battles well in this world he never knows to what he may attain. I must write to Dr. MacDonnell Kelly some of these days. Dr. Harris is doing good work at the hospital in Wimmereux. Good luck to him. Some of the boys from the Themistocles are in Egypt, I do not know the names, but I shall try to learn. The Moultan with Dr. Fiaschi

[Page 443]

[Pages 6 to 8 of this letter appear to be missing. This page is labelled 9.]

Russians be smashed by German Bill, ’twill go hard with our armies in the north of France during the coming months of the summer. Many of the English soldiers coming here are mere boys, some look as if with Mother is the place for them, I had to tell one laddie that to day, I was sorry for him but he was so upset at nothing.
The photograph and the Tidy arrived from Buddie, she was thoughtful to send them, the photo is now beside me. I often in the day take your pictures from my pocket and have a chat with the faces. Thanks for the prayers my dear, I am sure that they are effective on my behalf You have seen Dr. Kennedy long ere this, I hope that he was stronger on his arrival in Sydney, he looked wretched when leaving Mena.

Kitty dear: I judge from the context that your letter was written some time in the middle of May. Dear M. M. Bertrand is worried about me, please thank her for taking so much interest in me and my doings, she is a dear old girl, who has always been kind to me, and to you four girls. You will need to be your own doctors soon, surely none more will be taken from your side of the world, there are enough of us here at the present moment. The boys from the fifth field ambulance seem to be great friends to you, if they come my way I shall ask for personal news of all. You must have been a great help to Mrs Parsons on Belgian day.

This morning at Mass I looked out for Major Norris but I saw no one known to me.

Good Night My Dears. I must to bed to get sleep enough to lay in a stock of energy for a busy time to morrow. Good night. good night. Good night. The air is just beautiful at this hour, 1-10 a.m., of the shortest day in the year of 1915.
Carrie: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Joseph: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Kathleen: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Your loving and affectionate father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney

[Page 444]

[Pages 444 to 455 are a letter to Dr Nash from Blanche Sutton (see page 525 for confirmation of her surname and more about her role), a Sister at The Queen of Belgium’s Hospital, La Panne, Belgium, dated 22 June 1915. The pages are out of order and the letter is transcribed here in the page order in which it should be read.]

Written sideways at the top of the fist page:]
Faithfully
Blanche [indecipherable]

Queen of Belgium’s
Field Hospital
La Panne
Belgium
22.6.15.

Dear Dr Nash
Thank you so much for letter and views. So very good of you to write me when you are so busy. I appreciate the letter very much. Yes! I am proud of our country men I think their work has been magnificent, I scan the papers keenly for news of you all.

[Page 445]

Today there is a terrific bombardment all round. Dunkirk is being bombarded again also Furnes [Veurne] from early morning. Taubs [Taubes] over nearly all night and day. A few of the Furnes shells have fallen short and dangerously close to our hospital.

For several nights there has been big cannonading something big must surely happen soon. Oh! it is a sight to sit at ones window and see these great flashes. It all seems to facinate one so

[Page 446]

it is weird and wonderful I feel sometimes that it is a great dream. I cannot realise that all this wonderful scene means the spilling of our most precious blood and destroying of our sacred flesh. A lot of the best blood of England has been spilt around Ypres and a lot more to follow. I am afraid.

I was offered a position here in the theatre but accepted a floor of fifty beds instead I have eight nurses with me. Of course by now I have acquired

[Page 447]

A fair knowledge of the language. If I had known the language Matron would have given me a ward from the Start. A few afternoon ago the Queen met me in the hall and shook hands remarking at the same time Oh! You are an American I replied, No! Australian but she did not quite grasp what I said so Prince Alexander said, in a very loud voice "She is an Australian" and I was truly proud of it. I had no desire to be mistaken for an American the country that is too honourable to fight is not mine

[Page 448]

We have had a tragedy here in the form of a fire. The Royal Pavilion had just been completed, furnished and was filling up, when the fire occurred on a Sunday night. Everything terrible happens here on Sundays.

The nurses promptly dragged all the beds [with] patient (all intact) onto the beach.
The bugle sounded and quite 12,000 soldiers came tearing down the Street and all roaring loudly as they came,

[Page 449]

It must have resembled a great bayonet charge. They tore into the burning building, got all the beds out, theatre fittings & even the crockery. All the Patients had to be evacuated from the hotel and other buildings as there was danger of the whole block going. Human chains were formed to the sea and buckets of wet sand and water passed up. Soldiers chopped down one whole building to save the others. There was intense excitement

[Page 450]

for about an hour. Picture nearly a thousand wounded on the beach with crockery, theatre fittings etc all piled up around them. Of course some very stupid things were done as always are done at fires. A lot of stuff was spoiled from rough handling.

At the time I felt that it was a tragedy and that Fate had been very unkind to poor Belgium, to even deny her a shelter for her wounded.

[Page 451]

Next day some humorous incidents came to light. We have a lot of new arrivals here American nurses who cannot speak a word of French. Three of them were on night duty on my floor and of course got fearfully excited when they saw this great fire and wanted to get the patients out at once.

Of course the orderlies understood not one word that was excitedly fired at them and one was calling out down the corridor Oh! for some one to speak English. A big soldier came up to her and said

[Page 453]

What is it Sister can I help you, she said Yes! if you understand English So she fired many orders at him and generally ordered him round getting him to lift patients on to the stretchers etc.

Afterwards by chance she discovered that it was H.M. King Albert of Belguim who had fulfilled all her orders like a lamb.

Of course she was sorry but he did not mind and probably had a good laugh too next day.

[Page 454]

Prince Alexander also came to assist but one never mistakes him nowadays.

The King is always shabbily dressed but what matter about clothes when ones country men are watering the earth with their life’s blood.

The other evening about six a great Zeppelin sailed over here. On its way to England, The war ships fired at it but it sailed majestically on. It knew of course that the guns could not reach it nor [indeciperable] about.

[Page 454]

Last Friday I motored to France to shop. The country looked beautiful all the crops are green. And the trees and flowers were lovely. We drove for about twenty miles along the banks of a canal. I did enjoy it, Great beds of poppies and buttercups, all nodding their pretty heads to us. I insisted on the driver pulling up and picking some on the way home. We are billeted in beautiful German Villas here

[Page 455]

One I am told belonged to the Emperor of Austria. This was a very select German seaside resort. I have a lovely room looking right on to the sea & the ride to Nieuport Dixmude [Diksmuide] etc. so see the battles by land & sea.

I have one 75 shell for you don’t know yet about the helmet, I think I promised Mr. Hyman first.

Believe Dr & Mrs. Fiaschi are in London, think he took a risk coming over at his age. There are no old men or women here. The work is too tiring. Dr. Defage does a big abdo [abdominal] case in less than an hour.

[Page 456]

[The top of this page has been torn and some of the words are missing.]

28 June 1915

The temperature with the atmospheric conditions here are becoming oppressive in this part of the world, but we shall pull through right I hope.

My command at this hospital is running much better than I could have hoped for. General Maxwell, since his visit, has been talking, to other senior officers, in very laudatory terms of my management. Surgeon General Ford was telling me about it last night, & as it is he who asked me to take on the work, he too was well pleased, when he desired that I should take the work, he remarked that it was the most difficult task in Egypt. Good. I met Col. Martin at a dinner given by Col. Barrett last evening but I did not speak to him, I dodged even the saluting of him. He is not worth bothering about any further than to protect oneself against his stupid acts.

Good bye my dears, "let all the ends though aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s. Be just and fear not." May heaven give each of you many, many happy days; while "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy souls with hoops of steel.". Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on all of you.

[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Caggie Joseph Kitty

Heaps of love and loads of kisses from your loving and affectionate father.
John B. Nash
Best wishes to Maria

The Misses Nash
Sydney

[Page 457]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
29th June 1915.

My dear Girls:

Did I tell you that it is probable that I have made good during my first independent command in Egypt. General Maxwell was so pleased with his visit here one morning last week that he spoke in very flattering terms of the work done here, to Surgeon General Ford, who is that superior officer who asked me to take on this work. I am glad because under Martin I had no chance to show whether there was within me capacity for good or evil. It may be that time will give to me further opportunities for higher work, if so and God gives to me good health I hope still to struggle forward.

This evening another cable came from MacNamara about the land. I expected the papers to be here from Buchannan before now, they should certainly reach me by the next mail. They will be returned at once. It is not likely that any one here could manage the business with sufficient accuracy to avoid mistakes, hence did I send for our own solicitors to put the sentences in proper sequence, it will be the most expeditious way in the end.

By jove, this is an Egyptian day; sweltering heat, drinking water all day long, and it pouring out through the pores of the skin in such rapid fashion as to need more to keep the blood stream sufficiently supplied to have it in state compatible with health.

In the morning I shall ring up No. 2 G.H., making enquiries for letters. Hope will be with me that the reply may be yes.

Jerome and I were talking about flies, while I was taking my evening meal. The little black wretches were a bother. He affirmed that the species were more numerous and troublesome than in N. S. Wales. I differed from him, saying that the black fly is more lazy and more easily frightened than is his Australian homologue, and that we should thank God for the absence of the brown blow-fly, than which no more objectionable beastie flies, he is par excellence in the resorts of the Blue mountains.

"The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief;
He robs himself that spends a bootles grief."

God be with you all for the night, I have done. Good night. Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit.

[Page 458]

Lieut. Colonel Nash.

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
12th July 1915.

My Dear Girls:

Under separate registered cover I am sending to you this mail the power of attorney which will give to you all power to deal with any lands that may be in my name. I read the document this afternoon and it appears to be amply wide in most respects.

If Buchanan had attended at once to instructions the necessary papers from him should have been here some weeks back, however the matter has now been fixed up.

A letter was posted to you this morning and I hope that it may reach you rapidly and be worth the reading.

My hospital has today 470 patients, enough to satisfy any man but a small staff to deal with them.

Rumour from the highest quarters says to day here that a big fight is to take place at Galipoli during the next few days, and that preparation is being made in Egypt for the accommodation of several thousands of patients. Let us hope that the result may be of the best for us. Personally I am not too sanguine because those who have so far conducted the campaign have underestimated the fighting prowess of the Turk, and now it may be that this fight is but an effort on the part of a general who has failed to redeem his shattered reputation, if such be the case every one will be glad if he meets with success, but if the attack fails he will be deeper in the mire than ever, to defeat so wily and determined a foe as the rank and file of the Turks led by capable German officers will be a difficult proposition, this is the first time for at least one century that the soldiers of the Ottoman empire have had men of knowledge and above corruption to lead them in fair fight in their own or any other country, and no one knows to what extent they may recover their old reputation. Let us hope that they may receive the thrashing of such kind as has not been known to them during this or any other century.

Good night my dears. God bless you & guard you from all evil both mental and physical. Some extracts are enclosed. May still fair thoughts and happy hours attend upon you, while Heaven gives to you many, many merry days. Heaps of love and loads of kisses from your loving and affectionate father.
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales

[Page 459]

[This page is torn. Some sentences only fragmentary.]

ultimately get
the profits. Yet in that regard
the whole I have made money

I forgot to send the beads, but I must do so by the next mail, they are in my trunk. I sent to you a cablegram this morning, but to its contents there will be a special sheet devoted as a business supplement.

I hope that the stones were of interest to Prof David. Most of the specimens picked from the sand have peculiar markings on the inside. It is a question whether they are deposits or all pieces of petrified wood. The first pyramid is nothing to climb, it is but a gigantic flight to stairs, but the smooth surface of the second one is not a suitable area for the timid to scale, the coming down is the difficulty, because there is little to hold on by and one

[Page 460]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
1st July 1915.

My dear Girls:

Did I but know some strong words they might have been muttered during to day, because an envelope that bore your address and inside which were some type written sheets of folscap, has eluded my vision for some thirty six hours. It is at this moment a jolly nuisance, for the fleeting minutes slip by quickly and ’tis difficult to catch some for the pleasant duty of having chat with you. Hunted high and low, but with ill success. Botheration. Botheration. You note that I have not yet learned how to make note of exclamation on this machine. Send Doffie along to instruct me.

Last evening a cable started from this end conveying congratulations to Joseph dear on the coming of another birth anniversary; hopes are with me that delivery took place early on the morning of the 1st day of July in Sydney.

The three pages following upon this one, were put together last night, when I was hoping to find the mislaid sheets. In one of them it was set out that the numbers in this hospital would rise above the 400 mark to day. The estimate was correct. The exact numbers are 440 at this 10-50 p.m. An aggregation of the wildest men in Egypt. If they had supply of liquor, to which many of them are prone, they would be unmanageable, but the alcoholic liquor is difficult to obtain, and the attempt to get it is fraught with certain risks, but the main check upon the lads consists in that the moment each enters here he is placed in a suit of pyjamas, and his uniform is locked in the store, and it would not be quite comfortable to walk one mile in a pink or blue suit of night attire, the eyes of the police would be attracted by the gay rig out, then the prison and punishment would follow many might not give much store to this point of view, but the pinkness and blueness are steadying impressions working through the eyes. The lads do not know this but there be some who do, to them amusement and satisfaction are constantly the outcome.

My crowd for Australia are not to get away tomorrow, because the Suez Canal is blocked, a telephone message apprised me of the happening this afternoon. Why is it blocked? Why? You will have been informed before we, though you are ten thousand miles away, and we but one hundred, the electric fluid skips o’er space and laughs at time in its flight, also

[Page 461]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls" or the letter G.]

the Commonwealth Government will see that you get it, we have no such power behind us, the military autocrats give us just what they like, and being particular about the truth is not one of their characteristics. However let us be content, in the hope that there will come a day when we shall all pull through.

I was hoping for a mail from you today but none has come. Jerrom received another letter dating back to January. All the back letters will find us some day.

Jerom is feeding me first class. The table cloth is always clean, there are no onions or other objectionable green stuf mixed with what is presented to me, porridge for breakfast with a special piece of steak, or a curly tailed chop, cooked to my liking, iced butter, good bread, jam condensed milk, and freshly made tea. Just what suits me. Luncheon: Beef tea, some kind of beef, rice pudding, jam milk and tea. Tea at 6-15 o’clock: Potted meat, bread butter & biscuits. Never since my residence in this land has my taste been met till now. Good. I shall soon put on weight. My loss amounted to 2-1/2 stones, an advantage in that it is easier to get about, but not desirable if it be accompanied with other disturbances. First class these strenuous days & nights. Good night. Good night. Good night

[Triangular patterns of Xs and Os – see original for details.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kathleen.

My dear girls, I do verily believe that you do make of your prayers sweet sacrifices that will lift my soul to Heaven. Good night. Good night.
"May the grace of Heaven, Before, behind thee, and on every hand, Enwheel the round." Good night. Good night. Good night.

From Little Hyman have come copies of the Daily Mail, and a small volume of Shakspeare, during the week. It was good of him to remember me. I have just written an acknowledgement to him, in thanks. He is I have no doubt, keeping himself busy about the war in some direction, looking about for some one or another, in this way and that, he has got many persons placed for work in the various departments, he is an unselfish little Jew, still as ever.

[Page 462]

30-6-15. 10-30 p.m. And there arrived to day as a surprise packet ten letters, the latest date on any being 17th Febry. 1915. From whence have they come? Echo answers, whence?. The only post-marks on the envelopes were Sydney Feby. 15-3 to 15-. No doubt they have been stowed carefully away, lest they might get lost in transit, some genius manipulating the envelopes after the style of the embryo field-marshals who are so plentiful in all directions, in and out of uniform, in these parts and mayhap in others. What ringing his neck would get if only some of us could get a hand upon him. With the letters that come here I am very particular because I remember how anxious I am about the fate of letters that have been written to me. Some of my men have the tired feeling which might overcome them were my voice not constantly keeping them up to the collar. I hope for letters bearing recent dates to come to hand during this week. In the morning I shall have enquiries made from Gezeirah, and if the response be in the affirmative the car will call during the morning.

Caggie dear: In yours of 5-2-15, you acknowledge receipt of mine from Aden. Nan was with you and Joe in the mountains. The garden must have looked first rate at its best. When shall I be home. Ask Bertie Shlink, or George Waddell? Each of them knew before we left Sydney, perhaps they still have inside information. My regards to Hanna. I may write him a short note some day.

17-2-15. Letters from Alexandria had reached you. Glad you liked them too. Sorry I did not get the regiment to which Dot’s young man belongs earlier, as I should have written to him. If he were here now I should look him up. When at Mena I could not do so fearing to be away. A card written in Tasmania by Matron O’Connor was with your letters to day.

Joseph dear:
Your first bears date 2nd Feby. 1915. Cramond. ’Tis said out loud in these parts that President Wilson and the Kaiser still play speaks, also that the war goes merrilly on. What think you?

Your second: 17th Febry. 15. I am quite all right as far as every thing is concerned. Jerome is in good fettle, much better here than he was at Mena; every one was half starved there; and discontent reigned suppreme. You were good to write to me so early in the morning. Thank you my dear. Many thanks for the copy of Clarrie Bridges letter, it was thoughtful of you to make the copy and not to send the original. I shall write Clarrie telling that his letter has reached me after a long

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interval and acknowledging his Christmas greetings. Good. He and his shipmates were suffering some of the inconveniences of the life on the ocean waves during the war time. Should he and I ever meet we shall have different aspects from which to view the great war. Think you not so?

Two letters also from Buddie, 20th Janry. and sometime early in Febry., she neglected to put in the date. I shall refer to them in my next to her.

Kitty dear. Letter of no date, the second of 7th Febry Glad that you liked my letters which were put together while upon the voyage. Leila Winter in a letter written last Febry., to hand with yours told me much about the O’Reilley. Should I be in Dublin I shall look him up if only for amusement sake. He has no love for me, but that makes but little matter. I received a letter from Mr. Potts recently. I have not yet replied. Thanks very much for your rememberances in your prayers. Please convey my best wishes to Mr. Anderson, he has not replied to my last letter, but I must write to him again some day, he is a jolly fine old man, one of the best. Glad to learn my dear that Dr. Hughes received a surprise in regard to your eyes, they appear to have been satisfactory since. That is good God grant that they may now be strong for manny manny years. Perfect health, mental and physical is the greatest gift from God. If you meet Dr. Hughes please thank him for looking at them, and convey my kind regards. Clever dressmaker. You are all good girls, of the very best in all ways, it is always my pride to think that He who has made you fair has also made you good.

If letters of a recent date come during the week, I shall add the reply on to these sheets.

My hospital is flowing over, 375 patients tonight, all now at rest upon mattresses spread along the corridors and elsewhere, tomorrow night there will be more than 400, but on Friday morning I expect to be starting 145 for Australia, that will relieve the pressure somewhat, but the flowing tide will soon fill me up again. It is pretty hard work making everything run smoothly; especially as my staff is very small, ’tis well that they are of first quality, else it could not be done. I trust that none of them will knock up.

The sun in Egypt is hot these days, yet, God granting us health and strength we shall pull through. When is the question?

What think you of the war? Is not German Bill putting up a wonderful

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record? Thrashing the Russians on one flank, while on two other sides he prevents the Allies from advancing, if he can but give the Bear a little more pummelling he will have but little small trouble in downing the other opponents during what will be left of the summer of 1915. It is not comforting to have to admit this, but every day adds to the self evident fact that both by land and sea the German is winning all along the line, if one but accepts the few yards of trenches that the official wires claim for the French. Do you notice how grudgingly the Gallic press acknowledge the actions of the British troops, but for whose assistance the protection the German eagles had months since been floating from domes of Paris and the whole country but a German province. In their illustrated journals the British officers, as high up as Marshall French are depicted as second rate drilled men, it makes me almost angry to look at the pictures.
[Field Marshal Sir John Denton Pinkstone French (1852-1925), Earl of Ypres.]

The submarines of the enemy also pursue their active work unchecked, in the cables of this date they are reported as being in the Irish Sea and off the fishing village of Youghal in the county Cork, a place where I have been many times in the long ago.

At Galipoli our people are at a stand still, while the war ships of our side shelter behind the booms across the Lemnos harbour. Looks as if Admiral Percy Scott was right when he wrote soon before the war began that the future of fighting by sea belonged to the under water craft and not to the big ships, if a whole fleet of big ships are afraid to venture forth when a few submarines are believed to be in the neighbourhood, they certify to the correctness of Scotts representations, he was attacked somewhat unmercifully for his ideas, but such experience is not uncommon with those who have promolgated new ideas pregnant with correct observation and true in every essential.
[Admiral Sir Percy Moreton Scott (1853-1924), officer in the Royal Navy and a pioneer of modern naval gunnery.]

A heavy day in front of me tomorrow, therefore must I soon to bed, after, in a few sentences, having commenced a letter to Buddie.
Good night. Good night. Good night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

4-7-15. 8-40 P.M. The months wax on and we are on the down grade of the year, as you may note from the date. By phone I have been advised that there is a letter and a parcel at Gezeirah for me, I have sent Jerome for them and if the former be from you it will be answered tonight, as I like you have my letters posted on Monday that there may be no possibility of their being late for the weekly mail. There was a big mail from Australia yesterday, and hope has been with me that letters might come from you, I still look for them, and expect not to be disappointed, it will not be your

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fault if I am, but the blessed officials, who are either inefficient or careless, each is the same as regards those who are on the look out for letters. I am very careful about letters that come here because I believe that every individual is an anxious as am I to receive word from home.

The military authorities are making arrangements in all directions to make prolonged stay in Egypt, even in regard to this hospital, which will be done away with as soon as possible, they have set about making improvements that will last for a long time. A staff Colonel was with me this morning, and went through the whole place inspecting every detail with a view to making additions and repairs; the property is belonging to the Egyptian Army people, and is either loaned to or rented by the British Army people. It is quite suitable for the hospital requirements under my charge.

As far as we can judge from the telegrams the Germans are still thrashing the Russians, and if they keep it going much longer, the Bear will become disabled that he will be useless for many months, during them he may recover, but meanwhile the Teuton will have delivered some smashing blows to those opposing him on the Western front. You may note that I still fear the German weight, about which you heard me speak so often before I left home, and esecially when we were looking at the pictures of the Emperor and his sons, you cannot but have memberance of the illustration. The German army is the only one in Europe that can at this moment have left a sufficiency of non commissioned officers to train and lead the fighting units, besides having men well enough trained to be effective fighters. I may have written in the foregoing that the levies coming here from Australia and England are totally unfit to faced Turks or Germans at the present moment; and none of them can be even passably fit enough to save them selves from being murdered before six months from now, if after that interval they can shoot straight the instructors will have worked wonders, but it must ever be remembered that there are none of the real instructional staff left, they have all been food for the enemies shot and steel, and to replace them needs time and patience, even for the selection, because of the best they are, like unto the poets, born not made, though they have to be taught the rudiments upon which to build and full knowledge of their business.

11-55 p.m. Jerom brought from Gezeriah, one letter from Mrs Knowles of Melbourne, and a parcel of Sydney Morning Heralds, which you posted to my address, they bear date to the 22nd May. I shall read them before going to sleep. The letter bore the date 23rd May. Judging from its tone the Victorian people were at the time much concerned with the casualty list. I may have informed you that a youngster named Bowen, a relation to Mrs. K. had

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been hit at Galipoli, though not seriously. He is probably back in the fighting zone before now.

On opening the papers, the first matter that met my eyes was picture of General Bridges midst a number of his officers and men, the picture is a very good one. R.I.P. Germans as employees appear to be having somewhat of a bad time in N. S. Wales. I note that Clarence Bridge is putting up for a seat as an alderman. Wonder did he win? That Herbert Wood is t6o be nominated for the Armidale seat, vacant by the death of Col. Braund. Did he get in? That bounteous rains have fallen over the whole of N. S. Wales. Good.

Did you get any of the surcharged postage stamps from New Guinea? A Lieut Moor was court martialed in connecton with their sale. And Beeby has joined the ranks of the Liberals. Such is the game of politics as she is played by some people. Legge as successor to Bridges has much leeway to make up, as a teacher he has been all right but as a soldier he has not inspired respect. Let us hope that he may do all right, he was in the 4th, with me long ago.

I have looked through all the papers. You are liberally supplied with war news of all kinds, ad when the daily budget is added to by the illustrated journals at the end of the week you are better informed than most people in this part of the world, when chance offers tome I look through the Graphic and such like publications, but I am kept close at work in my present show else it would not run smoothly, and I am very desirous to make it a success because it was not believed to be possible to run it smoothly, however it is coming to be recognised that the view taken officially and by outsiders was incorrect.

I do not think that I wrote that when the 131 men started for Australia yesterday morning, were on board the train and I was leaving in the motor with Colonel Barrett, a cheer was sent up from the carriages in my honour, not one but three, it was very good of the men to recognise my kindness to them. Those present were taken by surprise and so was yours truly.
 
However it will reach to the ears of the General and others and will tend to show them that my reign here is being effective, I am very anxious to make good in this command to set at naught the months of suffering that fell to my lot while I was with that fellow Martin. I shall get even with him yet. He did me great wrong. Yesterday morning I was talking with General Ford, he told me that if Martin dared to make a bad report about me he would not allow it to go through the office. That is satisfactory and will serve to protect me from an incompetent creature, who under the guise of being my senior officer might be

[Colonel, later Major General, James Gordon Legge CMG CB, 1863-1947, school teacher, barrister and army chief of staff, commanded the 1st Australian Division on 24 June 1915 after the death of General Bridges. He was transferred to command the 2nd Australian Division on 26 July 1915, and served with them at Gallipoli. He became ill in October 1915 and did not rejoin the division until after the evacuation from the peninsula. He later served in France before returning to Australia in 1917.]

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attempting to do me injustice and harm. However I fancy that I have effectually checkmated him already; He is mayhap in bad odour at head quarters because his show has been going to pot recently. The morn is waxing on and I must get ready for bed. I shall keep this letter open till tomorrow in the hope that letters will arrive from you for me to answer. For the present good night, good night, good night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Tabbie Geordie Kitty.

5-7.15 Cannot write more for this. Kind regards to all friends Heaps of love & loads of kisses for each of you from
Your lovg & affct Faree
John B Nash

The Misses Nash 219 Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S. Wales.

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Lieut. Col. Nash.

C/o D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
6th July 1915.

My dear Girls:

This morning my weekly envelope was posted to you. During the afternoon the motor called at Gazeirah and found there ten letters there for me, six being from you, one from Buddie, one from Dr. Paton, Dr. Fox, Matron Sherwood, and Jack MacNamara.

Caggie dear: Yours dated 25-5-15. Cold you write, that would be a change from here, though one should not complain. Jo got Maria a position; Good Joseph. The dixsons have enough money to command china or anything else. In tobacco there has been much monetary profit during the last half century. Thank Mr and Mrs Franki for being so kind to you girls. You had an interesting afternoon at the range. I have encamped ther more than once so know it well. You must be quite up in the science and art of war, knowing so many soldier laddies interests you in the matter. Mollie wrote that kitty had been with her at the convent, but did not mention that she was staying with Rene Silk

I have a man in hospital who was on both the Triumph and the Majestic. Is he not lucky to be alive? Sorry that my Joseph was not very well when you were writing. I hope that she received my wire for her birthday. Holman and Meagher are both clever men. I received a letter from the latter this afternoon. Max Herz will not like to have to move about with an escort. Glad that you met Dr. Kennedy, and that he was well, he should be here soon. My best wishes to Belle and Moxham.

Of 26-5-15. The copies of te Sydney M. H. reached me before your letters, looking through them I read many items that were of interest to me. Many thanks my dear for your thoughtfulness. It is edifying of you to pray often for the soldiers who momentarily are dying for the cause of their country. Yes my dear ’tis a time of terrible happening, and I fear me that we have not yet seen the worst of them, when the struggle royal [words missing] of sufferings will accrue to men and [words missing] spared. Mr.

[The bottom of the page is torn]

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[The top of page has been torn. Initial limes are fragmentary.]

The Labour Party had a decisive win in Queensland. They rule the roost throughout Australia, except in Victoria, if I remember aright. Time will rectify all. Beeby will be sorry that he has left them. Yes Mr. Finney is the best in business matters, he will direct you better than any of the others.

Many thanks for all the information in your letters, the now fill up all the gaps and keep me well informed. Daily do I thank God who made you fair that He has made you so good my dear. The early morning hours are with us in Egypt, the constellation Scorpio is turning on his side, so I must to bed to brighten up for tomorrow, then I shall make reply to the letters from Joseph and Kitty. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Car. Joe. Kit.

Joseph dear:
You are good girls to make an outfit for our Kitty that she may be well fitted out when at Maitland. It is one of the greatest pleasures of my life to note how kind and loving you are to each other happiness of life for you and me depends not a little upon the consideration which has at all times been shown in the best of sisterly ways amongst my four girls. God bless you all for it, and He will. He made you fair and He has made you good also.
You will be more pleased and better off if you let my room. You can safely let it for two or three years because this war is not likely to end for a long time, every one here is not settling down to a prolonged struggle. Personally it looks clear to me that the German will win all along the line during this summer and that our side will not be ready to command success till next summer, by then the British nation will have waked up its shoulder will be to the wheel and great efforts will be put forth to recover the lost ground. What will have become of France meanwhile? One does not care to contemplate It is more than probable that she will be but a German province. You do not ready in the papers such prophecies as would parallel such thoughts. Their fulfilment is much more probably than you wat of. The self conceit of our empire people has led us into a sense of security which is not. The prolonged training of the Germans may just be about to assert itself, and if so we must temporarily go down, and with us the people allied with us until Russia pulls herself together & becomes well enough recovered to again put up a fight. It is sad to have such thoughts, and let us pray that they will prove but to be the fancies of a too vivid imagination. The grip did not hold the sheet.

[Page 470]

To return to your letter. Dr. Kennedy will be here again soon. I hope that he will come to see me or that I may have chance to speak with him. As you anticipated two lots of letters were delivered to me this week. Many thanks for writing so long and such interesting letters, it cheers the heart of an old man to have so much chat with you. Thanks. How strange that the necessaries commodities such as butter and sugar should be scarce with you. There is full and plenty here. My large family; 400 tonight require a lot of feeding in the way of common necessities but the material is always forthcoming, and the price does not seem to be excessive, judging from the fact that the money provided for me covers easily the material required and leaves plenty over. My staff is of the best and I keep an eye upon the expenditure being made in the correction direction. Every one is well fed and their needs being well satisfied they do not growl in the slightest, the money should all be spent on the family but when they are content what is the use of wasting it. You may be imagining that I have grown to be a good housekeeper, if so it is the result of your training. The government finds rations and gives to me 8 ½d. per day to find butter jam fruit and the like for each man.

Mr. Finney will know best what to do about selling the Lambton house. Be guided by him in the matter. He is the best to help you in all money matters. You will pull through all right in the way of finances, in that I have the utmost confidence, and all will be well in the end for you. When will the war end? No one knows. Did you notice that one the of the men highly placed in London said during the week that by Christmas time the number of men and the quantity of munitions would be favourable to the allies, in my idea twill be at least then before such happy result will be achieved, and then only if Russia has recovered from the stunning blows which daily she is receiving. Yes my dear we are on the down grade of the year and the months ahead will rapidly slip past to the end of 1915.
The Argonne of which we became so heartilly sick some months ago has cropped up again in the war telegrams from France, it is somewhat disheartening to note that after all the loss of life and struggling that has taken place along the South to North line in France, the Germans are as far in the country as they were one month after they set out on the invasion, the while they have been fighting a great war at the other end of their territory against the most numerous of all their foes. Mirabile dictu .

Yes my dear the Kinemakeler picture spoke truly when it showed the superior training of the German as a soldier. You remember how

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

impressed we were by the picture in the illustrated papers before my setting out. Bill and his six sons were but the expression of the state of preparedness to which the humblest member of the empire had been brought. By jove it was great. Now, of al the peoples only the Teuton can have left enough of the backbone to keep stiff the soldiery who must do the fighting, it is this backbone that gives to me cause for thinking that all the success for some time will be with our foes. In times of peace it is very hard to obtain the services of a really well trained and sober set of non commissioned men to train others, how must it be now when all those who were worth considering have been killed or wounded in France and other places.

Yes two letters from Kitty, they will be answered when yours have been done justice to. It is very pleasing to me to learn from your letters that my Kitty is keeping in such first class health as to her eyes and generally. Good.

Cohen always was a man of good intentions, with the breaking of them he is freely paving his little block in hades. I hope that you have not paid Buchanan and Smithers money. Do not bother with them if they are not attending to your requirements. Mr. Buchanan told me that he would look after y our requirements without charge while I was away. It is pity if he is degenerating because he was getting together a first class business, to it he received much assistance from me, because his father was a friend of mine and John himself worked well during his younger years, recently he has been giving too much time to horseracing, which is all right in its way, but it is dangerous because few men can be reasonable in the face of success, being led by degrees to excess, unless he be possessed of that uncommon quality which makes him know that ‘tis but the smile of fortune that gives him winnings, the average man credits how own cleverness with the gains, this is often fatal, leading one out of depth sometimes to drowning, this is the danger of gambling in any way. Should you require to make a change ask Andy Watt to advise you as to whom you should employ. But Mr. Finney can tell you most of what you require, and he will have no charge against you.

It will be good news for you when I write that during the two weeks in which Jerome has been feeding me my weight has increased by eight pounds, and the meals have been the most enjoyable since leaving home. The rice & porridge in the morning are of the very best, the bread is first class, there is never taint of onions in the food, and no vegetable mixtures come before me, the little piece of undercut that is fried for my breakfast is delicious, and the rice pudding just completes my dinner. My cook gets drunk on occasions, but a little stiffening in the way of my opinions upon such happening and the stoppage of pay has the effect of limiting his indulgence.

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I did not send the beads, but they must go forward during the coming week.

Many thanks for the newspaper cuttings. The Labour people under J. J. Ryan swept the Queensland poles to the parliament house. J. J. R. I note comes from my old college, the Jesuits in Melbourne. The American note to Germany was a real frost, and subsequent events tend to show that Wilson meant nothing by it. The Yanks are out for making money out of the war and human lives have no weight in the balance as against the almighty dollar.

Mr. Holman is in a peculiar position in regard to the referendum proposals, I note that he was at Adelaide still opposed to them, it will be difficult for him to steer clear of them if they be submitted at an early date, he is clever but the weight may be too much for him, Hughes and Fisher are very persistent and the result of the Queensland elections will encourage them to try to coerce N. S. Wales. The revenue in your State keeps up wonderfully, when one thinks of the drought that prevailed for so long. Wragge prophesies that you are in for a cycle of good years, let us hope that he is a prophet correct this time, he is not always. I did not think that the new platform at Milson’s point would be ready so early in the year, why the work must have been performed with decent speed.

Kitty’s letters for answer must be left till tomorrow as I am somewhat tired to night. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kittens.

7.7.15. By jove, while I have been typeing a letter to Glen Sparks, the hands of the clock have slipped past the hour of midnight, and we are five minutes into the 8th day of July.

Kitty dear: You were a very good girl to write to me two letters. I thank you muchly for them. The first bears date 21st May 15. Getting old for birthdays, my dear, none the less did I appreciate the cable which you sent to me. Thanks. Yes my dear: Giddy old Mike Bridges and the rest are the price we pay for such a luxury as war. Have you noted how warlike have become those people of peace, Miss Rose Scott, Mr. Holman, and the others who during many years have been saying that man has become too advanced to war ever again? My best wishes to Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Maitland and your other friends. I have heard nothing about Dot Patens young man. No time for riding these days, and the weather is too warm, were I to go out it needs to be between four and seven o’clock in the morning. Good Maria. A tie for the writing is the correct decision. A jolly fine artist at getting out of a difficulty is

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a difficulty is the same Maria. [Had] she grown rich the friends she has would have missed much fun, she would have grown fat and the mirth would long since have ceased to bubble forth. Think you not so?

Mgr. Bon. Spagetti, of the delicacy, looks in his picture to be a jolly old cock, one who would be deposed if my prescription were accepted as the rule in the Roman Church, viz. that any man ever twelve stones in weight should have the bishop’s robes taken from him, the averdupoise indicating that he is living luxurious days which is not correct for a bishop. Old Marano would have been quite pleased with himself during the demonstration in front of his rooms in Macquarie Street. I suppose that the Arch. and the rest were resplendent at the requiem Mass. These affairs are always magnificent, too much so for me.

Yes the Labour people swept the poles in Queensland. J. J. Ryan must be a Roman, because he was educated at the Jesuits college in Melbourne. Armfield, a great friend to Mr. Sparks is one of the members. A decent but very ignorant man, at one time he made a speech in which he said that no man must work for more than four hours per day. Donkey. It was good of Tabbie to send to me the papers. I do not have leisure enough to visit any club here to look through the papers. Too many doctors here now, tell Dr. Kelty to show sense by staying at home. I hope that he will not be silly enough to come to these parts.

Not in charge of the Gezeriah Palace hospital, but running a much more difficult show, successfully too, had it come to my turn to run No. 2 A.G.H. there would have been a radical change in the institution. I hear from head quarters that the place is in bad repute, no wonder considering the rotters at the top.

Clever girl to be reading about Egypt, a country crammed full of interests that have been accumulating for at least eight thousand years. I hope that some day you will have chance to come to see it, if I had sense enough to have stored by some money for a rainy day there had been no difficulty about the matter, but silly always in monetary affairs my life has been a failure in that regard.

The Australians at Galipoli were heroes of the first class, their behaviour was magnificent but it was not war. Every man was a leader for himself and went on regardless of officers, the Australian way, all right if the other fellow is not waiting for you, but disastrous when the other fellow has a rifle which he knows how to use.

Your second bears date: "West Maitland 31st May 15". You were good to write when you were on holidays in Maitland. Please thank Mrs. Silk for entertaing you. My love to Rene. I hope to get a run over to Galipoli before long. I am growing a little

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a little stale from over work and the General will probably arrange for me to get away for a couple of weeks. My regards to Dr fisher and Mr Silk if you have chance to give them.

Good bye my dears. God bless you
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Tabbie. Joseph. Kitty.

10.7.15. 10.45. p.m. This morning I sent to you a week end cable message to the following effect: "Nash Sydney. Tell MacNamara papers posted. Consult Finney re new solicitor. Get all papers from Buchanan. Well." The first words refer to the giving to you girls power to deal with land matters, it will complete your power of attorney. The second and third parts refer to the difficulty you have with Mr. buchanan. He is perhaps becoming too well off, when I took him business first he was in a small way, he then married a good class woman, has been doing well ever since, and with the business of more than one brewery behind him, he and his partner must have been doing well for some years. I have noted of late that he has been too much at the races. He may therefore have become tired. I hope not, but if he is not dealing satisfactorily with you it will be better to change. Mr Finny will give to you the name of a reliable man with whom to deal. I do not think that I told you to give the bills into the hands of a solicitor, in this regard they are rather a delusion.

During the week several telegrams have come to me from the Hon. Mr. Meeks making enquiries about his son Victor. I went to some trouble ament the matter and ultimately discovered that he is supposed to still be at the Dardanelles and unhurt, there was some difficulty about the matter because he was supposed to be in No. 1 G. Hospital. Two men of the name had been in the hospital, one had also been here but none of them was Victor. Do you know him? Mrs Meeks, the See girl is married to a cousin of Victor.

This afternoon a letter came from Mrs. Fraser, written at the Isle of Wight. She reports all to be well with the Captain and herself. She desired to be kindly remembered to you girls.

Still very busy with patients coming and going, nearly five hundred of them asleep on the verandahas and other places at this moment, some few seriously sick, but for the most part they are in the convalescing stage.

Under the feeding of Jerom my weight is increasing daily, and I feel first class, it is hard for me to imagine that I am really an old buffer, though it is evident to me that the boys here call me "The Old Man". What does Kitty think of that? Naughty boys I hear her remark. Good. Yet one must not deny so patent a fact, keeping hope that God will allow me to pull through this game, return home to You, and thereafter to spend some

[Private Victor Alfred Freeman Meeks, 30, a sales manager of Darling Point, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 22 December 1914 on HMAT A41 Bakara with the 6th Light Horse Regiment, 1st Reinforcements. He returned to Australia in about August 1915, discharged medically unfit.]

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years in useful work amidst my own people. But when will this show end? Ask of the winds that far around with rumour fills the air? To bed. Good night. The atmosphere is hot and moist, my eyelids close and my fingers are not inclined to work further. Good night. Good night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

I met Colonel Holmes this morning, he told me that he had seen you just before he left Australia, he looked very well. He told me that Colonel Watson was in Cairo. He is encamped with his force near Heliopolis. I must call to see him, as he lives but short distance from where I sit writing to you.

Good night, again good night.

11.7.15. 11 p.m. To night I had a long chat with a man who was on the Majestic when she was torpoed and sank off the coast of Galipoli. He has seen twelve years of service in the navy, and has thus some experience of the way in which conduct is regulated in every on His Majesty’s ships. He is a Scotchman. The Majestic during the war was first patrolling in the English Channel, and then escorted the Canadians across the Atlantic ocean. From the 4th of August the ship was bombarding the coast of Belgium. About this a Nurse Sutcliffe wrote to me, she was stationed at a hospital close by the towns of West end and Dixmude, and had full view of the fights taking place on land and the actions of the ships helping the British forces to prevent the Germans from marching along the coast towards Calais. In Febry. 1915 the Majestic reached the Aegean Sea and was in the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles till the day when she met with disaster, the 27th of May this year. The men upon her saw all the engagements and the stirring episodes, in connection with the sinking of ships that took place in connection with the presence of our ships at the entrance to the historic straights.

The sinking of the English and the French war ships. The running ashore of the E15 submarine, the work of the two picket boats going to blow her to pieces, in order to prevent the Turks from getting her afloat again for use on their side. You may remember that one of these boats was sunk the other got safely back to the ship. They saw the Australian submarine EE II [HMAS AE2] which was afterwards lost in the sea of Marmora, the second and the last of our submarine fleet, each had a short life but not a very merry one. Think you not so? The British fleet put a net across the narrows of the Dardanelles, the object being to catch the floating mines which night be coming down stream from the sea, and which already had caused destruction to many of the fighting ships? The best catch taken by the net was the a German submarine which, unconscious of the presence of the

[Page 476]

net was making her way to Constantinople to refit with torpedoes, she became tangled up and was lost. The English ship Goliath was torpedoed by a Turkish destroyer. The Bouveric & others were sunk after contact with mines About 6.45 a.m. on the 27th of May some of the people on the Majestic noticed the frothy water which denotes the wake of a torpedo, the air escaping from her driving mechanism comes rapidly to the surface, and a shout was raised because it was evident that the destructive mechanism was coming direct for the ship, the aim was true and passing between two transports the deadly missile cut through the torpedo netting, which was down around the ship, struck her in the near the engines and tore a great hole in her side and split her in all directions. When the shout went up every man made for the deck, jumping from places where many men were engaged taking in the netting, that the Admiral’s cutter might be launched, and climbing the stairs from other parts.

The trail of the torpedo can be noted a long way off, several hundreds of yards. The torpedo travels at from 30 to 40 knots per hour, but if smart a man can get away from the neighbourhood where it is seen that the ship may be stuck. With the explosion of the gun cotton contents of the weapon, great havoc is played within the ship, chains and gear of all kinds are thrown about, and fall in all directions. If the ship turns over, during the process guns chains boxes and other heavy gear of all descriptions fall from their places and in doing so must strike men and kill them.
Many deaths must be due to accident of this nature. The boat that hit the Majestic was probably Austrian, coming from Trieste, but was commanded by Germans. She probably arrived during the night took her bearings, sank to the bottom, rose with the morning light, took steady aim and disappeared, dropping to the sea floor again and waiting for the darkness to get away again.

The Majestic was badly torn, and broken. She turned rapidly over and sank within four minutes. I jumped overboard and swam to a French yacht that was anchored close by. Some 51 men were lost, some no doubt were killed at the moment of impact, others were killed by chains and other heavy stuff striking them, while a few were perhaps drowned. The big guns from the turretts fell into the sea before the vessel was completely over. We were surrounded by a ring of transports, but these were not the objective of the attacking boat. Had they been she could have sunk many of them. We were at a loss to understand why the transports were not attacked, and we came to the conclusion that torpedoes were scarce and that the Germans feared wasting them upon anything less than a warship. The Triumph was sunk in the middle of the day

[Page 477]

and though two aeroplanes and many smart small war ships looked carefully for the submarine, she could not be found, though the water was as smooth as glass, she must have sunk to the ocean’s ben [bed] and kept quite till darkness came, and under cover of this she crept away.

On the morning of the 25th of April I was working on one of the cutter towing Australians from the ships to the shore. The sailor men thought the Australians to be made, because they jumped out of the boats into the water, made straight for the shore ran across the few feet of level beach, and wi giving forth a terrifying shout, such as none of us ever heard before, and not waiting for the word of command, they threw off all encumberances in the form of packs &c., they rushed the steep side of the hill, reached the top ran down the gully on the other side and up the second hill higher than the first, the Turks must have been frightened by the great shout because they began to run at once retreating and firing. The sailors were landing troops all the time, and were lost in admiration of the bravery of the men who made the assault. A great feat of arms. Such a place to take. The yell they gave must have demoralised the Turks. A terrible yell. They had hearts of lions to do it. Such was the chating of the simple sailor man about the first fight made by the Australians in this war. Good for your fellow countrymen, looked at from the point of view of him as a fighting man.

12.7.15. I hope that you will receive my telegram in the morning, which will be Tuesday, and that it will please you to know that all is well with me. Jerom is feeding me in such effect that my weight is increasing daily and my energy is at the highest pitch.

This evening I paid a short visit to the sisters of the African mission at Zeitoun, they are a jolly lot of girls, old and young, the Irish woman showed me round the garden and the poultry yard, in the latter I had a chat with several of the women, telling them about the rabbits in Australia, the keeper of the poultry being quite indignant that we should feed pigs on such beautiful beasts as those like to her rabbits, she could not understand how they should be a pest. I showed your photographs, and in you they became much interested, enquiring about the Dominican sister and the others. I wished to go to Matareiah but it was late and return to my crowd of lambs was essential lest they should get out of hand with my captain. They are such a wild lot that it takes but little to start them on a row and once begun it might not be easy to check it.

Good night: To my friends kindly wishes of all kinds. To each of you heaps of love and loads of kisses from
Your lvng & afft Faree
John B Nash.

The Misses Nash
Sydney

[Page 478]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
16.7.15.

My dear Girls:

10.20 p.m. A great surprise. When I was going my rounds one of the men came after me and handed to me a telegram. On opening it it was with much pleasure that I read: "Sydney: 16 6 p.m. well love: Nash" Many thanks my dears. It is pleasant to receive so sudden a reminder of home and of those one loves. Again much thanks. [A line of Xs and Os.]
For Caggie, Jordie, and for Kitty. Caggie, Georgie, Kitty.

My crowd has been more than 500 these few days, and I have set myself the task to empty them out as fast as I can, fifty went today, about 200 will be off in various directions within few days. General Ford rang me up some days back and asked if I could turn this into an hospital for wounded men; I replied: You but say the word and in a few days I shall be ready to receive 200 patients, and in one week, 700 if you so desire. Making good here will be of assistance to me in any future work that may come my way.

During the week letters came from Buddie and from Kitty, both had been posted in Maitland, yet none arrived from you, this has often happened before, presumably because our letters are blocked by some ass in Sydney while the men in the country towns send everything straight on. You just find out who the galoot is then ring his neck with out giving him my compliments, I should willingly help if he were within my reach.

Kitty and Buddie were both good to write to me, especially the later while she was on holiday. I have typed reply to Buddie’s but not yet to Kitty’s, but if not to sleepy later on some words may be filled in on sheets to express my sentiments to her.

Train loads of wounded are still pouring into Egypt, within day or two you will have fresh large lists of killed and injured men. What will you all think of them. I must look out for Victor Meeks and the Bowen man from Melbourne. I do hope that our fellows will be able to take the hill on the Galipoli peninsula, Gaba Tepe, at the foot of which they have been blocked for so long, it would produce a favourable impression through out all the Ottoman and other Eastern powers. I am not hopeful, and pray I that it may not come to pass as I expect.

[Page 479]

One loss more in these means so much lee way to be pulled up. It would also be a pleasing change to know that we had made a success worth noting in one of the fighting areas. Shall every one of us not for his whole life be sick, close unto death with the names Ypres, Argonne, Soissons, and the others that have been printed day after day as the salients from which so much has been attempted and nothing accomplished, each of the belligerents boasting after ten months that he has held his own. There must come a time when one party to the fight must yeild, then woe be to the other. Which will it be that must weep? If us, then only temporarily till we pull ourselves together for a fresh effort. I still fear the German weight. The picture of the great man and his six sons has always been to me a nightmare, and it is none less today than that upon which my eyes first rested upon it, and when it was my pleasure to show it to you. Member you how much we spoke of it, and how oft I examined it, and opened the paper to show it to others. It counted for much. Bill is reported to have said that the war will be ended with October, had he so expressed himself he meant that he will first have taken Warsaw, and then he will have driven the British out of France. From such disaster Lord deliver France? The strip of water will be real protection at all times for our lands, and the command of the seas which belongs to the ships that fly the white ensign ensures a supply of food and of other things that count for all our people. Let us hope that Bill and his warriors will not get into Warsaw, and that he will be pushed back from the land of Gaul.

Did you read in the Melbourne Advocate a short article by me on the dining room in Cairo’s swagger hotel? I read it in a paper that reached me a few days back from Mrs Knowles? I liked it better than anything I have ever put on paper. I should like your opinion on it. The words were arranged around the picture of New South Wales legislators in Egypt. I have mislaid my copy, but I hope to find it before many days have passed. There is heaps to write about, but for the present my fingers must cease, the muscles may tire, because they have been going strenuously all day. We had twelve operations during the afternoon, besides heaps of other duties each moment of the daylight and dark.

An English officer wrote to me a minute three days back about doing certain things in a particular way. I replied by reminding him that it was evident that there was a war going on and that if he wished me to do as he desired, would he please communicate with me through the D. M. S. Egypt. I had mentioned the matter last week to General Ford, and he agreed with me that

[Page 480]

there was a serious struggle going on in which our people were shoulder deep. The officer did not go to the General, but wrote back to the effect that he had noted my paragraphs. Right oh. He will not trouble further, but he will execute my orders with despatch, should he not do so I have means where by to make him lose a night or two from sleep. I hate loafers in all the departments of life whether in the army or out of it Many a time in my speeches in the Legislative Council have it stated that there was necessity for a bill such as the registration bill, or rather act which is now in force in England, where by every one will be placed in the class of work or trade, which he claims to be able to perform, this that he may be compelled to undertake for the good of all that wherein he is competent. My object, when speaking was to have every man enrolled that he might have a government charter which would give him the right to labour in the land free from the domination of any unauthorised body in the country, who took unto themselves legislative powers without the voters having the chance to controll. My friends of the Trades Hall were deadly opposed to the idea because it would rob them at one stroke of all their powers. It has had to be done now as a matter of self defence for the nation against the slack and the loafer, and it will continue to be the law of the land long after the war has sunk into oblivion. The public and the individual must be protected against unauthorised associations, because they do but pray upon the weak, in the guise that they are acting for the good of the lowly and humble. Associations have their spheres of usefulness, but they must not go beyond it, because they at once become tyranous to those who are not strong enough to protect themselves.

Good night Caggie dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Good night Joie dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Good night Kitty dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]

My Kitty dear: The first date on your letter is: "West Maitland. 2nd June 1914". Many thanks for writing to me when you were on your holiday to Maitland. It indicates that midst changed scenes you had thoughts for the Old Man. [A line of Xs and Os.] It was horrid to be with the No. 1 A.G.H. crowd. I fully appreciate the change. Please thank Dearrie very much for sending to me the copies of the Catholic Press, two reached me by the mail that carried your letter, and the one from Buddie.

I must write to Mrs Silk thanking her for being good to you. I hope that the Nips will ask Mrs Reynolds to come to Sydney for a few weeks.

You are right about the war my dear, it is not improving much from our point of view. One train load of wounded arrived from Ale

[Page 481]

-xandria and went to Ghezeira, the others have not yet come forward, let us hope ’tis because there are not injured to come.

Ella Caspers and all the sweet singers reach Australia as often as possible, the happy hunting grounds of the chibiabos. You appear to have taken a great fancy to the fiddle of late years. Good. The Egyptian is not, judging by the noises he makes on the drum and bugle, not a musical creature, he harps away all day long on three or four notes, and does not attempt to get beyond them. In the very best bands he has a set of instruments, shaped much like to the Scotch Bagpipes, wind and reeds, from which in the grasp of a Scotch man there flows forth martial strains of the very best, but which does not inspire one, beyond a tin whistle effect in the hands of the Egyptian. Did you see the reference to my absence in the annual report of the Sydney College of Music. It was thoughtful of Mr. Lavers and his associates to think of me.

Well and happy my dear, hoping that you are always the same.
"4th June found you still with Mrs. Silk. Good.

Yes it would be rotten to be German subjects.

"6th June". The feast day of M. M. Joseph. Good old Joe. Long life to her. Sorry that you did not see the festive Michael at Hamilton. I fancy that you are to him a particular friend. Think you so? To all the good nuns my best wishes. I did not hear about Tom Milner being wounded. Had I done so I would have gone to see him. Good bye my dear more anon. [A line of Xs and Os.]

20.7-15. Awaiting the result of the great fight which is said to be raging at Achi Baba.

Too busy to add more tonight. Shall send a supplement if possible during Monday.

Ta ta. Heaps of love & loads of kisses. To Maria & my other friends [indecipherable]
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 482]

[Pages 482 to 486 appear to be part of a longer letter. This page is labelled page 3.]

has to face outwards until the steps on the rough stones are reached. I am glad that I attempted the feat because it was said that it could not be done by a white officer. I have heard nothing of late about McAuliffe Padre, but Dr. Cain has returned to Sydney, he was not wounded at Galipoli but he became broken down, it was too much for him. He is an Irishman from Mallow, the town where your grandmother was born. R.I.P. Father McAuliffe comes, I think, from Tipperary.

I have seen nothing of Tom Milner. Tonight a cable has come to me asking about Colonel Arnott, but so far I have been unable to locate him or to learn if he has been wounded. I fear me that we shall have large casualty lists soon from the Dardanelles. The fleet has retired from the contest and all is left to the land forces. The two weeks that it was to take the Queen Elizabeth and her colleagues to batter a way to Constantinople has passed into the limbo of obscurity, yet the flle [fleet] is further away from its objective than it was four months agone. Such event makes one wonder if the British navy is as capable as we hope. Time, the inexorable will reveal this as other unknown.

There are none, in this war of great deeds, more brave than the airmen, their feats of daring are beyond conception of the ordinary man. Think you not so also as regards a woman, though it is said that her dreaming capacity is far in excess of that of man? We are almost tired to death of Dixmude, Yepress, and the Argonne? Why cannot the allies push on now that the Germans are so desperately engaged against the Bear. If one can only the other fellow well kicked from the back, while you are belabouring him from in front, then the advantage should be with you, and if you cannot lick him while he is engaged with the big brother, what chance will you have against him when having killed the bigger he will turn round and go at you? I fear to contemplate what is in store for us. Yet the water will separate our lands from those of our enemies, and unless the fleet is not able to protect the waters against submarines and the like we should be safe. Time will clear up this matter too.

The N. Sydney people do not appear to be satisfied with the new station. Food stuffs are growing dear you indeed. The shortage in butter effects us, because we cannot purchase Australian butter in Cairo, and we must be content with the local manufacture, which is not entirely satisfactory to our interiors. I hope to have chance to meet Bruce McLaghlan [McLachlan] he must be of the best. It may be Vic. Lynes husband who is coming, he should be of the fighting sort. Most of us here would give one shilling to see a good shower. The letter telling me that you were to let the rooms to a Dr. Wat must not ha

[Lieutenant Colonel John McLean Arnott, manufacturer of Sydney, joined the Army on 17 October 1914 at age 46, and embarked from Sydney on HMAT A33 Ayrshire on 20 December 1914 with Headquarters, 7th Light Horse Regiment. He returned to Australia in 1919.]

[Page 483]

[The top of this page has been torn. Only fragments of the first one or two sentences can be seen.]

the effect that Dr. Kelty
I have not received
For ever so long. If the
230,000 it will help them along for a little.
I did not know that Burnage had been wounded. I believed that Larkin of our parliament had been killed, but mention was made by Dr. Arthur of his still being alive. It is so?

How will prize the roses, the mention of them sends my mind back thinking of many happy episodes happening during the passed thirty years. Ah me, how time does fly, and we old chaps run on into the seer and yellow. Please give my best wishes to Mr. Macdonald and his family, and say that I hope to see them all in good health some day. To the Kennas likewise. To Mr. & Mrs. Parsons also. £4000, and a pension of £150 per annum is better than nothing for any one, even for the wife of a late member of parliament. What nonsense they do write in the papers about the manufacture of shells in Australia, why it would be necessary to import all the material out of which to make them, neither machiner[y] nor workmen are to be found in your country. I shall answer the letter that came from M. O’Connor as soon as possible. Love to her.

I saw General Ford to day, he said "You have made order out of chaos in your hospital", he was consulting me about what it were best to do with a crowd of patients, he thought that I had put him on the right track. Good. I may get on now. There was no chance for me with that swine Martin.

[A line of Xs and Os.]
Tabbie. Joseph. Kitty.

Tabbie dear:
Glad that the lovely fire burned brightly to keep Tabbie, Joey warm. Good fire. Maria is clever girl to stick to the Dickson people so long. The old girl Dixson was a friend to Hyman. The mention of heaps of flowers makes me think of the Wallsend and Sydney gardens. Tell Pat Watt that I am not playing in her backyard. The whole of the railway suburbs must be in flower this year, the rain pleased the shrubs so much that they set about blooming in appreciation.

The sugar obtainable here is very good, we mostly have the pale brown in crystals, I tell the quarter-master to get such because it has greater sweetening powers. I thought that you had power to deal with lands, however you soon will have now. No business matter is of any trouble to me. Please advise me at once of all that is happening in this regard. I cabled you to day, and in a business supplement shall refer to the subject matter of the wire. You have received it before now, because it was handed in about 11 a.m. You

[Page 484]

[This page is labelled page 6.]

was the piece de resistance, and very nice it was too. Mrs. H.D. Mackintosh has budded into the lioness in the social sphere, I noted her entertaining of the visiting Premiers and their wives. Nothing like money in this world. As I have often told you I made a very good start in practice to become well off, but in the course of a few years I became lost in the maze of money that flowed into me, and I was surrounded by a careless and spendthrift lot, to such effect that the resolutions which guided me for two years became inextricably pushed aside. I regret it now for your sakes because it would be very convenient to have sufficient cash to assure you of a comfortable income; it matters little for me, because when this show ends my game will have been played and any old thing will be sufficient for my needs. It is no use repining, for good or ill my acts have been performed and such as they have been they were mine. Poor but mayhap honest, silly but hard working, inconsiderate for self but helpful to others, fearless but unwise, a success or failure according to the point of view, will be in all probability the sum of the criticism passed upon me. I hope that I have done the State some service, and that the good deeds performed by me outweigh in the ballance the bad.

I should soon be growing fat. Jerome feeds me in fashion that suits me. A days diet: Breakfast: porridge or rice with sugar and condensed milk, a piece of the psoas muscle (fillet of steak) if it be beef, or two chops if it be mutton that has been sent, bread butter jam, biscuits, tea. Mid-day meal: Beef tea or soup, meat, pudding, fruit, biscuits. Evening meal, between 7 & 9 p.m.: tinned material of some kind, bread, butter, jam, fruit, biscuits. Tea at each meal. I eat more than it has been customary for me since coming to Egypt. It is all covered by the money for the government rations. The money provided is ample to feed every one to the full, yet in nearly every battalion there is complaint of shortage. I am sure that at the end of this month there will be a big surplus in money given to me to spend on food.

Lady Maitland is acting as chaperonne to the government people. Is it not so, while under her aegis Mrs Flowers, Mrs Travers, and the others, hover round. Money and position count very much in this world, the former buying most things; the latter having much in its train which lesser mortals have not. The possessor of either is envied, the other fellow seldom knowing what is in the mind of his colleague.

23.7.15 10.45 p.m. Another day has gone down behind us and the hour of midnight approaches. My warrant officer has set out for the railway station in Cairo to bring two patients who are due from Suez, I

[Page 485]

shall keep tapping away here till he returns, the train is due about 11.15 and the distance is but fifteen minutes drive in the motor. Thereafter I hope to get through a letter to Mollie, and perhaps some others. The Catholic Press, The Advocate, from your end and the Daily Telegraph from Hyman arrived this afternoon, they have not yet been opened. Mrs Reynolds is responsible for the first, Mrs Knowles for the second, and the little Jew for the third. Good of them.

What is rain like? What a sensation would there be in this region if there were to come a heavy thunderstorm? The houses and all other structures would be battered to pieces in very brief space. All construction is of very poor workmanship, and appearances do not belie the material and the manner of work man who built. Good night. I must to the other letters.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Tabbie. Geordie. Kitty.

24.7.15 10 p.m. This morning when I was at a book shop in Cairo, a young man came to me and said: "Are you Dr. Nash? I am Coppin from Elsternwick. Are you Carrie Coppins brother? Yes. How do you do? What sort of soldier are you? I belong to the fifth field ambulance, and have been in Egypt five days. Good. When will you come to see me? Come tonight and partake of tea with me, humble fare". He came at 7.45 P.M. We had tea and a chat. He told me that Carrie was married and that she would soon be on her way to England, that she and her husband proposed remaining in Melbourne for a few weeks before setting out for the Old Country. I have a little doubt about the genuiness of his information because he did not appear to know as much as a brother should about the affair.

He further said that his second sister was in Bendigo and that his father was living in lodgings. He is by profession a dentist being a graduate of the Melbourne University, having taken the L.D.S. & the B.D.Sc. If this be correct he is a well qualified dentist. I enjoyed my talk with him over our salmon and other viands down to the grapes. Like most men from the units in Egypt he complained of shortage of food, which is entirely due to bad management, as the money provided is ample to feed every man on the best that the country produces, and more on the very best that can be imported. I live here on government rations from which the porridge, the rice the bread and the beef are better, or as good as you can buy in Sydney, the first second and fourth are better than can be obtained in Sydney even when the highest prices are paid, the beef comes from Australia yet when you paid 1/1D. per lb. for it you did not get it as good. This may appear strange, but it is never the less true. I have had three months experience of feeding a large

[Private, later Lieutenant, Arthur Coppin, 25, dentist, of Elsternwick, Victoria, embarked from Melbourne on 4 June 1915 on HMAT A31 Ajana with B Company, 6th Field Ambulance.]

[Page 486]

body of men in this hospital, the very hardest to manage in the whole expedition yet they have heaps of food and to spare, and there is a surplusage in money at the end of each month. I think that I referred to it I fancy earlier in this letter but it will bear repeating. I shall write to Senator Pearce about it.

The war still goes on looking more favourable each day for the side of the enemy. The full text of Ian Hamiltons report on the Galipoli affair has been published in pieces in some of the local papers, and to day a London paper came to me from Hyman which contained the whole report. It is a history of a wonderful landing, but beyond it is but a repetition of attack and defence to which we have become so accustomed at Ypres, the Argonne and else where. We have been led to believe, by the preparations that are being made for extra wounded that a big battle is taking place on the peninsula, but so far it does not appear to have eventuated. Let us hope that when it does all will end in favour of our people, it will be a change to have a real success. Still do I fear the German weight.

Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Tabbie. Geordie. Kitty.

I shall post this letter tomorrow that it may be in time for any steamer that may go south through the canal, tomorrow will be Sunday, leaving to a supplement any other sentences that come into my mind and seem to me to be of some interest or amusement to you. For the present I shall say good bye, and invoke the gods to pour upon you good fortune in all the ways that you most desire, as well in the other directions where good may come to you, though it be in lesser streams, from the horn of the gift carrying female, who now, as adown the ages, is and was the allotted dispenser of every thing that we believe to be good. It is well for each of us to so believe. Think you so with me? Still as always do I thank God that the hand that hath made each of you fair has also made each of you good. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on each of you, while Heaven gives you many many happy hours. With heaps of love and loads of kisses
your affectionate father
John B. Nash.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia.

[Page 487]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
27th July 1915.

My dear Girls:

This after noon the supplement to my letter was posted to you, with hopes that it might with the original, reach you speedily, if good wishes helps it on the voyage then it should be with you in about 25 days. Let me hope that both may be pleasing to you all.

The cry is still they come. When I was making my rounds to night about 10 o’clock, from the roof I saw a hospital train roll into Heliopolis and pull up outside No. 1 A.G.H., there to unload its burthen of more or less seriously wounded. It is thirteen weeks since our men landed at Galipoli, as the most constant sequel we have had the arrival of the hospital trains, it would be far otherwise if we had train loads of Turkish prisoners, in such case the people here would believe that we are winning on the peninsula, and our stock would look up greatly, the constant flow of injured men, to the peripehery of the hospital zone is sign that the numbers of wounded are keeping far in excess of what might have reasonably expected, but in these stationery fights one judges that the casualties to both sides are very numerous, in a running fight it is a case of vae victis, and the winning side is somewhat immune from accidents, but in the most modern of warfare when neither side can win victories sufficient to dislodge the other the killed and wounded must be about equal, in other case the side that was suffering most heavily would have to give way. We badly want here a large contingent of prisoners, who would be marched through the streets, that those persons who do not love us might have reason to fear us; respect and love are better than fear, but where the first two cannot be expected the a sound idea that the other fellow is very strong and able to win in a contest is one of the very best of correctives to any who may be desiring to try a fall with some one of whom he thinks that he is the equal. Might is right all the time, because the man who can knock his opponent down and keep him so, has the ruling power whereby he can make the laws and run the show according to his likes and dislikes; this has been the case adown the ages and is likely to last so long as man is after the

[Page 488]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

as have always been the children of Adam. Oh for a few thousand Turkish prisoners.

In the papers this morning we read General Bothas speech, wherein he told of German Bill’s plans for governing Africa, south of the equator, after the peace of Rome in 1916 [1915?]. What think you of it? Bill must have thought that his fleet would be able to cope with that of Britain, in this he miscalculated as far as we have been able to judge so far, we would and will be in sorry plight if it comes about that Germany or any other power nation can rival our empire upon the water ways of the world; the having coaling stations so widely distributed in every direction gives to us a margin of help which is at the moment invaluable as against any power or combinations of powers; more by accident than by design has this come about during the last one hundred years, a first class accident for our safety in the stirring days. Also, think you not this??

10 p.m., must look round mongst my lambs, that they may settle down for the night, if I do not visit them they feel neglected; the best tempered six hundred in the place, yet before they came under my care they were said to be uncontrolable, a little kindly treatment and consideration is all that was required to work a complete change. Poor beggars why should they not have civility as well as those who are better off; many of them have fought at Galipoli and were of the crowd who covered themselves with glory which will last for many years, others have come lately but if the chance arises they will give good account of themselves too, because the same blood that flows through the vessels of the men of the 25th of April 1915 sustains their bodies and gives to them the same vivifying material that promotes the fighting ideas, and the desire to do or die. Civility costs nothing, it covers a multitude of sins, and it is due to the humblest of God’s creatures. A good principal for rich and poor, the powerful and the lowly to remember. In several places in the Bible it has been written:– Deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles, (He has deposed the mighty from their seats and has exalted them of low degree) – as a guide to men.

Why do my eyelids desire to close? The night is but young, and several hours of work should be in front of one in this land of Egypt, where in the reason for much that is written in the Bible is to be found. Yet my eyes do want to close; were there but a comfortable back to my seat it is more than probable that my senses would be claimed by Morpheus within few minutes; oh god of sleep though [thou] most beneficent of the old coterie who ruled the heavens and meted out everything to frail humanity; their glory has departed but the myths that were woven around

[Page 489]

them still remain, they prepared the way for the single God under whose aegis we live. To sleep for but few minutes, thereafter to resume this and start other letters. Good night.

29.7.15. 9 p.m. Did not wake in time to write more before retiring therefore had the sheet to wait for more letters to be impressed upon it till to night. Here they are in response to the striking of the keys, not must be admitted, in my case, entirely successful as to coresstness of shooting by each and every finger, however it is of my best, and in view of the limited training in an old age it must suffice.

God bless the cows of the Bernese Alps!!!! So say Jerome and I. God bless the cows of the Bernese Alps!!!!! Because we have discovered that the milk they yeild is put up in tins, which carried across the Mediterranean Sea is to be purchased here. Why the flavour and the colour remind one of real Australian cows milk, I consume a tin of it at each meal as a drink and otherwise, the discovery was made accidentally, when the store had run out of the ordinary thick condensed milk. Hurrah! Hurrah!!!!! I am still eating too much at each meal; continuing fat will soon commence to form round my other tissues, and my proportions shall be as formerly.

Two gentlemen are bidden to lunch with me on Sunday, jerom says that he will feed them well, he knows how to do it, and we have plenty of food wherewith to make a splash, drinkeables may not be in large variety but they will suffice. I shall tell you of the feast later.

Daily we expect a mail from Australia, but when it will arrive is not known to any of us. We hope. Some day our hope will be gratified.

My 610 patients have been giving me some trouble to day, the sequel to which was that they got no cigarettes to night, a packet had been promised to each, but at the last minute I refused to have a distribution. As there is nothing in the world they desire so much as tobacco of some kind the dissappointment was very great however I was not sufficiently recovered from my annoyance to give way. The gamblers as well as the smokers desire cigarettes because the paper filled with tobacco is a common medium for exchange across the blanket which serves as a table, when the hands are filled with the prised material the gambling is fast and furious. There is of course a group who gamble on a higher scale, they have money, and look with a sort of benign pity upon the humble man who plays but for cigarettes. Such is the way with the soldier as with greater folk, and so ’tis like to be till the end of time.

[Page 490]

30.7.15. 11 p.m. It is not likely that you will have much added to this letter by me ere the post closes, because there is ahead of me a very busy time, patients to arrive by the forties, to such extent that tomorrow there will be here close to 700; much relief may be afforded by the getting away of some three hundred on Sunday morning for Australia, if there should be any mischance in this regard then it may be the hospital arrangements will break down; but under any circumstances we shall make a big effort to keep going, but there is a limit to human possibility. Thirty three patients just arriv’d have come straight from the ship arrived this morning at Suez, rather a bad start for the seat of war, perhaps some of them will be on the return journey to Suez on Sunday morning. Not a very enviable ending to their warlike aspirations.

No letters from you so far this week, I shall hope for them tomorrow, if they come not then next week will be looked into. I must not complain because I have had good fortune lately, thanks to your constant attention. Letters came about one hour ago from Mrs. Fraser & Dr; Peck. The former said that she had not heard from any of you lately, she has been doing a lot of work for my hospital lately, and as a result there is to arrive here shortly five hundred pairs of pyjamas, they will be very useful, especially as I require a great many, they wear out rapidly with the rough crowd who come under my care. By jove they are of the wildest, but yet they are in many respects like children, they like to be spoken to kindly and they will do much for a little flattery, when you do not let them know that you are taking them down a wee bit, but pleasantly. The whole business is as good as any play that you have ever seen, if words misscarried or failed to have effect occurrences might follow which would have serious consequences. However we shall not look for ill results.

Here come the ambulances again. They always remind me of the Tumbrils in Dickens’ "Tale of two Cities." Dr. P. asked if a parcel of acorn seeds had reached you, he sent them on last autumn. He reports all well at Haslam. He is very optimistic as to the immediate results.

Each night when my fingers tap at this instrument, flying insects of fantastic shapes, and much variety of colour light upon my bared arms, a small black and gold specimen wandering about midst the hairs upon my right fore arm at this moment is brightly hued in black, gold and violet, tender legs, delicate wings, with a casing on the back like unto that which pertains to the Lady Bird, which in the days of childhood is told to fly away

[Page 491]

is told to fly away home, because her house is on fire and her children in danger". Member you? You have been young since my time therefore should, if I do.

Between 8 & 9 p.m. tonight the sky was in first class order for making observations in regard to the stars. I was talking to Jerom about them, telling him how the Scorpio, sh[in]ing his best in the Southern sky could be seen by you each night in the same way as we were then looking at it, and that oft in the stilly night reminder of home and Macquarie Street was refreshed in my mind by the viscious looking tail. The great Dog was clear in his hurried chase across the firmament in this attempt pick up with the scorpions tail, a run he has been having for many thousands of years without getting appreciably nearer to this objective; this is a much more striking constellation in these lattitude than in yours because here the dog stands correctly from the observers point of view while with you he is on his back. I have been looking out for Orion in the Southern sky recently, but it has not been visible when my eyes were skyward raised. Good night!! Good night!!! Good night!!!!!
 [A line of Xs and Os.]
Carrie. Josie. Kitty.

31.7.15 11.20 p.m.. Hurrah!! Hurrah!!!!! Hurrah!!!!!
Two letters from you one from Tabbie the other from Joe. From the former, dated 19 & 20.6.15, from the latter 19 & 20.5.15. Just one month of interval. To answer the earlier first.

Joseph dear: Thanks for the happy returns for my birth anniversary. The cable came to hand all right. For it too many thanks also. I fear me that there is in store for you in the immediate future to read casualty lists the like of which have not been seen in the papers before. In the early fight of April the valour of the soldiery coming from Australia surprised and disorganised the Turks, but acquaintanceship will have taught such valliant men as the enemy in Galipoli that even the Australian has to be fought upon his merits, and well lead and trained there is no more stubourn enemy than the soldiers who fight under the banner of Mahomed, on many a well contested field they have proved the mettle that is in them, so be not disappointed if long before this is in your hands my words have come true.

This afternoon I had a visit from General Legge, he and I are old friends, he wanted to be allowed to place some horses in stables that are attached to my hospital, I have arranged for him to do so, in return I asked him to purchase some drugs that I urgently require, he has phoned me tonight that that they can be bought.

[Page 492]

I have been struggling for forty eight hours to have it bought and at every turn I was stuck up by officers who have not yet learned that there is in existence a great war, Legge came in the nick of time, and I shall have it tomorrow, besides having the laugh upon those who would not do what I required.

No my dear, the lists we see are from the Australian papers, the great bulk of the people are not interested in Australian killed and wounded, but further the names are not allowed to be published, it is quite enough information to give to the Egyptian, to let him see our train loads of wounded coming in each day.

Dr Arthur in his letter told me that Larkin was not killed. How strange if true? Several men told me that they saw him dead? The announcements in the paper will have been rather premature if he has not been killed.

Luck you are to require fires. The heat here is of the high class order. You should just feel it. If possible I get a few hours sleep during the afternoon, then I can stay in the office during the hours of the night, keep guard over my flock, write my letters or read that which I require.
 
My best wishes and love to the Bridges. Reg Bridge has done the correct thing to get to the hospital with Dr Harris if he can. Good!
  
Sorry your affai’s [affairs] are not so flourishing, but you will pull through all right, and I am sure that you will act in the best possible way, afterwards we can set everything right. Mr Finney, Dr Paton and Mr Watt will advise for the best. [A line of Xs and Os.]

Tabbie dear: Give my love to Rene and thank her for being so kind to my Kitty when she was in Maitland. Glad to learn that the young Mrs Hollingdale at Rushcutters Bay is managing so sell. My regards to them. I think that I have met Mrs Roorke some where. Was it not at Hennessy’s. It is wonder that Mr. Travers did not send to you a ticket for the opening of Parliament. I have not seen official announcement of the knighting of Tom Hughes. I shall write by this mail. The coat of paint will have brightened up the old House. My love to Maria, tell her to not be down hearted, there is lots of fun in the world and of it she makes a fair share. What more can any one want than to be the cause for giving pleasure to others. The war has moved much since you wrote. The cables to day indicate tha Warsa[w] will fall in a few days. Weight and training tell always, and they cannot fail to do so in this instance. I fear for the British armies in France, if they resist the pressure during the coming three months they will have done wonders, because the Russians hopelessly defeated, The generals to German Bill will have two million trained men well officerd to move to the Western front to assist those of his forces in that region. Can

[Page 493]

[Page 8 of this letter. Page 7 appears to be missing.]

-h their vessels, then something must give way, the best expression of it was on the 25th & 26th of April 1915. I shall finish this tomorrow. Meanwhile my dears good night, good night, good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

Much thanks for the newspaper cuttings, they were all interesting to me. It was thoughtful of Strickland to refer to Beeston and to me. I have had several letters from him and from General Finn. It will be strange if Larkin is not dead.

1.8.15. 11 p.m. Heaps to write about but it is physically impossible to give the time to what would please me most, pressure from patients is too great. During the week if I get any chance moments I shall try to place on paper what turns up.

To day a Jesuit priest, he who presides over the anti-rabic institute, lunched with me, Captain Plant made one of the party, we being three; Jerome gave us a first class meal; soup, roast beef, chicken, rice pudding, custard, pineapple from the tin, asparagus, biscuits, lemon syrup, ice. Not so bad considering that we live upon government rations. I must be growing fat, because the food suits me and my health was never better.

The padre, his name is beyond me, took me at 4 p.m., to a friends house at Heliopolis, where we partook of afternoon tea, cold tea, rather good for this climate, bread with butter, and cakes. The family consists of Father, Mother, two daughters at home, two boys away, and one girl not present; they live in one of the magnificent villas of the City of the Sun. It was Sunday afternoon and reminded me of home b’cause the girls sang and played, the piano for music. Aged somewhere about twenty, bright brown eyes, brown hair, very high heeled boots, silk stockings, dark costumes, plenty of hair, bright, able to speak English very well, though neither has been in England, only at school in Egypt. The Father and Mother do not speak English, and my command of conversational French is very meagre, when they are rattling it off sometimes the meaning of a sentence strikes me, but the keeping up of the sequence is not possible, pas de habetude is the cause, I fancy that but short experience listening would bring to the tip of my tongue lots of words. The family leave for Alexandria on Tuesday, to be near to the sea during the month of August, the correct procedure in Egypt, Cleopatra set the fashion long since, and it has been followed ever since. A long spell you will, think, but such is the way of men and women, they like to follow the setting of the great.

Your photographs were of course exhibited and criticised. I told them in m

[Page 494]

many sentences about you, of your homes, of the travels of two of you, of how on Sunday afternoons you sang to me and played, the while I went off to sleep; they were I think highly amused. The Father is a commonplace old chap with an air of prosperity about him. The Mother a tall woman about forty five years old, big head, massive verandah, not so projecting in other anatomical regions, small feet, low healed shoes; she played the accompaniments to the songs which the Padre sang, soft and sweet. A gentleman the Padre, clean in gown and appearance, a Count of France dating from the thirteenth century, his Father living in the ancestral home, where he has reared a family of ten children, my friend being the eldest. There are five brothers fighting in France.
  
I enclose the "Souvenir de la Fête Annuelle de Charité"; on the second sheet you will be able to read the words of a song which Marie sang. The words are patriotic in incidence and were written for the present time; the musical setting was inspiring, the voice was sweet, and she made good use of it in a musical way. The couple of hours were a complete change, especially as for so long my conversation and association have been with rough men, whose every word and wct [wit?] bespeaks the som soldier rather than the gallant; the difference was of such kind that it acted as a tonic to me. They have asked me to call when they return from the seaside; I promised to do so should I be in Egypt. Who knows where any of us will be in four weeks from now? On the front of the pamphlet you will see the name of the sweet Marie. I said that in this letter I should tell you about them. One girl asked: Will your daughters not be jealous? No! I said, they will think kindly of you because you have been kind to me. We left about 6 p.m. the Padre going to the college.

Good night now my dears. These sheets will be placed in the post in the morning with benedictions requesting a safe and rapid passage to you. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah.

May fortune of the best be always with you, in the form of Gods blessings of every kind, health happiness and prosperity. To Maria, and my other friends heaps of good wishes and kind regards. Love in loads, and kisses, in abundance for each and all of you, from
your loving and affectionate father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia.

[Page 495]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
4th August 1915.

My dear Girls/:

Three letters delivered to me to day from you, they lie beside me to be answered. In advance, for them many thanks.

Joseph dear: As yours is dated 23rd June? it will be answered first. Keeping well and strong here under the feeding of Jerom, write him a short letter thanking him for looking after me, he will appreciate it very much, he has been a good boy for a long time.

You know long ago that the photos arrived, also that they have been on exhibition very often since. (A cable has just been delivered to me from Roger Arnott, asking after his brother Colonel Arnott. I shall make enquiries during tomorrow morning. 10.30 p.m.)

I get all the medical books that I require from the medical school library in Cairo, and I do not need others; the daily papers and those from home suffice for general litterature. Oh yes Matareiha is far and away the most interesting place in Egypt a something apart from the shaky mortar and stones of which the mosques and other buildings are composed; any modern engineer could build the pyramids or the tombs, but there has been in the world but one Holy Family, whose fame increases daily though it is now ninteen hundred years since their pilgrimage on this earth. The frescoes are like unto those of which there are so many specimens in the Louvre in Paris, they were cut from the walls in various artistic centers and brought by Napoleon from conquered towns to Paris, there is like work on the walls of the houses in Pompei.

Kennedy did not take long to become engaged, he is a nice boy. You thought it strange for the Russians to lose Premysl [Przemysl, Poland]. What do you think of them after losing Warsaw? They never have been any good in fighting against European, that is trained, soldiers, they manage well against semi civilised hordes or savages, but they always give in when the fighting lasts. Think back upon their history for only one hundred years.

Next: 27.6.15. Some of the men here have already read the article which appeared in the Sun. Many thanks for sending it, I shall look out for the whole paper. Thanks in advance for the sox, it is good of you to devote time to the making of them. Sorry that Marjory has been sick, but hope that she is now all right. A

[Page 496]

letter came from Ted this afternoon. Mrs Parsons is good to call for you in the motor, she should be well off when the old man has passed in his cheques. I hope so. Please thank her for being so good to you.

I should like to see the red tipped leaves from the gum tree as they are arranged in the bowl on the landing. A letter from Pat Watt came this afternoon, please thank her for writing it, she is a clever little woman. Good. Glad that Tabby had a day up the harbour with the Bridges. Yes I shall be very sorry if you leave Macquarie Street, it is a desireable place to live in, and all my books and other material are fitted in there, but more about this and 211 on a separate page as they are purely business matters.

11.10 p.m. Captain Plant has just come in and he is reading the articles that you sent on the sheets of the Sun, and a poem by Marion M. Knowles. You may not have seen the poem so I shall send it on to you.
[Marion Miller Knowles (1865-1949), Catholic lay leader, teacher, journalist, novelist and poet.]

Quite enough people have left Australia for this part of the war, it is of no use their coming now, they will have no effect upon the ultimate result during the remainder of this year, and for next year lots of time remains ahead. It is highly probable that German Bill will be master in Europe before 1915, and several years will pass before he is dislodged, from his preeminence, the water should pull him up, that will suffice for our purposes, though it will be necessitate that our fleet shall be able to get at the German ships and teach them a lesson in water fighting, this as far as we have learned during the war is more a matter of guns and gunnery than aught else, the ship that can fire one mile further than the other can win every time because she can stand off at safe distance, the while hitting the opponent and destroying her.
Tell Tepper to stay at home, there will be plenty for him to do there to help keep things rolling for the good of the country, we here are but wasters of money which the industrious must get together some how. It was written in a paper lately that the British government had told the Commonwealth that for the remainder of the war government money must be fund [found] in Australia.

[A line of Xs and Os.]
Joseph Dear.

Caggie dear: Glad that you though my letters to be interesting, the Matareiah subject should please the readers of the Catholic paper, if the Press cares to publish my notes about it. Prof. Watson comes from Adelaide, he is an M.D. of Paris, but how he ever obtained the degree I never have been able to understand, to do so one had expected the possessor to talk French fluently, this he cannot do, I have known him for a long time but he has always been a kind of mystery to me, I have not see[n]

[Page 497]

him lately, nor do I crave after the meeting, because he is not of the cleanly brigade. I have always been civil to him but to get in his way has not been my desire at any time.

Abassia is between Cairo and Heliopolis, it is a subburb to the city and is an old place, the chief buildings are the Egyptian military barracks, one section of which is occupied by my hospital. The buildings are roomy and comfortable, well suited for patients, and any overflow is accommodated in tents. Yesterday I sent to Australia 369. To day I have admitted 116. In a few days I shall send to England a batch and to N. Z. another crowd, but there are many waiting to be sent on to me, the changes are rapid. It may be that I shall not stay here much longer, if so I shall be just as well pleased, three months has been long enough and a look round from Egypt might be advantageous. However you will know in good time.
  
The Earps should find the climate of New Guinea somewhat trying. I hope to meet Roth and Phipps if they come to Egypt. It is hardly wise for more doctors to leave Australia, it were better that some should stay at hom[e] to assist the people who remain.

My regards to Mr Travers if you see him. I received a very chatty letter from Nellie Johnson this afternoon, I shall reply to it as soon as possible. Yes Mater Phipps is of the best class, like unto your Grandmother Nash. My regards to her too. Why should she not take a fancy to a sweet girl like my Tabby?

A letter came to me this afternoon from Muriel Bridge, she mentioned about many girls going to St Vincents to learn the rudiments of nursing, that they may know enough to assist the trained nurses if many soldiers come home to be cared for. It is not likely that you will have acutely ill men, it will be but the incureable and the chronics that will reach Australia, they will not require special care, tell my Kitty not to bother unless she desires to take to nursing seriously, then she had better to enter an hospital in the ordinary way and go through the full course.
 
I hope that you kissed my Joseph for me as she slep upon the sofa in front of the fire. I do not think that any one bothers to censor our letters, it must have been that I was not sufficiently careful when enclosing the sheets to number them correctly. Glad that you enjoyed the day on Middle Harbour, an outing on the water always makes one sleepy. Sorry Joseph could not go, better luck next time. Mrs Parsons was good to take you in the motor. Poor Schlink, one never knows his luck in this world, fancy thinking that he would do harm except with his tongue. I saw in a paper about the death of Victor Trumper, he filled a niche in his time and rested upon the pedestal of fame; Sic est vita. Glad that you have some one reliable at No. 211.

[Page 498]

Marjory for size nearly takes the bun. Mr. Deakin and the Panama Comission do not appear to have had a very happy time. From your sentences I could not judge whether it was our own or the American government that had treated them shabbily. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Tabbie dear, good night.

6.8.15. 9.30 p.m. And Joseph dear, I find that one of your letters has been left unanswered. It bears date 19.6.15. A letter came from MacNamara in which he says that business matters are satisfactory at Coffs Harbour, that is good because in the course of a year he should be in a position to give you a few hundred pounds. He said that Mrs M. and the family were well. Good. Tab has always a suitable answer ready. Good Tabby.

Yes I remember Maney-Lake of the Hawkesbury College, I saw him at the college with you one evening.

Many Australians have been wounded, the stream continues to flow in, to night three train loads of wounded are to arrive in Cairo, and as far as we know the big fight has not yet begun, at the present rate of the casualties there will soon be none of the Australians left to do battle, but for those who return to the firing line there had been now great shortage of men It would be very strange if Sgt. Larkin were not dead, yet Dr. Arthur in one of his letters said that Larkin is expected home soon.

You are good to be knitting sox for me, thank you for doing so. Holman and Hugh Ward. There cannot be two Hamlets in the one play. The house giving is fashionable, not only in Australia but also in England. Many thanks for the newspaper cuttings. Good. Good. Good. The map by Meyer has not yet come to hand, about the harbour bridge, I shall be interested with it, because for several years it has been before the public and is a matter that must some day be decided upon in the interests of the whole community-es.

How did the Earps come to be such friends of the Murrays? They are not of the same class. Mrs E will not care for New guinea, too much black and too little excitement.

Jerome informed me at tea to night that the butter was Australian, I hardly think that his statement was correct, perhaps it was, but it did no look to me or taste like the butter we had at home, and how could you people export the material when it is so expensive at home. Pat Wat wrote to me and asked to be excused for the bad writing as she had not been to school for many weeks on account of the whooping cough. I shall send on a reply some day soon. Meanwhile give to her and the other children my love, also best wishes to their Father and Mother.

This evening has come word that the Germans have taken Warsaw. What think you of that

[Page 499]

-nk you of that? The bear people have been on the run in earnest these few weeks, you know that in them my trust was slight, they served to the present the purpose of drawing millions of fighting soldiers away to the East, while the Allies on the West were trying to break through the line of battle. To day as ever I fear the German weight. Let us hope that my fear is not justified.

The Australians and other forces at Galipoli are not further ahead on the peninsula today than they were forty eight hours after the landing. I shall look out for Haemish and the others. Tell Dr. kelty not to be so foolish as to come to this wide [side], there are plenty of medical people in these parts. Sorry that Mrs. Ayres has been sick again, but hope that she will soon be right again, she is a frail wee body. The new station at Milson’s Point has been a rapid frost. The sequel to the wrong men being ry. [railway] Commissioners. Mrs Fraser is having made for my hospital 500 suits of pyjamas.

[A line of Xs and Os.]
Joseph dear.

No letter from kitty, therefore nothing to answer from her, she will receive her quotum next week, she had been fully occupied in Maitland or Cessnock, good luck to her. She is a mery sprite who sheds happiness whereever she goes. Is it not so?

The quarrel between Hugh Ward and Holman was dignified, the impression conveyed to my mind was that Holman was correct. However all ended happily therefore all is well. Did you read in the Advocate, a Melbourne paper the poem by M. M. Knowles entitled Comrades Three? If not purchase a copy of date 26th June, there you will find it beneath the picture of Braund Larkin and self. It was rather a happy event, as occurrences have come about, to get that photo taken. Think you not so?

[The State Library of NSW holds a photograph of Sergeant Edward Rennix Larkin, Lieutenant Colonel George Frederick Braund, and Lieutenant Colonel John Brady Nash "before Gallipoli, Egypt, 1915" at PXA 1011 / 52.]

What think you of the fall of Warsaw? None of the small nations will join our side now; Italy will be sorry that she spoke too soon while the King of Greece will be patting himself on the back that the attack of pneumonia gave to him, and to his people, breathing time, while decisive events were coming to an issue. Once more may the English have cause to thank a beneificent Providence that a streak of silver blue water exists between her shores and the coast of Europe. It not even the fighting genius of the Teuton will find means to cross, or rather should one right the fighting education of the Teuton, because it is the time that he has devoted to the study and the practice of the science and the art of war that has given to hil [him] power to accomplish so much. He is reaping rich reward for his prolonged patience and arduous labours. These always tell in the long

[Page 500]

run. Once being launched into a fight to win is the great desideratum because then the winner can dictate terms to the vanquished. Vas victis is as true to day as ever. One does not care to think what will be the fate of Europe under Teuton domination. However we must strain every nerve to diminish the ill effects upon our Empire. If our fleet is as good as we have long believed it to be then it is upon them we must rely in the end. No one can see clearly what may eventuate during the next twelve months, and one does not like to give free vent to his thoughts, they might run riot with his wishes, and he might be thought to be a Jonah. However let us have patience. Large numbers of men are being sent from here to the fighting area in Turkey, almost each day. To night several thousands of Territorials were upon the Cairo Ry. station entraining for the front. The wounded come back in train loads, this shows that the Turks are not inactive.

I must to bed. Good night. Good night. Good night.

8.8.15 or rather 9.8.15. Bruce MacLaughlan [McLachlan] called to see me this morning, he stayed to lunch, then went to the pyramids, he looked very well & has promised to come tomorrow evening, or rather this evening, and to bring Ted Norrie with him, they can then tell me about their experiences in New Guinea and Rabaul. We talked about you and home. This is a long way from home.

What will you think of the news to hand today? The fall of Warsaw and the taking of Riga, the former a city of one million inhabitants, the latter the greatest sea port in Russia. The Russians never have been any good against a civilised foe, only against Tartars and other semi civilised fighters. The outlook for the present is real bad for us. German Bill did not take long to find a king for Poland, it is announced to night that one of the Austrian Grand Dukes is to be made king. All hail the conquering hero and woe to the conquered. Such has been the way all adown the ages.

You will find enclosed some material that may be of interest to you. A few samples of the leaves from the Virgins tree, they may be powder by the time of arrival in Sydney, if not so much the better, I managed to get one of the Arabs to climb the sloping trunk and pull them, some go in Mollies envelope. Three small pieces said to have been cut from the olive trees growing in the garden at Gethsemanai n they were given to me by the Prioress of the Convent of the African Mission at Zeitoun. Please purchase a book of views of Sydney and post to her:– The Prioress, Convent of the African Mission, Zeitoun, Egypt. She is a dear lady who has been of great service to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers camped near to her home, the sisters having given to her worthy assistance. God bless them. An agnus Dei also,

[Page 501]

given to me by the Prioress. Before visiting the Convent; I had taken Dr. Maguire, from the Auckland hospital for a drive to Matareiah, there we visited the church, the well, and the tree, it was during the inspection that I got the leaves. He with other N. Z. medicoes is installed at the Egyptian Hospital, not far from me; Dr Park of Auckland is the chief. You Tabbie dear know the two doctors named. Maguire stayed to tea with me.

Very busy now cannot keep at this letter longer.

Please make of your prayers sweet sacrifices to raise my soul to heaven. To my friends please give heaps of good wishes. To each of you, may the grace of heaven, before behind thee and on every hand enwheel thee round. Heaps of love and loads of kisses
from your loving and affectionate father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
Macquarie Street
Sydney.

Caggie [A line of Xs and Os.]
Jordan [A line of Xs and Os.]
Kitty [A line of Xs and Os.]

[See original for diamond or vase shape filled with Xs and Os.]

[Page 502]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
10.8.15.

My dear Girls/:

After dreaming about the boys from New Guinea, the idea most upper in my mind relates to the part which alcohol played in the giving to the members the reputation which they gained. Sorry. Very sorry. Both the boys with me last night seem to have been all right and to have survived the ordeal, but they were very loath to speak about the expedition. I hope that such will not be the case with those of us who return from this show. Alcoholic consumption gets the wild boys here into trouble, but amongst the chiefs its use is on a very moderate scale. Alas how sad it is that any can be found who will pour an enemy into their mouths and will steal away their brains, and make them lose controll of all their goodness.

Another train load of wounded in tonight. They speak of slight progress about Maidos, but of little advance in the neighbourhood of Achi Baba. To fight the Turk under trained leaders is not an easy task. The routing of the Russians by the Germans will put fresh life into every one of the men who is fighting against us. The German officers leading the Turks will be clever enough to know of the effect that knowledge of successes on other fields will have upon the fighting men, and they will find means to tell all and sundry about the running away of the defenders of Warsaw and Riga. Riga is a most important town for Russia, because it is the chief port in the Adriatic sea, through it flow inwards and outwards much of the trade of the Russian people. Any port further North is closed for a large part of the year by ice, and there is none to the South, possessed of it the German dominates much of the Russian output. If the Dardanelles cannot be opened Russia will be in sorry plight, both of her outlets being closed, the roads being in the hands of the enemy.
Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Geordie. Kitty.

11.8.15. 9.30 p.m. Last night; or rather this morning when I was walking across the grounds to my sleeping room, I was, as is my custom, examining the sky. Away up in the Eastern heaven was to be seen in full brilliance the Pleiadies, not far away A in the head of the Taurus, and the belt of Orion with the dagger in its accustomed relationship. These all reminded me of home sweet home, and of the heaps of times that my eyes have rested upon them when my feet rested upon the pavement of Macquarie Street. Away in the

[Page 503]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Northern sky were to be seen the rapidly setting great bear, the saucepan of the small bear folling in its wake, the pole star fixed as has ever been its habit, the W reaching upwards in its orbit wheeling round the pole star. As the earth wheels round the stary firmament of the North appears to revolve round the Pole star. The atmospheric conditions of this part of the world, at this time of year are ideal; the cool breezes tempering the effect of the heat of the sun, which had been just a little too great during the afternoon.

This afternoon I took Father Vrigille S.J., and two of his colleagues for a drive to the pyramids at Mena. The eldest member of the party had not visited the place for more than twenty-nine years. Many of the Jesuits now in Cairo come from Beyrouth, where before the war they were engaged in teaching, this city is their sancturay during the progress of the great struggle. Vrigille speaks English fluently, the others have knowledge of it more or less extensive, being in many cases but a nodding acquaintance. The pyramids and the Sphynx had not moved since my last visit, each wore its accustomed air of solemnity and silence. No questions were asked from the Sphynx so that there will be no record of dissatisfaction with the Delphic answers which she may vouchsafe. When shall we be home would be a frequent question with many here now, if a reasonably correct answer were to be expected. Mena House is again occupied as a hospital with Dr. Grey in charge. I did not call to see him or the place, it would not grieve me if I never saw either again.

144 suits of pyjamas came from Mrs Fraser, they will do first class for the men, being much better in quality than those which are procureable in this city. I have written to thank her and the ladies of the Isle of White [Isle of Wight]. The letter was short but I hope that they will like it. Mrs F. is quite delighted that she took up the work because it had brought her into contact with many of the families in the neighbourhood with whom it might otherwise have been difficult for her to become acquainted. It was by accident that I told her that hospital suits or pyjamas would be very acceptable here. They are making alltogether 500 pairs. If ever I get to England I hope to have the pleasure of going to their home.

My lambs are all asleep, and I must go to bed early to night because I have not had a nap during the day. The weather is ideal and unless we get hot weather during the coming month there will have been nothing to growl at for the summer time.

The river Nile is in flood, which can be easily seen when crossing it, the water being at a higher level than ordinarily and it is discoloured with the mud which it carries in the current, it is this mud which when it has deposited upon the other annual layers

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constitutes "the mud of Egypt", famous for its fertility adown all the ages that the world has known, the envy of every conqueror who has been of the world, and to day as ever charged with every virtue that can bring life and pleasure to the soul and body of man. Whence does it come? From far away Abyssinia, and the lake region of central Africa, mostly from the mountainous areas of the former, being washed downwards by the heavy rains which annually fall upon the soil there. It is wonder that it has not all deposited long before the stream gets this far, something like 4000 miles. Yet it was this afternoon fully charged with the discolouring particles of soil, which mean so much to the population who live upon the borders of the river and in the delta. To my eye the cotton crops, the maize crops, and the other growths appeared to be in first class order. The Nile this year is said not to be as full of water as in some former years, but it will suffice, especially when it is stored at Assouan.

The month of Ramadan is just ending, that of Bairan is commencing, the period being one of great importance in the Mahomedan year. My acquaintance with the Khoran is too limited to tell you aught about it. The canal, which, before the construction of the barrage, was a very important factor in the irrigating of the delta lands is to be cut with the usual ceremony, religious festivals being held during several days. Notices have been issued that the holidays will extend over four days. All troups are forbidden to go into the city. The land is not all floode[d] as of yore, the barrage is to obviate the evil effects of the flooding of the land, now the precious fluid is poured on the land through the year, giving just enough at any one time, this allows of the land being under cultivation during each of the twelve months, where as under natural conditions three or four months were lost while the waters were at their flooding and falling. Hence it is that the barrage is so great worth to the people living on and cultivating the land. I must to bed.
Good night Tabbie dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Good night Joseph dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]
Good night Kitty dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]

12.8.15 11 p.m. Wondering how you are managing, I sent you a wire this evening; it should reach you in time to allow of your sending a week end reply if you so desire. Three kinds of telegrams can be sent from here to Australia; ordinary, deferred, and week end, the second from this end, about one shilling and tenpence per word, the first about three shillings, and the last tenpence. If you send reply it will reach me on Tuesday morning, when coming week end.

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Half an hour ago two men arrived here, they travelled by the S.S. Orsova, were disembarked at Suez and sent on by train to Cairo. Dr Kennedy was one of the medical officers. Thinking tha Weston might still be one of the officers I sent him a wire to Port Said hoping to greet him there. I was wondering what had become of the Orsova, and now by accident discover that she is a troop ship, she is advertised in the papers as to carry mails to Australia from Suez on the 11th Septbr, I judge therefore that she is to be a trooper for but one journey. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

13.8.15. 9 p.m. Tabbie dear; a letter arrived from you to day, it was addressed correctly to D.M.S. but some silly ass, with a blue pencil in his hand wrote on the envelope The High Commissioner; London., it therefore went to London, and has been sent back from there; a Melbourne letter was treated in the same way. What should be done to the fellow who had the blue pencil in his hand? Perhaps he had good intention.

9.10 p.m. A wire from Weston just handed to me. It eminates from Port Said, 6.46. p.m.: "Thanks wire. Left to quickly to visit 219, but all well there; Should love to see you. Regards." His ship brought troups from Australia, landed some at Suez, and is reported to be taking others to England. Did I know how long he might be in Port Said I might get chance to run down to see him.

Your letter bears date at end of 9th June, and is therefore some what behind others that have come to me. I have not had a letter from Clarrie Bridge. He is probably swelling round in England. When he returns to his native land he will be a very much travelled man, such is the general thing in the navy, but in these times of war some of the ships go farther and faster than is the normal.

What a long time my Kitty stayed at Maitland. But she deserved a holiday. It is good that she is enjoying life. The world is a very good place to live in, especially for those who have had sense enough to have put by enough money for the rainy day. Why do you not write sometimes to my Buddie? She is a sweet Buddie. There now. You did not express an opinion as to whether the removing of the trees from the Northern end of Macquarie Street was an improvement. What think you. What things my Joseph? What thinks my Kitty? My best wishes to Matron and Mary O’Connor. Tell Mary that only cattle should eat tomatoes, weter in sandwiches or out of them.

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You will have plenty of fresh war news each of these days. From what the men coming from Galipoli tell me, one has just come in, an Englishman, our side is having a rough time indeed. The information vouchsafed by Ian Hamilton is not encouraging. The absence of prisoners and the presence of such large crowds of wounded speak more eloquently than words. Matters all round are in a critical state for the Allies, and unless they can pull themselves together they may go from bad to worse. That terrible German weight!!! When saying this in Sydney ten months back I spoke better than I knew.

The three coloured prints, as those of Seppings Wright and Villiers, in a recent issue of the I. L. News, are very artistic. Some excellent ones of French generals are appearing in L’Illustration which is published weekly in Paris. I send it sometimes to Mollie Please do not allow the festive Maria to draw you from your ways of industry I am sure that the happiness of life lies with the industrious, while the whole game is a burthen to those who idle it away. You appear to have enjoyed the day on Middle Harbour. You should know Sydney and its waterways well. Melba got together a great heap of money by her concert. She is a remarkable woman, big in more ways than one, as a singer, as a woman of the world, and it may be in averdupoise in these days.

The way in which the war is going is enough to make one sad. Straws serve to show how the wind blows; e.g., in general orders a paragraph is devoted to warning General officers and others to exercise economy in all directions in regard to the expenditure of money. Think what an encouraging sentence that would be for the Germans to read? Were it be issued by the German Government and discovered by the English press, what a howl of joy would go up because of the straits to which the German government was being driven to conserve money and to husband its resources. Such is the game as she is played in these halcyon days of 1915 A. Domini. We can still hope for the best. My hospital I still full to overflowing, and there is little prospect for emptying for the present, all the ships are too busy transporting troops to and wounded from Galipoli, to have leisure for other work.

Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.
I do daily offer up thanks tha He who hath made you fair hath also made you good.
 [A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

14.8.15. 10 p.m. Two communications from you to day. The first a letter from you Carrie dear, dated Sydney 5.7.15. The second a cable message dated 13.8.15, 5 p.m. For both many thanks. The former

[Page 507

was delivered to me about noon; the latter reached me at 5 p.m. This was in reply to a message despatched by me on yesterday morning. I sent it on Friday thinking that you might like to reply by week end; you chose the same mode as did I, that is the deferred. Any how it is good to have late news from you. It is bad luck not to be able to let the rooms, but one never knows what the morrow will bring forth, but the wise man makes provision for any emergency, wisdom has not been my fort, while hard work has been my portion since I came to mans estate, in the performing of it let me hope that I have done the State some service, such has ever been my aim without hope or desire for self reward; a silly way perhaps, but my way and with it must my mind rest content. The exact wording of your cable: "Lieut. Col. Nash, Hospital, Heliopolis, Palace Hotel, Cairo. Still trying let rooms otherwise all well. Nash."

Caggie dear: Weston told me that he had heard about you but that he had not seen you. I saw something in the newspapers about the Japs being in Australian waters, but no particulars have yet come to hand. Had I been at home we might have looked up some of the doctors and found some fun in their manners and methods. They were the actors during the last great war, while now they are the onlookers, they no doubt appreciate the latter roll, it certainly is the lest costly in blood and treasure.

The white gloves are rather a good joke. Bullock amongst the others has had a bad time in the North, it was a horrid place to which to go.

Glad some of you went to the receptions for the Japs. Marg must still look massive Nan is a protester of the first order. Glad that Joe received the cable for her birthday. Good luck to her now and always.

During the next few weeks, I fear me you will have large casualty lists of Australians from the Dardenelles, the wounded are pouring freely into the hospitals here, three have come to me within the last hour, on one ship there were 600, how many then must there have been altogether, considering that trainloads of wounded have been continuously during several days and nights, and our hospitals are upon the periphery of the area to which patients are sent. Nothing will surprise me. By jove the war is being brought home to each of us in real earnest, especially to those who have sons and brothers. Yet how much more dreadful must it be in the countries of England, France, Russia and the German States.

I read the Federal parliament and other references to the festive Bertie. He always a little too assertive, and during the present crisis his name handicapped him to a great extent, and if he had taken an old mans advice he would have held his tongue, but in his ignorance he believed that his knowledge was superior to that of his seniors,

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just Berties little failing, which will before he learns better will cost him very much in every way, I have smiled at him fighting the dust for it before to day, then it was amusing, this time it is a little more serious. However let me hope that he will pull through all right. It will not be as bad as were matters for the New Guinea man. I have seen nothing from Hy. Lucy for a long time. Good luck to him.

It is commonly believed here that the submarines in the Aegean Sea came from Austria and that they are manned by Germans, their port of origin being somewhere in the Adriatic sea. Wherever they came from they showed much enterprise in their work, succeeding in striking terror into the whole British and French fleets. The scorpions of the deep truly are they.

Sorry to learn that Mrs. McMurray has been ill, my regards to her and to her husband, as also my thanks for their being so good to you. Joe will be a great knitter before long, the sox will keep my feet warm in the winter time. Good. Good girl.

My regards to the Kennas. I shall write to Mr. Anderson before long. He is a good old chap. Glad that you are to call upon his wife. From your letter the perfume of the violets, which you wrote are in front of my picture, reaches me at this moment, they are of the sweetest variety.

A man here from the Dardanelles, was telling me about the fighting that his ship, The Albion, did during the attack upon the forts at the Straits, though they did not lose many men, the vessel was badly damaged on more than one occasion. Much happened of which we have been told nothing, and of it we shall never know the full story, for one reason the details are too numerous for any one mind to see and retain.

Mrs Parsons was good to take Joe and Marie for a drive in the motor. How is the old man? You were enjoying the favourable weather, it can be as pleasing in Sydney as any where in the world. May the gods be always good to you. The sun of Egypt is very hot during the afternoon, but at other hours one can find but little to growl at. Old Dr. Fisher and Kitty would get on famously together, each enjoys a joke, and is not backward in making them, though those flowing from the medico take a long time to pour out, mayhap they are the better for the slow brewing. What think you? Ask Kitty what thinks she. Long ere the moments at which these words are being written she is of course back with you in Macquarie Street. Good. Did the Unger boy go to France to the war? My best wishes to Andre and the others.
Tabbie dear: [A line of Xs and Os.]

One of the men who came from Galipoli gave to me tonight a copy of the newspaper which is issued from G.H.Q. (General head quarters), M.E.F. (me

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Mediterranean expeditionary force). The cabled items are interesting and such as we never see here. For instance, the information in regard to the 600,000 tons of anthracite coal for Sweeden. There is no reason why it should not be correct, there is plenty of coal being produced in Germany, and it is probable that the miners under William II worked while the Welshmen were squabling about what they should be paid. Training has told adown every age of the world, and it is likely to do so in favour of the Teuton in our time. What will be the result to the map of Europe? Far other than that which is expected at the present moment by heaps of the amateur field marshals who criticise the acts of the mighty and puny alike. Such creatures as Springthorpe.

I may add a few words to this tomorrow, meanwhile good night.
Tabbie [A line of Xs and Os.] Jordan [A line of Xs and Os.] Kitty [A line of Xs and Os.]

15.8.15. 9.30. p.m. What will you people say when you read the casualty list that is being built up during these days at Gallipoli, the number estimated, of Australians and N. Zealanders amounts to 15,000, just think of it, fifteen thousand. What a large number of families that will effect. The two sets of barracks next to me have been taken from the Egyptian authorities and have been converted within few days into an hospital where five or six hundred patients can be received. Cairo will have a vast number of men under treatment within the next few weeks, and when one thinks about the other hospitals that are in Egypt and elsewhere it makes him place the number of men under treatment at a very high figure. It is sad. The flower of a country striken even unto death for the sake of what, for the cause of right against might. Will there ever be an end to war? Never until the nature of man is changed, and the ideas of the unit and the crowd agree upon what is right. Pilot asked long ago: What is truth? So to day might any common man ask: What is right? As no answer was given more than nineteen hundred years ago, so none can be given to day, that would be worth the uttering. The young and uninstructed could tell you at once, but the statement would be so devoid of knowledge that it would not be worth listening to. It is not to be thought possible by any sane mind that the different persons in even one line of thought can agree upon every point, and if they cannot then there will always be cause for quarrel mongst the sons of men. This is the greatest of all wars but it will not be the last, the last in my time, mayhap not in yours, the memory of it will exist for one generation it may be for two, but after that period it will be forgotten and the people of the newer time will find cause for quarrel, just

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as we and our predecessors have done.

When I read "Egypt and Australia" in the Melbourne Advocate I was quite pleased with. Was it published any where else in the press? I suppose that Mrs Knowles did the translation for the Melbourne paper.

Do not neglect to read Mr Balfours speech delivered at the opera house London on the 4th. August, it is of the best, I have read it in an issue of the Daily Express.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the capitulation of Metz in the year 1870, when the Germans fought the French. The event is fresh in my memory. Within the fortress of Metz, bazaine marshall [Marshal Bazaine] of France had 170,000, soldiers, and without putting up a fight he surrendered. It was a great blow to the military prestige of the nation and had great effect in bringing the fight to a speedy termination. In those days the army was a great one. Petrol traction had not then arrived, therefore great masses of men with their food could not be expeditiously taken from place to place. My parents with all others in those times followed the events of the war with the same anxiety as you do the present fighting, but they had not the personal interest that now pertains to each of us, our country was not then but an onlooker, and there was no need for casualty lists and the like. It was a great war confined to two peoples, strong for their time but in nothing being equal to the strength of the nations fighting this year of grace 1915.

This Sunday is the 15th August, the feast of the assumption of the B. V. M. I went to Mass at the Bassilica at 9.30 a.m., and to benediction at the Convent chappel at Zeitoun.

Good night. I have several other letters that await completion that they may be ready for the post in the morning. From here Monday is the day upon which it is best to have letters ready for giving to the postal officials, then there is no fear of missing any mail steamer that is going your way. May the best of fortune be with you now and always, and may the fair goddess Fortune fall deep in love with each of you.

To my friends please give my best wishes. To you go forth heaps of love and loads of kisses from
your loving and affectionate father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales

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C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
19.8.15.

My dear Girls:

Still pour in the wounded to Cario. Still flow out the partly trained levies which come to here from Northern and Southern lattitudes. The burning question that each one puts to himself: Will our men win through and when? The answer is not always a correct expression of the mental work of the brain, because in these times one has to regulate his sentences according to the time and place wherein he happens to be. Will they win through? Echo answers the sentence, and the wise man refrains from answer, but hopes within his breast that the great struggle will be speedily end, and our armies be within few days one step closer to the city of Constantinople. The casualty list when it comes to be published must be longer than was that which followed the opening stage of the great tragedy. What will you all think of it. So far there has not come to my ears information as to the death of any one of my personal friends. Where the projectiles are flying in such great numbers, and so many Australians are engaged it is more than can be expected that they can all escape. Let us pray that they may.
Some things in this war I cannot explain to myself, the reason being that my knowledge is not perfect enough to direct my judgment aright. Tell me why is it that the Germans have been able in forty eight hours to blow to pieces the defences of Antwerpt, to in brief space smash to attoms the great cement fortresses at Namur, likewise those of Leiege, and in these later days do the same with the protecting rings round Lemberg, Warsa, and finally Kovno as per telegrams published in the press of this evening? Thus: "La prise de Kovno. Un communiqué de Berlin annonce que Kovno, avec tous ces forts et un stock énorme de matériel de guerre comprenant plus de 400 canons, a été occupé par les Allemands. La place fut prise d’assaut malgré une résistance d’une extréme opiniâtreté. Reutre. Petrograd, 18 aout. Un communiqué annonce qu’apres des combats désespérés qui ont duré onze jours et couté aux Allamands des pertes immenses les Allemands ont réussi à occupier les fortifications de Kovno, situé sur la rive gauche du Niémen a l’ouest du ruisseau de Jessia. Les Allemands cherchent maintenant à traverser ce ruisseau remblayé, ou une partie des ouvrages se trouve encore entre nos mains. Nous tenons toutes les fortifications de Kovno situées à droite du Niemen. Reuter.

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[At the top of this page is the word "Girls".]

Les Félicitations du Kaiser. Amsterdam 18 août. Le Kaiser a télégraphié a Hindenberg lui exprimant sa vive appréciation pour la prise de Kovno (?) – Le premier et plus puissant rempart de la ligne intérieur des defences russes. Le Kaiser a conferé l’ordre, Pour le Mérite, au général Eichorn et les, feuilles de chêne, du meme ordre au général Litzman. R."
Having had so much experience during twelve months of the Russian as a champion liar, one cannot but think that Kovno has fallen into the hands of the German generals. Many of the places just written were fortresses of the very first order, yet they have been unable to resist the onslaught of the Teuton for more than brief span. Then why has not the Queen Elizabeth, with the other ships operating at the Dardanelles in the first instance, blown the forts on either side of the straits to pieces? The question should be simple enough to answer. With the knowledge inside my cerebrum no answer, worth writing, can be given. Why, oh why? The facts stand out grimly and give the judicious cause for much concern. We can but hope for the best, putting shoulders to the wheels of battle which cannot be pushed back.

Some newspapers came this evening from Mrs Fraser and Mr Hyman. I have not yet looked at them, but shall do so tomorrow, or when I am going to bed.

In these parts the world rolls round as usual. I had a visitor to lunch to day. Major Dr. Purdy, city health officer to the city of Sydney, he has been connected with the Divisional Amunition Column. He has been to the Dardanelles and has come back much shaken as to his nerves and having lost considerably in weight. We had a chat, during which I endeavoured to elicit information in regard to many persons and events in which my interest lay. He is difficult to manage because he has an I that fills much space in his thoughts, insinuating itself into the talk at every point, yet he is a good fellow when one has time to listen to his statements as to what he has done and thought. He talks about being soon at the Peninsula. Good man.

My hospital is running all right, 610 patients with me tonight, far to many yet it cannot be helped, and each one has to be cared for and treated.

Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Carrie dear. Joseph dear. Kitty dear.

23.8.15 Sorry cannot add more Too busily occupied or too sleepy. Sorry.
Col. Paton took tea with me last night. We had a long chat. The New Guinea Campaign does not appear to have been a satisfactory business. Good bye. God bless you all. May Fortune be always deep in love with you each. Heaps of love & loads of kisses from your [indecipherable] father
John B Nash.

Colonel John Paton CB VD CMG, (1867-1943), merchant and soldier of Newcastle, NSW, embarked from Brisbane on HMAT A60 Aeneas on 29 June 1915 in command of the 7th Infantry Brigade, 25th Infantry Battalion. He served at Gallipoli and in France.]

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C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt.
23rd. 8.15.

My dear Girls:

This morning the weekly budget, a small one was posted, with a blessing to you. Let me hope that the envelope and contents will reach you safely and that you each may derive some pleasure from the reading of the words and sentences.

There is an idea in my mind that a steamer may not be leaving for the south during this week, if not then you should receive more than one letter by the following steamer, each will be an earnest of me desire for a talk with you, as each day rolls round. With what accompaniment of wondrous events does each diurnal rotation of our old earth take place in this our days? Wonderful beyond all that had been in the minds of the most immaginative, Munchausen or de Rougement themselves had hardly bettered the events had their minds run in the direction of grim visaged war. Petrograd, syonomous with Liegrad, has announced to day that the Russian fleet has had great success over the Germans. let us hope that for once the wires that stretch from the Russian capital, to the rest of the world, have been the conveyors of truth, yet could the wire stand such strain, they have become so accustomed to carry untruths that a change might fuse the metal at every step and paralyse its power to perform its ordinary functions. Let us hope that German Bill at sea has been given a stunning blow. Good!

You have before this been given the list of the killed and wounded in the recent fighting, we have not seen one name, though rumours have fixed upon many who are known to me. We should like to know, but the authorities do not allow the information to come this way. Papers from London or from Australia will bring to us the knowledge.
The constellations in the heavens move in their accustomed orbits, without caring as to the happenings upon our planet. The Scorpion now rises early over Egypt, turns on its side about 8 o’clock in the evening and disappears in the South-Western sky in the young hours of the morning. The great bear when first seen at night is in the North-Western sky, whereas but few months since he was high overhead at the same hour, before the early morning hours are with us his saucepan part has sunk below the horizon the stars in the handle alone being visible. The small bear by midnight has swung round so that

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

its saucepan is vertically below the star around which it swings. The W at twighlight is well above the North-Eastern horizon, and by 1 a.m. has moved high up in heavens vault. All the constelations is these parts revolve round the Pole star, that which marks the North, and which is the first in the handle of the small bear. When walking across the grounds in the early hours of the morning, my eyes often look up into the Eastern sky, there they finds reminder of you, because the Pleiades, these seven sisters, a few weeks since but twinkling just above the horizon, are now in full blaze of all their glory, while just to the South of them is the A in the head of the bull, and still further to the South Orion can be mapped out midst the other luminaries of the bright blue sky. You; Sydney, Macquarie street, fill anew spaces in my mind, wherefrom you are bidden good night, God Bless You is formed as a sentence oft repeated, and memory dwells with you afar off and wonders what you do and how you are. Mirabile dictu! Thoughts in their speed outstrip this lightening, and with equal rapidity pictures appear to illustrate them. Pleasur comes in that wise to the wanderer far far from his happy home. God’s wise provision.

The fighting at Galipoli has been great with but little result. There has been fighting here within the Australian hospital staffs ever since the units started on their military career, a crisis was reached a few days back, when Ramsay Smith and Barrett were with one stroke deposed, the former is an officer of long service, the later is a Lieut Colonel of but few months military experience but he has been much in the military eye since he commenced, he is the only man who has been promoted here. The two appeared to me to be a combination which did the best of work in Cairo, & I looked forward to promotion for each of them rather than to the denoument which has come like a thunderbolt. Ramsay is staying at Sheppheards deprived of his command. Barrett has gone to Alexandria to recover from the shock. I have not been able to get at the truth in the matter, I have not time to wander round and mix with the intiguing that plays so large a part in human existance, you know that my part in it at home is very small, so it is here, too underhand it is for my tastes. I fear me that there has been some underhand work going on, and for the time it has gained the upper hand. And these tin pot things occupy places in mens minds when the Empire of which each of us is a citizen is threatened at its very roots by a foe who will stop at nothing to make of us secondraters. By jove ‘tis odd. Yet there be minds so small that cannot mark the difference between the wee and the large; their mental vision not getting beyond that which is compassed by the question. Is this for my personal advantage?

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24.8.15. I have just ended a letter to Jack McGlynn who is Brigade Major to Colonel Monash. He is brother to the little woman who is so much at the Maitland Convent. The two officers with their brigade have done work of the very best on the peninsula. Good luck to them all the time.

We are receiving very little news here of the actual fighting. Like you we hear each day of the defeat of the Russian, varied as with you by the Petrograd telegrams which tell of the wonderful fighting qualities of the soldiery of the Czar. They might be amusing were the whole matter not so serious.

I must to bed. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

26th.8.15 9 p.m. There be strange rumours going the rounds in these parts, and to such extent that the General Officer commanding in Egypt has thought it to be necessary to publish in orders that notice should not be taken of the statements made by unauthorised persons and that officers are culpable if they talk about military subjects in the present of civilians. These notices rather make one curious as to why it is necessary to so warn officers. One statement which you will hope is not correct is to the effect that two battalions of our troups fired upon each other doing much damage. The battalions named are the 16th & 17th. To one of the these Ted. Norrie and McLachlan belong, they left here last Saturday and have just had time to reach the peninsula and get into action. Let us pray that it be not their misfortune to have met with such disaster. In this terrible time naught is impossible.
At peace manouvers I have seen t[w]o regiments of the same force come into collision. If it were possible under the conditions of peace, how much more easily might it happen under war conditions, when every one is at high tension and the excitement must be intense. It is of course due in the main to officers not being trained to the required standard. In the case at Liverpool, N. S. Wales, referred to above ignorance in the officers caused the error, one which had bullets been flying would have resulted in the loss of many lives.
The Galipoli trouble as follows. A regiment had attacked, and were repulsed, having to retire, while they were falling back, a regiment was sent to help them, their regiment was ordered to fire with the machine gloves [guns], they fired upon their own men and killed a great many of them. Again let us ho[pe]

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-pe that the rumour is not true. Every available man is being rushed to Galipoli, whether they are trained or not. It is said to know that men who, if trained would be capable of carrying out successfully any work, may on account of their ignorance be sacrificed upon the field of battle. It is said to be absolutely necessary that the Galipoli peninsula must be taken before the next few weeks pass by, because the weather becomes so bad during the Autumn in those parts that troups cannot be maintained there. It is probable that the Turks with their German officers know, as much about the atmospheric conditions of that part of the world as well as do our own people. Think you not so? They are quite clever enough to turn any such conditions to their advantage. The German military officer is likely to be the best trained man at his business in the world. Hence it has never been wise on the part of our people to underrate. I fear that it has been done to a very large extent during the last twelve months. The casualty list will be sad reading for you if it again contains the names of some of your friends. Let us hope that none does;

When Jerome came along the other morning, the announced that he had been during the night back in Sydney, going up the harbour he noted the various landmarks as clearly as if he were really there. I asked what brand of material he had consumed for supper, that I might take a dose, I should risk much to imagine myself back once more in Sydney Harbour. Some day perhaps.

The weather with us has been somewhat disagreeable for some days, wind, drifting sands, flies small back ones, & heat, the last being severe during the hours from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. During those hours or most of them the white man should sleep in this climate. If it is possible I lie on an inclined chair after 2 p.m. for two or three hours, it is seldom that the minutes are uninterrupted, but the using of them in that way enables me to keep awake during the night, wherein my letters can be typed and other work attended to.

By tomorrow’s mail I am sending some pictures to Mrs Fraser that she may show them to her lady friends who were so good as to help in the making of the pyjama suits for my patients, a special parcel is enclosed for the sisters of the Dominican Convent who gave to her so much help, and who sent a quantity of catholic litterature for the Roman boys. All reading matter that comes is seized upon and read and passed on from one to the other. There are six hundred of them in the hospital tonight.

[Page 517]

29.8.15. Australian troups are being poured out of Cairo daily. Colonel Holmes and his crowd went last week. General Legge and the 6th brigade start to day. The 7th brigade go at the end of this week. It is ten thousand pities that they could not all be kept here for six months training, after that they would be in position to give good account of themselves. With the very limited knowledge that is possessed by officers non commissioned offiicers and men, I fear greatly for the result. However we can but hope for the best. With English, French, and Colonials in Galipoli the numbers of fighting men on that strip of land is probably greater than it has ever been in the long series of centuries during which it has been the convincing ground between the various nations that have congregated round the Sea of Marmora.

Kenneth Garrick and two of his soldier friends called upon me this afternoon as they expect to leave Cairo within a few hours. I wished them all sorts of good luck, and hoped to meet them some day in Sydney, in the future. What think you? If you see Mrs Rouse you will please tell her of the setting out of her grandson.

You must please forgive me for not sending to you such long letters recently, but my eyes have persistently refused to keep upon during the night, eating too much and growing too fat on the feeding which Jerom is giving to me. Jerom is looking better than he has ever been. I some fancy that he is thirsty, and he would give half a crown to rush across Macquarie Street and down King or Hunter Street to the nearest hotel. If this idea be correct he must be very thirsty, because he has been strictly correct for a long time, his wife would hardly know him were they to meet in the street, I hope that he will get back home in like fettle.

Train loads of wounded come constantly into Cairo, indicating that the fight is being continued at the peninsula. On one train to day some Turkish prisoners were brought, not as many as we should like but better than none, if but a few thousand were forthcoming a desireable effect would be produced upon the population of Egypt.

By this post I am sending to you a registered parcel, the long promised beads, they come from the graves of the ancient Egyptians, having been buried with the embalmed bodies of their owners. They are quaint and some what uncommon. If you get them strung together firmly and arranged with some of the gold out of the safe they will be uncommon ornaments in your part of the world, however you will know best how to deal with them. At present they are held together by modern cotton which is not too strong. In the tombs unless they were strung on gold thread they are found loose and thread having become deteriorated with the lapse of time during which they have been stowed away.
  

[Page 518]

During the week a characteristic letter came from Hyman. He appears to be as busy as ever, with his various societies, and the war, he has obtained commissions for a large number of men and women. He obtained for Nurse Blanch Sutton her position at the Belgian Hospital, where she has been since the war began, a post card reached me to day from her, sent on account of the postage stamp upon it, I shall send it on to you. I am sure that I should enjoy a chat with the little man. He was asking about you. In my reply I shall tell him about you.

What did you think of the French people placing the body of Rouget de Lisel alongside that of Napoleon the first? [Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836)] To my mind the soul of the great emperor will turn in its grave when it recognises that a man who strung to gether a few verses of words has been judged as worthy as the great soldier and law giver. The comparison is somewhat odipus [odious]. The whole proceeding has been ridiculous. Fancy the names Napoleon and de Lisle under the same dome for the admiration of the future generations of French men and women? Let us pray that their resting place may not be under the domination of the German Kaiser. The Crown Prince rather let the cat out of the bag a few days ago when he said that the Kaiser was soon to launch irressistible forces against those opposing him on the Western front. This idea was amplified recently by the congratulations which the Emperor himself sent to the Generals in position, thanking them for being able to keep the enemy in cheque while he was fighting his way into Russia further than he expected. Bill may be a savage, if so he is a great savage, and history will set him down as mongst the greatest of his class that has been in the world, a great member of a great house, a Hohenzolleron amongst the Hohenzollerons. He is reaping the reward of the years of unfailing industry that has been put into the training of all Germans to the art and science of war.

Good night my dears. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[Lines of Xs and Os.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kittie.

30.8.15. Last evening I took Sister Draper and two officers to Matarieh X showed to them the various subjects of interests in the several spots. It is still to me the most interesting spot in Egypt. Architects of do day could easily construct the pyramids, or build the various mosques, but the exist

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-ance of the Holy Family has happened only once in the history of mankind. But thirty three years were those of Christ, and during them so much was crowded in that the most intelectual of the human race have been occupied in copying and teaching the lessons which He thought, and as the days are farther from the date of His existance so becomes more appreciated and pronounced the words that He spoke. Is it not wonderful to think upon? Deo gratias.

Dr Hollywood took tea with me tonight. He is in the best of health and spirits, though he told me that he sometimes becomes low spirited, and that when his twelve months have ended he will hurry back to sunny N. S. Wales. We talked about You and, our friends near to you. He left about 10.30 p. m. Since I have been doing work in the office, and have been ending some letters, that they may be ready for post in the morning.

A package was posted to you this morning containing the beads. It was registered and should reach you safely in due course. Let me hope that you will like them; they will be uncommon. The specimens are said to be genuine, having come from the tomb of some ancient Egyptian.

Large numbers of troups have moved out from the camps this night. What pity they have not had time to be better instructed, then had there been greater chance for them to show the mettel of their breeding. The game of war is one that cannot be learned in a day, they who understand the game best being the ones who are most likely to win, and they have often, adown the pages of history succeeded against great odds. Numbers if they be sufficient can do anything, but for few to achieve much each individual must be trained to the highest degree. Let us pray that the men going forth to day may have full measure of good fortune. Keneth Garrick will have been of them. A good looking soldier he was when he called to see me yesterday. Good luck to him. Jack Paton and his crowd may move off during the week.

Good night now my dears. I shall expect letters from you during the next few days, I do not think that there has been a mail during the week just ended. Please convey my best wishes to my many friends, hoping for them good luck. I have asked for an opportunity to visit Galipoli, should it be given to me I may have some interesting matter for future letters. If I go you will receive a telegram from me on my return. Good bye. God bless each one of you, and keep you from all harm. Heaps of love and loads of kisses from, your loving and affectionate father.
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales.

[Page 520]

31.8.15. 9 a.m.
Rather good news from Galipoli during the night. It has been brought by wounded who announced that a big advance had been made along the peninsula, Australians having been started without ammunition in their pouches to take a place called hill 909 they took it during the night, and if they be sufficiently reinforced they will be able to hold on. The cost in killed and wounded must have been heavy because several train-loads of seriously wounded, all in a septic condition arrived at the hospitals early in the evening.

Good bye
Your affnt Father
John B. Nash

[Page 521]

c/o D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt.

My dear Girls:/

Letters dated 7 & 10/8/15 came to hand this morning, the one from you Kitty dear was written at Cessnock and bore no date. Many thanks for them.

I am sending tomorrow a box full of stones from the dessert for Prof David. Amongst them are pieces of Alabaster and petrified wood for yourselves, these you can distribute amongst your friends. They should not be common in Sydney or elsewhere. The brown streaks in the Alabaster indicate some process about which I have no information. Prof David can tell you about. The common statement made is to the effect that the Alabaster comes from Assouan, some four hundred miles up the Nile, where it is cut out in blocks & brought here and elsewhere for decorating the interior of buildings. I have been told that it is not difficult to cut out from the quarry, & that it gets harder on exposure, but after being exposed for a long time it crumbles.

The petrified wood is hard enough to last for ever, some pieces you will note are very much harder than others. Why?

Letters came from Mr. Watkins, Mrs. Thompson of Cooma, Kathleen Johnson, and Tom Fryar. I shall if possible send to each of them a short note as it may not be possible for me to do so for some time after this has been received. No doubt I shall have time to write but it may be that the opportunity will be wanting to send forward the matter, censors are busy at all places in and near Galipoli, we know that because on the envelopes arriving are stamped the words "Passed by Censor". However one never can tell in these days what may turn up next or where one’s lot will be cast, these are not common days, such have not been known within the ealms of Britain, for more than 100 years.

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Tabbie dear: The attacks on Ramsay Smith were I think dictated by jealousy and the pursuing of the persecution to which he has always been subjected since he came to Australia. Whatever justification there was for it in the first instance there is none for allowing it to be carried into his position on this military business, with which we are all engaged. Of course it is simply due to the ignorance and want of training in the men who have for the first time worn military uniform, and who could not forget that they should be with it on removed from the category of tourists or travelling photographers, my little commedian is mainly responsible for the trouble I think, he is bad enough and dirty enough to be the cause for anything that is bad and dispicable, a coterie around him who know not the difference between right and wrong have been willing tools in his hands and the silly ass who for so long was my chief aided and abbetted by his weakness and jealously the whole proceeding. I shall be much surprised if Ramsay Smith does not defeat all his detractors in the end, because there can be no denying the fact that with the aid of Barrett, unexperienced as this officer was, that they saved the situation in Egypt for the wounded Australians. Of their work I was but an onlooker, at the vicious talk of their opponents I was unfortunately a listener. However he laughs best who laughs last, and I fancy that it will not be the commedian and his crowd who will have the last smile.

It was very good of the Minister for defence to refer to the loss sustained by Mena House hospital by my leaving it, had I been treated with courtesy I should have been content to put forth my best efforts to make the place second to none in Egypt, I had all the material necessary but owing to the ignorance and jealously of Martin it was not possible for me to use them. However that is all left behind me and my best efforts will be put forward to make up for lost time. I fancy that four months in my present position have shown that I have capacity for things out of the common, and now that my health has fully recovered I feel fit for undertaking. If at Galipoli or elsewhere bad luck does not dog me I shall do my best to deserve well of you and of those whom I came to represent. Just fancy Grey as chief of staff at any hospital? At No. 1 the surgical side was depleted by circumstances over which Smith and Barrett had no controll.

Mrs. Newmarch is at present in Cairo, she is going to live at Heliopolis, not at the hospital but at a place close by, to the Pug told me the other night. I think that I told you that the soldier son is being sent on to London, his father told me that they operated upon the wrong side in Alexandria. A lot or such incompetency has been taking place during the war. ’Tis true.

[Page 523]

I fancy that it will not be long before Newmarch returns to Australia. Cairo is not much of a place for women unless they be old stagers, or walk about the streets as material, in human for, upon which to hang clothes.

I should love to have one or all of you with me were the circumstances other than they are, but no one knows what will turn up next, nor to where one may be ordered next, therefore Australia is one of the best places wherein to reside in this year of grace 1915 A.D. Jerome looks after me first class; it is a man’s job and he fills the place well, I fancy that his people will find him to be much improved by his time away, he has even been saving money. Last week he sent home several presents to his family. He was awfully flattered and pleased at the letter which you wrote to him, and which was brought to him to day.

For the mens clothes and all the other accessories we have sterilisers and native washerman, and all other things necessary. Jerom gets my things attended to by natives at so much per month, and there is no trouble in that regard. I bought myself a new pair of boots this morning in Cairo, if they be as good as they look they were very cheap at 85 piasters, i.e. about seventeen shillings. The pair I bought at Higgs just before leaving are amongst the best I have ever bought, for the first time to day I sent them to be newly soled, and they cost but 17 shillings, I have often paid him 45 shillings for boots that were not half as good.

A letter came from Buddie this morning. I shall hardly be able to answer it by the outgoing mail which closes here tomorrow about 4 p.m.; The Orsova is the ship I think that will carry this and other posted matter. I wonder is Weston still on board?

I received a note recently from Mrs. Franki to which I must send an answer soon. As you have written she is a dear old girl. Her boys have turned out to be a trouble, none of them ever exhibited any sense that I know of, clever enough they appear to be when it is a question of examinations. I certainly never expected that Noel would get through his examinations. She was very much concerned about the girl he intends to marry. The girl is probably good enough for him, unless he has altered considerably.

Several bundles of papers have reached me recently. Please accept my thanks and convey them to Mrs Franki from me; they have kept Jerom and me fairly well up to the happenings at your end. The treatment of Mr Holman at the Stadium and the Exhebition build is somewhat inexplicable to me, at either place he should have been in favour. Some where I learned that the trouble was the sequel to some action which he took in regard to the totalisator bill. Is this so? I wrote him a note telling him that I was sorry to read of the event. I must weigh at the first opportunity, but I am sure that I have picked up much of

[Page 524]

[This page is marked as page 4 but appears not to follow on from the previous page (marked as page 3).]

Bobbin Head reminds me of old times. Wish that I had been with you. Some day perhaps, and if not, why to you many more happy visits there. Drink deep of the perfume of the gum trees and the wattle, and look upon the blue coloured waters of Cowan creek. Bobbin head is to me as picturesque a spot as fortune has taken me to. I would not say that Maria was, or is, a coward, but that she has always been full of fun. How time does roll by.

Joseph dear: Mine is not a lovely hospital, but it is a very difficult one to manage, the patients number 550 to night, a more troublesome lot than ordinarily, but tonight I spoke to them seriously and threatened to stop their luxuries in the form of tobacco and fruit unless they turned over a new leaf, since they like these things, especially tobacco, more than anything else in the world, they will do much to have it kept coming, they are now perfectly settled down.

11.45 p.m. One of my medical officers who is affected with ergophobia as far as attending to his duties here are concerned has just come in. He said: I have just been talking to a friend of yours. Yes; Who may it be? Mrs Featherstonehaugh. By jove Vic! How is friend Vic? Very well. Where is Cuthbert? He is at the front. Where is she staying? At a place called Montrose in Heliopolis ... Would like to see her very much. Do not suppose that I shall.

Tell Dr Kelty to have sense and stay at home. There are plenty of men here if they would but do the work. If many more leave Australia there will be no one to look after you at home, and that is of as much importance as the being in this distant part of the world. In a letter Jerome received it was stated that two members of the Legislative Assembly had volunteered, viz. Chaffey and Fern. I suppose that the information is correct.

The Ypres post cards came from Sister Blanch Sutton, a Sydney hospital girl who has been working since the beginning of the war at the Belgian hospital in La Panne. She went to London carrying with her a letter to little Hyman, he got her a position and she has been in it ever since. She has been in full view of all the fighting by land and sea, and has for working companions the king and queen of Belgium. The hospital is probably the best fitted in the war area and is well managed. She writes to me letters that I send to you. Her last was an enclosure with yours yesterday. From my point of view the Russians are qualifying for the championship stakes as runners away, they have long since won the belt in another direction. As you know I have

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have always feared the German weight, meaning thereby their numbers and education in the science and art of war. Bad luck for the youngster with the perkins boys, they are savage enough for anything, I fear me that they may follow in the footsteps of their uncles. Let us hope not, but the older they grew the more intollerably impudent they became. Fine specimens physically they were mentally spoiled. Have heard nothing from Dr Harris for a long time. If he be at Lemnos I may meet him on my wanderings. One does not know his luck these days. Did not know that Reg Power is married. Good luck to him. Where does he live?

Your second letter dear. It is the special sheet I note. You will have answer on another sheet.

Kitty dear/ Midst the gaities of Cessnock you had not much time for letter writing. Mrs and Dr. Fisher were very good to you I shall write to him some day. The progress of the mining area around Cessnock has been remarkable, and if the population of Australia were to increase rapidly the progress would be much more marked, however the portions of the coal field that is not being worked now is being saved for posterity. You will know the whole country side by time you returned to Sydney. A trip into the country is health giving to you city folk, and the part you have been in has always been for natural soil and folliage hard to beat, when I knew it first it was a small place where only some orchards and farms had residents. Puch [Much] changed this last ten years.
 
Glad to read that you play tennis because it means that your arm is in better state than of yore. Good. Good. Very up to date machinery has been place in the mines of the Maitland coal fields. Of the best.

Poland and Belgium have been the battle ground for many warring nations adown the centuries. Caesar wrote about the Belgae two thousand years agone, they were a warlike people then.

My best wishes and regards to Dr and Mrs Fisher. Also to Mr Pearce if you have chance to deliver them. Well and as happy as can be under the circumstances. Hurrah. Hurrah.

During the week I shall put together some sentences for you, which will form the nucleus for another letter. Meanwhile good bye My dears, may fortune of the best be with each of you now and always. Heaps of love and loads of kisses from, your loving and affectionate father

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney.

[Page 526]

C/o. D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
1st. Septbr. 1915

My dear Girls:

You will notice that a new month has come upon us, the ninth of the present year. How the time is flying past? The end of the annual round will soon be upon us. In a news paper I have seen notice referring to the Christmas trade. Is it likely that we shall be home for the new year of 1916? No possibility is in view of such happy event, rather does each day promise prolongation of our stay in this northern hemisphere.
11.30 p. m., another hospital train, with wounded from the Dardanelles, has just rolled into Heliopolis, two motors are coming to me with patients. When will they come?

Joseph dear: A letter written by you arrived to day. It bears date 2.6.15. Some silly ass placed upon the envelope in blue pencil, "C/o. High Commissioner, London", following this direction it has been to England and back. What should be done to the silly ass? Why cannot he mind his own business and allow the director of the address to be responsible for his actions. Yes he may have had good intent, therefore let us forgive him, but swear words can hardly be kept from interfering with charitable thoughts.
I have not had word from Harris for a long time, he is bound to be pursuing the even tenor of his way in the fertile land of France, the world’s best garden. My regards to him when you write.
Ian Hamilton, if he is to succeed this year at Galipoli, must do so within the next four weeks, because it is said that unless he does so the severity of the weather after the equinox will render the supplying of his troops impossible, he must needs therefore hurry up. Is he doing so? The progress if any is slow, and no great success beyond the landing has been achieved. Let us pray that something better may soon be, with truth, reported. It is little satisfactory to be day after day pounding away at an enemy if, the end of each twenty four hours sees nothing accomplished.
It is far otherwise with the position in Poland, where city after city falls into the hands of the German. Achieving much are the armies of Hindenburg and his fellows. How inspiriting to the whole German people must be the news of the capturing of great fortresses, such as those which surround Warsa[w], and are stretched from Riga to Galicia along the important rivers which run
 

[Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beckendorff und von Hindenburg, known as Paul von Hindenburg, (1847-1934), Prussian-German field marshal, statesman and politician, was chief of staff of the German Army from 1916-1919 and served as second president of Germany from 1925-1934.]

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[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

from South to North, emptying into the Baltic Sea. Minimise as we may the work of the Teuton armies in Poland nothing better or more rapid has been accomplished in history, and nothing comparable has been recorded during the existance of man. It has been great work. The military minds guiding the wonderful armies must be of the first order. Should they not be. Have they not had education of the highest class during their professional lives? Did not most of them commence their education midst the sound of the guns that in 1870 & 1871 A. D., crushed the French people, and made the German Empire?
Was this not a start which might impress any young man? The rulers of the house of Hoenzolleren have during the intervening forty four years directed the energies of the people into the paths of training for which would best fit them for the titanic struggle which all knew to be in the not far distant future, and prepared for the duties of the general staff the select of the sixty millions of their race. Is it wonder then that not one battle has so far been fought upon the land of the empire? Indications give no sign of the time when the Allies will be able to push through the line which encircles the mid European empires. More lambs for here. The tide flows in and out.
The temporary set back which will be put upon us during the ensuing twelve months will be the sequel to the loafing and slacking which has been practised by those who thought that their ideas were modern and to the advantage of the working man. Often in my speeches have I combatted them to the best of my ability. Their imagined new methods have been tried and found to be useless thousands of years ago. They have been revived by many since then, but on each and every occasion with the same unhappy result of bringing disaster to the very persons whom the promoters intended them to benefit, that is the mass of the people.
While the human individual is constituted upon the present model there must be for him leaders in all departments of activities, and upon him who has the most capacity must the rank and file lean. Our friends the socialists, and like dreamers, forget the anatomical basis upon which all action is based, neglecting the evident fact, that God has given to each of us special capacity in some direction, while limiting the power of each in other directions, and he must become dominant, if he applies himself dilligently, in that department of human energy wherein he has the God given capacity.
They also forget, or never knew, that there is but one factor that makes any nation at the head of ruling crowd, and that is the quantity and the quality of the work which is the sum total of the energies put forth each moment by the units which make the whole. For the thoughtful nothing is so self evident

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the historical precedents which have established these ideas as oft repeated truths. The want of due regard for these principles as guides is the great danger that is present with every set of men who have not had a sound training in early life, upon which can be built the higher stories in the progress of education. It matters not how the strong man may be abused in times of peace and quietness, every one has to depend upon him in times of strife and war. Few have the power to lead and dictate, most of us have been constructed after the fashion which requires leading and directing. Think you not so?
Many thanks my dear for the cuttings from the newspapers. The letter by our little Dickey Bird smells of the midnight oil when he was dreaming of us far from home. It was sweet of him to think so kindly of those helping in the great fight, but it must not be thought that those at home are not playing a worthy and necessary part by keeping the pot boiling, because upon the manner in which it does so depends to a great extent the result of the work of the fighters abroad. Keep battling all of you.

I had not seen before: Bean’s letter from Mena camp; The reasons why Deakin, Neilson, and the other members of the Panama commission resigned; Arthur’s "To the unknown dead"; The debates in the Labour conferences. Again many thanks for all of them. They have already been read by several of my people, and they will be read by others.
See you that my Tabby takes care of herself. If she has headaches tell her to consult some physician about them.

A coat of paint will cover up the blemishes in the Parliament house buildings. It is rather a come down for Robert Parker to descend from grand opera to the Tivoli stage. Is it not wonderful how Mrs Holman continues to flourish? She is typical of the superficial crowd who were in my mind during the writing of some observations earlier in this letter. Well intentioned but sadly lacking in the essentials of ordinary common sense. Very bad guides are such people for the crowd, because the majority, while protesting strongly against being led, always follow the leader because it is easier than learning to think for one self, and in the end it is the happier course, this throws greater responsibility upon those who have the leading parts to play.
Holman, Hughes, and the like clever men know what is correct, but they follow circuitous roads, hoping that, at some turning, they will be able to direct the train of thought of their followers, who keep them in power, into the correct channels, but the cost to the country of the travelling along byeways is very great and sometimes

[Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean (1879-1968), barrister, teacher, journalist and war correspondent, best known as the writer/editor of Australia’s official history of the First World War.

"To the Unknown Dead" by Richard Arthur, published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 2 June 1915. (Source: Trove.)
William Morris (Billy) Hughes (1862-1952), 7th Prime Minister of Australia (1915-1923).]

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there is no way out, the end is disaster, and after a struggle of more or less magnitude a fresh start has to be made to again reach the same point.
This is not dreaming, it is but repeating historical facts.
Let me know when Bill and Ella Curtis are taken with the Blow family to the concentration camp? What fun ’twould be for the festive William. My regards to each of them. How angry Herz must be with his guard. He must be crowing within himself at the victories of his people.
Thank you my dear for share in your prayers while you were at the Rose Bay convent; such kindly and thoughtful acts help to raise ones soul nearer to Heaven. Letters of the highest and most pleasing class are written as the thoughts for sending on come into the mind.
I have not heard of the Australia being in the Aegean sea. I do not know how seriously Lieut Playfair has been wounded, you learn more about these things than we can.
What a fiasco the Milsons Point ry. [railway] station has been. The present ry. commissioners have never had my confidence, because none of them showed capacity of a high class in earlier positions. Of course they are responsible for all the ry. & tramway troubles, were they competent to supervise the initial moves which lead to the terminal muddles would not be possible;. Of all our scandals none has been more barefaced or ridiculous than the road leading from Woolloomool[oo] to Park street, I became tired of drawing the attention of parliament to the matter, if it were not so costly ’twould be ridiculous.
Sorry Dr Watt turned out to be such a rotter; Not much worse than Dunn.

The foregoing answer to Joes lettr constitutes an opening for my weekly budget. But now good night. The Pleiades, with the Bull and Orion, will be high in the sky as I cross the grounds to my room, while away to the North the great Bear will be for the most part below the horizon, and the W will be high above my head, the immoveable Pole star alone remaining in the same spot as all other constelations move in each its several orbit rapidly across the blue vault of the firmament.

[Three lines of Os and Xs follow.]
Caggie. Joseph. Kitty.

2.9.15. Hurray. Hurray. Hurray. Hurray. Several letters to hand to day, amongst them six from you Many thanks for them, I read them through during the afternoon, and will answer them straight away.
Fell asleep at this point and had to postpone further writing till I can keep awake. 2.30 a.m.: Waked up but must go to bed for a little. I must be getting about by 7 o’clock, therefore shall put off the pleasure of

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Further converse with you until tomorrow. I just feel fit to write away for a couple of hours, but were I to do so I should be falling asleep tomorrow morning while sitting doing ordinary work. Is there of us any who, twelve months ago, had thought that the Dardanelles Strait and the peninsula of Galipoli would, ere the annual rotation of the bodies of the firmament had taken place, be so closely linked with the history of our Australia. There may be those who would dare to remark – "I told you so – , but they would be playing with the truth and be romancers after the event when any may flatter himself that he was, in his own mind, a prophet.
Just think of it? The lands so close to the spots where of Homer and Virgil wrote two thousand more years ago being so closely knit with the history of that part of the earth which but for one hundred and thirty years has been peopled by those of the Caucasion race? No I do not believe that one mind in the world had built up any connection between the so young and so old.
Both the Greek and the Roman sang of times and events long anterior to the date when each filled a place in the atmosphere of the world. Though more familiar with the latin author Virgil, than with the Greek Homer, I could narrate to you anecdotes from each, which have been impressed upon the remembering tablets of my mind since childhoods days. Let one suffice. Virgil links up the destruction of Troy, just South of the place where the Australians have been fighting the Turks for five months, with the foundation of Rome. The date of the former has been lost in antiquity, while the latter is writ out to be 750 years before Christ. Aneas of Troy after the taking of his native city set out with various members of his family and his household gods to trust himself and them to the mercy of the seas. His wanderings were the subject of the Iliad. Finally he arrived on the coast of Italy. There his descendants Romulus and Remus, in the course of time laid the foundations of the imperial city. The story was so well told that it has lasted two thousand years as the standard from which must be taken the knowledge of the latin language which was spoken at the time. Not withstanding the hate of school boys and the anathemas piled by them upon the head of the author, his story is immortal, & it is as fresh to day as when it was first read.
But I really must stop. Were my business solely writing I shoud go on because my thoughts are running freely, the condition of my brain being such that memory is fresh and the material stored there is chasin one sentence upon the other to get plac[e]d or record as the out put of that unit in the cosmos of today, named by his parents John Brady Nash, and arranged by God to be father to four charming girls who

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should, in the ordinary course of events have these sheets of typed matter before them in far away Australia. The subject is enticing to me, it may not be quite so much to you, and as there is not much more of the night left I must away. Therefore, once more, good night, good night, good night, deferring till the morrow further pleasure of conversing with you.

Good night: [A line of Xs and Os] Caggi
Good night: [A line of Xs and Os] Joe
Good night: [A line of Xs and Os] Kitty

3.9.15. 11 p.m.; My Tabbie dear: Your letter is dated 20 7.15. Glad that the photograph on the mantlepiece brings to you pleasure and that the old man has not become too aged to be worth not thinking about. He is satisfied to know that you are givn interest by his picture.
The brown baronia has wafted its perfume from the room at 219 to this in which I am working the machine, my nostrils react to the particles that have come all the way around the world keeping up a bond between you and me. Ask Maria what she thinks of the power of the baronia to do so great a feat in travelling? Are her funny remarks and jolly stories still in the ascendant? I fear not, because she required to be in need of much to make her shine the most. Tell her that the other day I was talking with the man, a gentleman of colour who lights my lamps, he told me that he is not married, that he lives with his mother and several children, that he has to keep them, also that a man in Egypt cannot marrie on twenty piasters (four shillings in our money) per week, but that he can do so very well on thirty piasters per week. What think you all of that? And when he has above that income he is all right.
I have not heard of Bruce since he left Heliopolis. The sox from Joe have not yet come to hand, they will soon be here.
It is remarkable how little the average medical man cares for looking after his patients, Dr Darling is a good stand by for you. Some one told me tonight of the article on the Antirabic Institute in the Australasian Medical Gazette. I may see it some day.
Glad that you like my account about the Dardanelles. I hope to have the opportunity to go there. At the begining of this week I wrote to General Ford asking that I might be sent across, but so far no answer has come, if it is not here tomorrow I shall write asking for a personal interview.
Knives for the French soldiers. By jove this is becoming a savage war indeed. Yes I remember Dr; Butler at the congress at Auckland. Buddie did not remain long at Santa. In her last she told me that she had been sent on to Moss Vale. Such is life in a convent. Kitty had a long stay in the Maitland district. Hope that she enjoyed the time. She is such a mery body that she would make herself happy anywhere.

[Major General Sir Richard W Ford (Surgeon-General, British Army), Director of Medical Services, Egypt.]

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Is it not so?
Keep an eye on the sheckels, there is in every case never a friend like a shilling or two. Money in sufficient quantity can purchase most anything in this world. It is a common statement in these days, that the side which will win ultimately in this great war is the one who can find the most money. What vast sums are being expended each day for no better purpose than destruction of man and his works. It is deplorable. And would you believe it, ’tis he who calls himself civilised, the most advanced in civilisation that the world has ever known. Bah!!!.
I shall write to Mr Walsh at the library asking him to continue sending the illustrated papers. I am angry that they should have ceased to send them.
I told Jerom that his daughter brought to you a bunch of flowers, I shall give him your letters to read. He reads out loud very well, and I often get him to read the telegrams when I am at my meal, or other interesting matter. He looks much better than he did at Mena.
I must send a post card to miss Thomas of the Glebe. I cannot think if her address is Mansfield House or Street.
How varied the tastes of people in this world are? I see little use in the contemplative orders of the Church. There is so much work for Gods creatures to do the there is little time left for contemplation, the doing of it looks like so much wilful waste. Yet as you wisely write there is always room for a variety of opinion on every subject. Good. The recognising of such fact is helpful in the journey through life. Stowed away in inaccessible areas in the midst of the great desserts of this part of the world are many associations of men who spen lives far removed from the busy haunts of their fellows, supposed to be devoting their lives to contemplation. It is such as they who in ages past have constructed out of the stars the constelations. There is much other work of a like kind which is to their credit. The human intelect when crimped cabined and confined must find outlet for its activities in some field of thought, it can not be kept from acting by all the rules that have been made for the guidance of cloister or convent. Ones thoughts are his personal property, and of them none can rob him. Of their nature or purpot none can know unless the thinker vouchasafes to pronounce words which tells them to some listener.
Bertie got out of his depth and his element in the military work, while his cocksuredness led him to believe that he was perfectly able for it. The game is much different from the running of a place like the P. A. Hospital [Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney]. However he will get over it. I have seen but little of the evidence yet.
The two copies of the S. M. H. [The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper] reached me safely, in one of them was the dramatic utterance of the fewtive Ber-

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tie. Some of the witnesses were not as enthusiastic about Bertie as he was about himself. All is well that ends well.
I attended to the enquiries that came from Roger Arnott about his brother.
I am hopeful that you have let the rooms, when so many enquiries were being made there must have been chance for some one to suit them.
I hope Kelty will not be so silly as to leave Sydney; those who stay at home are just as necessary as those who are coming away.

Joseph dear: Your earlier letter bers date 17.7.15. for it much thanks. It was sad that Haemish Paton had to turn back at Fremantle. His father told me of it in his Letter just received. Noel came on all right I opine.
Mrs Waller knows all about letting houses and rooms, she has been at the game for a long time.
Glad Ma. Bert liked my letter. She did not keep my Buddie long. Why so?
My cook now often gives me a rice pudding, a good one too, with jam and milk from Switzerland no better food can be found for me. The jam is the best I have ever tasted, and the milk makes me say, God bless the cows of the Bernese Alps every day.
Hardly enough sun gets into the garden at 219 for the Poinsettia trees. The flowering time is very fine, and the leaves make a show of the highest class. M. Chayet can tell you lots about them, because they grow to perfection in Madagascar.
Clever and good Tabby to keep a fire to warm Joey Tabby & Maria.
Father King left for England during the week some other Australian priest has taken his place. When the priest comes here to say mass, I always serve and look after him. We have had a Padre Richards lately, he is too much occupied with his pipe to have leisure to look after the spiritual requirements of the individual Roman, he is all right in the church, where all is arranged for him, and there are no personal tasks to develop. I have heard nothing of Padre McAuliffe since he left Mena.
My love to the Watt children. Say something wicked, the light has gone out in my office. Shall I send some one to wake the nigger that he may light it?

4.9.15. Did not wake the nigger but went to bed instead. To resume reply to your letter dear. Pat Watt will know long ere this that her letter found me all right. Kiss her for me.
How gay of Jimmy to take you to see the Marriage Market. Good boy. How is his wife?
Enclosed you will find post cards indicative of the types of Arab women, mostly of the humbler classes. Thos in Egypt who are highly place dress much more elaborately, and have the appearance of not being affraid of water; one

[Father Joseph Edward King, chaplain, embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 13 April 1915. He returned to Australia with wounded soldiers and was discharged from the Army on 3 February 1916.]

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gets an occasional glimpse of them as they pass by in carriage or motor.
How lovely the bowl of wattle must have looked, that you brought from Cronulla as a trophy to the motor drive, Mrs Parsons took you. She was kind to you.
Fancy wounded men in Australia when you were passing along George Street. I fear me that you will have plenty more during the coming months.
Yes many of the men who arrived went through my hospital. I received a letter from one who lives at Summer Hill, he found a newly arrived daughter ready to greet him. There are none braver than the medical men and the priests. God bless them.
Many thanks for the copies of the S.M. H. and other papers. Sir John See was very fond of Jim. I hope that both of the boys will have good fortune wait upon them.
If you see Mrs Meeks please convey my best wishes to her. The letter from Mr; Bridge came all correct. I shall write again some day.
That Cohen man is a rotter, I hope that you will make him pay.

Your other letter from 21 to 27.7.15.
Glad that the Tewkesbury dredging Coy is paying so well, the money will be an unexpected addition to your income. Good.
Glad to learn that in Australia some one thinks that I am doing good work here, any how I was given a position where every one else had failed to run the show, and not one bit of trouble has happened since I came to command; it may be that the chiefs value at a correct figure my labours, any how my best efforts are put forth to do the best for the patients and to lend a hand to make the whole show run smoothly. Many different duties go to make up the whole show.
Wish some of you were coming to Egypt, but I see no prospect of so great pleasure at this moment. Perhaps some day. Who can tell? Would any one have thought this time in 1914 that in Septbr. 1915 I should be writing to you from Cairo? Not one.
A long walk round Bellevue Hill, but in cool weather a most enjoyable one. Desireable sites every where for residences. You had a very good stand for the stall on Australia day. Hope that you did well?
Tell Maria to beware of Nuts? Silly girl to chance them once more. An experiment probably to find if she were growing more resistant to them. Not so.
How good of Mrs Franki to think of us and make the covers for the milk jugs, just the thing I am wanting at the moment, when they come they will be made use of, it is said by residents that Septbr. & October are the worst months for flies. My regards to all the Frankies. My love to the Adams girls. How is the poetess?

Kitty dear: Very sorry dear to learn that you had been troubled with [so]

["Australia Day", 30 July 1915, was a national fundraising day " an offering of gratitude – a pouring out of love from our hearts, and of money from our pockets, money to provide comforts and nursing assistance for those who have fought so valiantly" (Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 31 July 1915). Over £339,000 ($678,000) was raised in NSW alone on the day, with that total expected to rise to over £400,000 ($800,000). (Source: Sydney Morning Herald via Trove, Australian Archives Online.]

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[so]me affection of a leg, hope that you are quite well now my dear. You wrote from Shanakiel, Cessnock, the home of Dr Fisher. It was very good of the doctor and his wife to be your entertainers, but I am sure that you made yourself welcome. My Kitty is loved every where she goes. My regards to Marguerite, of Santos, when you write. She must be developing into a big stately woman. My, how splendidly she sat up, having the reputation of the women of Santos in her keeping. Of the best.

Every Balkan State is affraid to side against Germany just now, so would any crowd be, in view of the manner in which the Russian Bear has been so soundly whipped. We all hoped that the Russian numbers would prevail against the Teuton hordes. We have been sadly deceived. Yet the Russian has never been any class when opposed to the troops of a civilised power, and he still keeps his reputation in this regard. Bad luck to him for his failure, it will cost our own people and our side very much in blood and treasure. We must fight on to defend ourselves and keep a fitting place in the sun. When the rearrangement is made it will never do for us to be any where but in the front seat, but Bill is powerful and strong, and his armies will give much trouble during the approaching months. Let us pray for the best.
Dr Fisher and his colleagues on the Maitland coal fields must be making lots of money these times. If a man attends to his work and does it conscientiously, he will find none more loyal or more forgiving than the coal miner and his family. I know them well and they shall always have my regard, because they were always kind to me.

Father King, from Melbourne, not the St. Benedicts man, partook of tea with me tonight. He is a conscientious man who desires to help the boys here in every way, he is to come in the morning and say mass here, it will be well attended because he stayed the afternoon visiting every patient, and conversing with those of the Roman belief. He is the most ardent priest that I have met in Egypt. I got Mrs Knowles to give him a paragraph in the Advocate, which is the Catholic newspaper in Victoria.

Men are still being poured from here to Galipoli. To day Colonel Paton with the 7th. brigade broke camp and went away. Many of them will never see home, but under the circumstances that cannot be helped. What a terrible price in men and material we are paying for the right to occupy first place in the economy of the world, political social and commercial, but we must continue till we have won through. It is a great price to pay.

Good night: [A line of Xs and Os] Tabbie Dear.
Good night: [A line of Xs and Os] Joseph.
Good night: [A line of Xs and Os] kathleen dea[r]

[Dr Walter Fisher, Government Medical Officer, Cessnock, NSW. (Source: Sands Directories: Sydney and New South Wales, Australia, 1858-1933.)]

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5.9.15. Sunday. Good night my dears. God bless you.
I cannot add more before sending the envelope to the post, but a post script may follow if there be aught of interest or of business that will relate to you or your affairs.

I have an appointment with General Ford at 10 a.m. tomorrow or rather to day, because the hands of the clock have reached beyond midnight.

Good night my dears. May the goddess Fortune keep deep in love with each of you, and may all that you desire be with you.

Good night. Good night. Good night.
Heaps of love and loads of kisses for each of you.
To all my friends my best wishes and kind regards.
I am
Your loving and affectionate father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
2ic [219] Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales.

[Page 537]

[Envelope]

[On His Majesty’s Service]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

Franked
John B Nash L Col
Cairo. 7.9.15.
[Australian Imperial Force]

[Page 538]

[Reverse of the envelope on the previous page.]

[Page 539]

C/o D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
8. 9. 15.

My dear Girls:

To day there came to me letters which you wrote in Sydney at the begining of August, they bring your communications to the 4th; of the month. They were full of interesting matter and bring the date afforded to me much pleasure in the reading. Many thanks for them. My first duty is to reply.
No letter from my Kitty, she was too busy with Mrs Fisher, enjoying herself. Well I forgive her.

Tabbie dear/: Please see that Joe consults some one about the cold which has been hanging on to her for so long. Do not neglect. In a former letter I wrote about it, this is a reminder, it is better to take these things in time.

Fancy Kitty away for none weeks, a long holiday, but she does not have one often. I wish that the money was available to bring her to this side of the world for a trip, it would give her a chance to expand her line of vision in regard to the objects mundane, she already takes an intelligent and expansive grasp of much that is happening, I miss her letter, but shall hope for one during the coming week, it may be that it has only been delayed and that it will be picked up some where tomorrow. J’espere? She is sure to have written but the envelope might have been late for the post. If it comes before this is sent to the post answer will be included.

A truly wonderful result was made in Australia on the twenty four hours set apart for the collection. Wonderful for so small a population. You must have all worked very hard. The reward was worth it. Good!; Very good!!!; Very good!!!!.
You had a strenuous day, with the visitors and the helping Lady Maitland.
I had a letter from Mrs. Franki a few days ago, it must be replied to without delay. Sorry to learn that the dear old girl was in bed, how she must have thought of the 31st. July, the excitement of it and she not in it. I can easily imagine. Please tell her so?

Your stall must have been a very crowded corner. It was the least the Australian Club could do, to give to you workers tea in the afternoon. I should have felt angry had they not done so. A man who got through the French and Galipoli fighting with a slight wound in his leg had good fortune.
You should go to be when Joey says that she is "wary".
The sox have not yet reached me, I am on the look out for them. They will be just what I

[Page 540]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

require, only this morning I said to myself: Well I must buy for myself some more sox. I shall wait to see what those from Joe are like.
Did not know that Maria played patience except upon the piano. My regards to her.
Glad to read such favourable reports in regard to the Moxham baby; Yes a decided improvement upon the poodle.

Haemish had real bad luck. Sorry. Blackheath agrees with him best. It is wonder they have not all been poisoned long ago. Bob had the time of his life when he and I were batchelors together, I fancy Mrs must have been angry beyond measure at our rude extravagance, though she never said anything to me about it. Ask Bob if he now eats mutton birds? Do not forget. He will remember how he intended the treat for me. We just survived but he may have been repeating the dose.

Good girl Tabbie dear to go to bed when Joey called. Eh Joseph dear?. It is a pity that you have not yet got a tenneant, fortune will smile at the most unexpected moment, keep hoping. My regards to our little Dickey bird when you meet him.
Joe’s smile greeted me out of the Anderson photograph, she put on her best for the occasion. The old man has started late in life at the popular form of dissipation, and I hope that he enjoys the game. Please convey to him; to Mrs Anderson and Nellie my best wishes.

Is the second photo really you Tabbie dear? I had to look a long time before being sure. What has happened to you that has changed you so much. Is it the hat? Are you not caring for yourself sufficiently in the way of food & rest I must ask Joe because you might not tell me. Joe is not as robust as she should be. Please take care of yourselves, there is no necessity to go short, at the very worst the £10 per week will find you in plenty of food and raiment, and that will continue till I return.
I found no reason from the papers why the crowd at the Stadium would not listen to Holman. You do not suggest any. The patrons of the place owe much to Mr Holman, as under another premier the place might easily have been closed long since.

Joseph dear: Your smile greeted me dear the moment the envelope was opened. My Joe!. My Joe!!. My Joe!!!!!. The picture of Tabbie can hardly be a true representation, because it took me some time to conclude that it was MY Tabbie. What has changed her so much? Please tell me in the reply to this. I have almost mind to cable to you about it, but the words required would be numerous enough to fit only a case of necessity, and the case is not severe enough for that.
A letter reached me from Buddie yesterday, it came by the same steamer as yours but for some reason found me one day earlier. She should feel the cold in her new home, fearing that she [mi]

[Page 541]

[mi]ght have chilblains on her hands and feet I sent her directions how to treat them I hope that M. M. Bertrand is long ere this in good health again, she is a dear to take so kindly an interest in me, but we have been friends for so many years that she has a sort of proprietary interest in me. Good. Good. Tell her not to worry about me, with God’s help I shall pull through all right.

Many thanks for the papers dear, Jerom and I looked through them while I was taking tea, he read several of the special parts. Each of us was wondering why the Stadium crowd treated Mr Holman so badly, as we expected quite the other kind of a reception for him from such an audience. It was [t]he night that Darcy beat Mcgoorty. Good for the former bad for the latter, the victory ought to stamp the man from Maitland as of the first rank in the fighting ring. When I saw the American last he was in the first rank. It is to be hoped that Darcy will not be spoiled by popularity. Few men can stand it.

"The Mirror" has not come, it may do so later. Why should Jack Meyers start a paper, it is usually more profitable to work for another man who publishes a paper than to be a proprietor of one in the early stages, it is quite another matter when one has been established for years. It would be hard to find a more profitable business than the S.M. Herald [Sydney Morning Herald] or the D. Telegraph [Daily Telegraph], or even one of the other old papers.
In these days of depression it is hard to get tennants, however keep struggling. Mrs Fisher and Kitty must be good friends. Who could be other with our Kittens? Good Tabbie to do such neat work. The Moxham baby wil be well covered with her piece of work. Good; Good girl. Clever girl. Sox not yet here.

I hope that the Hughes and the See boys will do well at the war. Why have they come to another part of the Empire than their own to join the forces? I do not understand. Is the company of their own people not good enough. Or what?
I sent reply to Mr Roger Arnotts enquiries at once. There was no delay. Colonel Arnott was twice slightly wounded, but on neither occasion was he so seriously injured as to have to leave the peninsula, if he were wounded a third time I have not heard about it.

I must write to Mr Holman. He did not reply to my former letters.
The great strength of the German at the present moment consists in the possession of plenty of educated officers and noncommissioned officers, these are the brain and the back bone of every army and that which has the best of both is almost sure to win, no other European nation has a supply at the moment comparable to the Teuton, for the reason that his leaders alone amongst men have devoted enough years to preparing for the gigantic struggle that is now with us. The Russians have shown themselves to be the best runners of all time, champions easily.

[On Saturday 31 July 1915, William Arthur Holman (1871-1934), Premier of New South Wales, and Charles Gregory Wade (later Sir Charles; 1863-1922), Leader of the Opposition, attempted to speak in support of the recruiting campaign in front of a large crowd gathered at the Sydney Stadium to watch a boxing match between Les Darcy and Eddie Mcgoorty. While wounded returned soldiers received a good reception from the crowd Messrs Holman and Wade were "howled down by a section of the crowd" and "counted out. They left the ring without delivering their message. (Source, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 August 1915, 2 August 1915.)

James Leslie (Les) Darcy (1895-1917), born in Maitland, NSW, was a very successful boxer who lost only four professional fights and was never knocked out. He was seen as something of an example to young men and came under some pressure to enlist, but left Australia just prior to the (failed) 1916 conscription referendum to pursue his boxing career in the US. He died there in 1917 of pneumonia following septicaemia and endocarditis. After large funeral processions in San Francisco and Sydney, he was buried at East Maitland. (Source: Australian Dictionary of National Biography.)

Jack Michael Myers published The Mirror of Australia newspaper between 30 July 1915 and 19 May 1917, when it merged with the Globe and Sunday Times War Pictorial (1914-1917) to become the Mirror (Sydney; 1917-1919).]

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You saw for yourself what a nation of soldiers were made up by Johnny Smith and the rest of the men, backed up by the women all the time, only the blind were uninformed in this regard.
My regards to the Regans when you see them. Old Anderson is a dear chap. My regards to him when next you see him, also to Nellie. Her son is growing a fine specimen.
Why should there be epidemic diseases about Sydney? Major Purdy (Health officer to the city Council of Sydney) was with me to day when I opened your letter, he had not heard of the epidemics. He did not understand the business. I asked him how it was that the people in the Egyptian villages managed to live, in view of the filthy surroundings midst which each lived during the whole of life, you can not conceive the degree of dirt that is in their residences and every where round about, yet for thousands of years have they been here, and now the population is rapidly increasing. I do not know what is the death rate in these villages. In Cairo half the children born are said to be dead by the time the fifth year is reached. How any one of them survives for so long is to me a mystery. If there were with us so much neglect of the simplest, and of all sanitary laws, the place would be a hot bed of disease, and epidemics would be rife, here there has not been a great epidemic for a long time.

I must write to Mr Hurley some day, though I fancy that he has not answered my earlier letter. My regards if you see him, also to his family.
Poor old Keohan, he made of lifes journey a burthen to himself and others, I noticed before leaving home that he was not keeping well, but I hoped that his grievances would keep him alive. R. I. P. Hope that your letter of condolence included my sympathy.

How fascinating Maria must look in her new hat, in these hard times a new head covering must be a luxury, set the fashion of wearing a shawl, black for preference, which is the commonest of the customs here, and very becoming it often is, the head beneath it is given a distinguished style when the edge is artistically arranged and well carried. Try it. Set the vogue. It will rapidly catch on in Sydney.
Please answer the invitation to the eight hours dinner for October, and say that though I am far away I wish them all good fortune. People are kind to ask about the old man. Thank them please.

The summer here has been by no means trying. Dr Schuber said this evening that we may expect some severe heat during the end of September. Schuber belongs to Riga, his brothers and others live there and own considerable property, he expects that they have all gone Eastward to Moscow or elsewhere. German Bill will likely bee master over the city before long, it is hardly likely that the Russians will stop from running so soon.
The flies have

[Page 543]

[been] wors at Blackheath than they have been so far at Abbayssia [Abbassia], a suburb of Cairo where I sit writing this letter, there are little black wretches, size of the ordinary house fly, which is persisten in the attcks he makes upon ones face, but he is not very numerous, is susceptible to insect powder and hates fly whisps. We are told that the beasts are very troublesome on the Galipoli peninsula, I hope the accounts about him are exaggerated.
I have never been in finer fettle, fit for any thing that may come my way. I hope that your cold has gone, if not please have it attended to at once. Tabbie must see to it that you do not neglect your self.
I hope that the Bridges and the Macdonalds will enjoy the trip round the islands, my regards to all of them. Judging from the style of the motor car fortune must be smiling upon Nellie Anderson, I wondered to whom it belonged before my eyes reached the termination of your letter.

Girls dears I must to bed, perchance to dream of you, or of the kind of luck that is with you at this moment if it be of the amount that I wish for you, then nothing will be wanting in your mede of happiness.

As I should hate to go back to Australia without having been to Galipoli I wrote to Surgeon General Ford and asked to be given something to do over there for a time. Yesterday I had an interview with Surgeons General Baptie and Ford, it was arranged that I should go, ford said that in recognition of my good work here I should have a position of high class on the field of battle. Good, I hope to have chance to do more good work there. It may be that my letters from there will be shorter and more irregular than they have been from here, if so you must forgive me, the desire will still be with me to have a chat with you and it will be gratified as often as possible.
Good night.
Tabbie. Good night [A line of Xs and Os]
Geordie. Good night [A line of Xs and Os]
Kittie. Good night [A line of Xs and Os]

10.9.15./: Several news papers came from Little Hyman to day, sent from the ordinary address in London, he is too busy to write therefore contents himself by wrapping up the papers. Strangely enough he sends copies of The Advocate, a Catholic paper which is published weekly in Melbourne.
Also there was a letter from Mrs Fraser. She reports herself and family as being in the best of spirits. The work for my hospital has been of great use to her because it brought her into contact with the people round about her. She has been given much praise for the way in which she has organised the ladies and placed them in the way of doing useful war work

I have written to Mr Walsh, at the library telling him that I

Lieutenant General Sir William Baptie VC KCB CMG had served as a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the South African War, where he was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was appointed Director of Medical Services for the British Indian Army in March 1914 and was responsible for medical provision on both the Mesopotamian and the Dardanelles campaigns. (Source: Wikipedia.)]

[Page 544]

desire that the illustrated papers should still be sent on to you on Saturday reminding him that I hope to be home some day and that I am still a member of the Legislative Council.

This afternoon I was looking at pictures of Zepplins and aeroplanes in one of the illustrated journals. Are they not bot truly wonderful? It is remarkable how the great baloons can set out from Europe, cross the North Sea, and return in safety to their home, having not only the elements of the air to contend against, but also those wonderful birds of prey the sea planes and land planes which are ever on the lookout for them with the purpose of rising into the atmosphere bent upon their destruction.
A new German air machine was figured which had engines marked at 150 horse power each, two of them forming the motive power for the one machine, the expanse of whose wings measure 100 feet. This said to be the largest of the class, and giving to the Teuton the command of the air, until the allies have invented some flier that wil have more speed and greater striking power, as also a capacity for staying aloft for more than six hours. How intrepid must be the men who give to these great birds their vitality? Heroes every one brave beyond measurement by the standards so far set, exceeding, not rivaling, in its swiftness, power, and duration, the greatest performance that any eagle ever possessed. The mastery of the air has been handed over from the birds to man. Given stability, the mastery will be complete. Mind you the bird has not absolute stability, he must be moving that he may keep afloat, but he can approach more nearly than is within the capacity of the man made machine. Every one expects that the difficulty will be overcome. The war has given a great fillip to flying by man, because of the dominance which it gives to the side whic can possess it to the highest degree. A great race it has been for superiority.
I must to bed good night, good night, good night.
[A line of Xs and Os]
Caggie Joseph Kitty

11.9.15. Saturday. A fairly busy day. Once again this evening have trains rolled into Cairo filled with wounded. A quota have come to my place. Hot from Anzac Cove and Sulva Bay. Each man looked the worse for ware [wear]. Some of them belong to Brigadier General Holmes brigade, having been ther but a few days. The men told me that when they left Holmes, Watson, Monash, Macglynn [McGlinn], and many others of my acquaintance were all right. I hope to see them soon. We here would much prefer the trains to be loaded with Turkish prisoners than with our wounded men. For two reasons: 1st. It would mean that the Allied troops were making prog[ress]

[The following line is crossed out in pencil and repeated on the next page. Not transcribed here.]

[Page 545]

[pro]gress; 2nd. It would indicate to the Egyptians and other Mahomedans that there was something to show for the fighting that our men are doing on the peninsula, a very desireable end to have in view, and, one which the military authorities appreciate at its full value and of which they would avail themselves, were it possible. We must possess our souls in patience.

In the maps published with the illustrated journals you will already have noted the position of Sulva Bay and the relation which it bears to Anzac Cove
I wrote to Mr Walsh at the Library to day telling him that I hoped that the journals still go to you on Saturday and that I desired that they should, reminding him that I am still a member of the Council.

Fancy Bennie Newmarch following in the place of Ramsay Smith and Barrett, attempting after they have been deposed to manage the great concern from which they were deposed. Alas Bennie it will not be long before his reign comes to an end, the whole business is beyond the capacity of such a pleasant but puerile man. Good fellow enough, but in capacity for big things sadly equipped. Let us hope that he may do better than might be expected.
The soldier lad, Newmarch, Jack, has been badly wounded, having been hit in the spine he has lately been at No 2 A.G.H., but he is to be removed to England tomorrow, so his father told me to night. Mrs N. is living at the Continental hotel in Cairo, but is to move to Heliopolis soon, she will then be close to the poodle. Good.

I was at the Basilica in Heliopolis to confession and purpose going to Communion tomorrow morning, or rather this morning, because the minute hand is over the yard arm, and another day has begun.

I am posting you to night a copy of an illustrated paper in which is much interesting news. it may be that you have not yet seen the number. goodnight. Good night. Good night;

13.9.15. 12.30 A. M.
A few words with which to close this letter that it may be ready for the post in the morning. Good night. May fortune of the best be with each of you now and always. My love goes forth to you in plenty, while the kisses are abundant as would fill many boxes.

[Signed:] John B Nash

The Misses Nash
21c [219] Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales.

P.S. I think that the Orsova will take this letter, she was advertised to be going South about the 13th of this month, but ’tis said that a submarine chased her when she was going West on her last journey, & the time is omitted now,

[Lieutenant, late Captain, John Heathcote Newmarch MC, son of Colonel Bernard James Newmarch, was among the first students of Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1911. At the outbreak of WWI he was appointed Lieutenant and embarked from Sydney on 18 October 1914 on HMAT A8 Argyllshire with the 3rd Battery, 1st Field Artillery Brigade. He served with distinction at Gallipoli where he was wounded in the back. He went on to fight in France, where he was awarded the Military Cross on 3 June 1916, and later served in WWII.]

[Pages 546-549]

[Pages 546-549 are a handwritten letter, written on the letterhead of H.M.A.S. Australia. The images are out of order and are transcribed here in the order in which they should be read.

The letter is from Engineer Lieutenant Clarence Walter Bridge, born in North Sydney on 18 January 1890, a career Naval Officer, who served on HMAS Australia during WW1. He went on to have a long career in the Navy, retiring in 1952.]

[H.M.A.S. Australia.]
G.P.O.
London

13th September 1915./

Dear Dr Nash,

Many a time when reading of the glorious work our Australian troops are doing at the Dardanelles, have I thought of you; and wondered, sir, if you were out there with our boys & if you were well & happy.

At all times we, on board, have been one big happy family & though there are occasions, when beating through the cold & waves of these seas, that one feels the awful monotony of one’s existence, yet these are well made up for by the excitement of the chase, and the ever present hope of a big engagement.

When we left Sydney on the 4th August 1914, we sailed with all speed for German New Guinea where we hoped to find the German Fleet under Admiral von Spee

[Page 2]
On our arrival we were disappointed in this and Sir George Patey, our Admiral, decided to annex the territory. The Germans were entrenched about five miles inland through the bush, & our objective was the wireless telegraph station which was their stronghold.

They had trained the niggers extremely well, & had stationed hundreds of them up the palm trees which lined the track from the landing stage to the wireless station. Along this route they had fixed white stakes driven into the ground at 50 yard intervals, so that as our troops passed the stakes the natives in the trees knew the accurate range. Thus nothing was left to chance or the natives’ own initiative. By this method of sniping we lost many men, amongst them two officers. of the officers was Dr Pockley, whom perhaps you knew sir, who was shot through the back by a sniper, as he was bending over & attending the wounds of a German settler.

After some days of this bush fighting

[Page 3]
the place capitulated & was annexed as British territory. It was now that our hard luck commenced. We wished to set off in pursuit of the German ships straight away, but instead were ordered to proceed to Samoa & take that island as well.
This operation lasted several days & by that time our foe was far afield. We sailed for many thousand miles through the islands of the Pacific our journeyings taking us many times to Suva, to the Hebrides, to Samoa, to New Britain & amongst all the islands round about.

At last our information gave us their movements. They had sailed right east. We pursued them to the Gulf of Panama hoping to cut them off if they attempted the passage of the canal. At Panama we were joined by an Japanese Fleet & once more the quest began. Then the news came to us of the sinking of the "Good Hope" & "Monmouth" off Coronel, & we rushed at full speed down the coast of South America. But alas

[Page 4]
we were too late for when we arrived at Valparaiso we heard that they had been sunk at the Falkland Islands. We were bitterly disappointed, sir, at being robbed of our prey after our months of pursuit, during which time we had travelled many thousands of miles.

Passing on our way through the Straits of Magellan & up the East Coast, we came across one of their liners off Buenos Ares, loaded with supplies which were being taken to the fleet which had just been destroyed.

We sank her by gunfire & it is one of the most dramatic sights I have ever seen. She sank slowly by the stern under our fire & in a few minutes one of the most beautiful ships one could see was beneath the waves. This, sir, is a short resume of our work during the earlier months of the war, & we all on board hope for glorious times to come when we can face the foe in all their might. Hoping that you are well & may good fortune go always with you
Your fond friend
Clarrie Bridge

[Vice Admiral Reichsgraf Maximilian von Spee (June 1861 – December 1914).

Admiral Sir George Edwin Patey KCMG KCVO (1859-1935), a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, was the first commander of the Australian naval fleet, from 1913 to 1915, and was in charge of naval operations during the seizure of German New Guinea.

Captain Brian (or Brien) Colden Antill Pockley, AAMC, medical practitioner of Wahroonga, NSW, was born in 1890 and embarked with the Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force on 19 August 1914. He was mentioned in despatches, and died of wounds received in action at Kabakaul, New Britain, on 11 September 1914.]

[Page 547]

[For transcription, see page 546.]

[Page 548]

[For transcription, see page 546.]

[Page 549]

[For transcription, see page 546.]

[Page 550]

[Envelope]

[On His Majesty’s Service.]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

Franked
J B Nash L Col
[Australian Imperial Force]
Cairo 6-9-15

[Page 551]

[Reverse of the envelope on page 550.]

[Page 552]

C/o D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
18.9.15

My dear Girls:

How the time speeds by! More than half of the September month has gone, and I am still in Egypt, and at this same barrack hospital, with my ever flowing in and out of a stream of patients, to night there are 600 sleeping in the wards or the tents, far too many of course. I have been daily expecting orders to move on and still do so, they may come at any moment then Jerom and I shall be on the move again.
He has been keeping very well of late, growing too fat, and appearing to be as happy as a youngster. He has not yet ceased to speak of the letter which you Carrie dear were so good as to write to him, he sent reply by the last mail, which was probably the one to be carried by the Orsova Southwards. The Orient coy advertises daily in a paper named the Egyptian Gazette, but the sailing dates are not now advertised near to the day of passing any one spot, because it is said that the German submarines might sink her, and of these if reports be correct there are some in the Mediterranean Sea, there was announcment during the week that two French ships had been sunk by them.
I gave into the charge of T. Cook and sons [Thomas Cook and Sons] a box with your address upon it. The contents are of no commercial value being simply stones of various kinds from the country around Abbassia. Keep the Alabaster and the petrified wood for yourselves, and to distribute mongst your friends and mine as you may select, with my compliments and yours. The alabaster to my mind is best in the rough state serving to remind one of the historic land from whence it is sent; the stone wood speaks to one of by gone age when it was as are the ordinary trees are now, there is much of it scattered through the dessert, in some places being aggregated into so called forrests. One large specimen looks like a piece of wood which had been cut with some instrument, a not too well sharpened axe, this and the other stones that you do not require are for Prof David as are also the other specimens with the ringed and other markings, look at them for a few minutes and you will note how strange they look. Father Vrigille, the Jesuit told me this afternoon that the larger specimen was representative of the palm trees of long ago. Ask the Prof. if he thinks like wise? The sand is for the Prof. too. I may send another small box during the week to the Minister for mines for the Government museum. Prof David in his letter to me asked for the sand and intimated that he had no stone

[Page 553]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

from this part of the world, at the University, beyond a few that a French man had given him, and they were from the canal. I hope that he will be pleased with those sent through you. I have written to him advising him of the dispatch of the parcel.

The war still goes merrily on, the Russians running as rapidly as of yore and telegraphing to the newspapers like silly stories. For example, for some weeks we have been daily told that the running away of the Bear was a great strategic piece of work and that it was designed to trap the German armies and destroy in manner similar to the method adopted by the same people gainst Napoleon I. Yet to day we have wires coming through aclaiming loudly that the Russia armies in the South of the Eastern front are defeating the Austrians and taking thousands of prisoners. Taken altogether the impression is created that those responsible for the wires are playing fast and loose with the public, treating them in the same manner as has been so common day by day in the war, the highly placed authors believing that the public exist to be deceived by those of high degree and in high station, but in these times when every one, practically, in our Empire can read and write, and dares to think the game is a risky one. Of late I have wished to be at home for a few hours that I might tell Jack Fitzgerald across the floor of the L. Council [Legislative Council] what I think of his statements anent the subject brought forward by Sir. Allen Taylor, I would with much pleasure recommend him to consult an occulist to gain information as to whether he is blind or not. He said that he could not see loafers about. Well he who can honestly make such a statement must indeed be blind.
You will have noted that Lloyd George has declared for Conscription. Driven to it by the fact that those concerned will not put forth every ounce of the energy which God has given them to help defend the country by producing what is required. Is it not sad to think that at any moment, much less the present one, there exists mongst reasonable people the idea that work should not be performed by every man to the highest of his power? For what else can a person be sent into the world, than to do his full share of the labour that awaits his energies? And now there are apparently those who will not recognise that our fight is not against a people but for our existance as a nation in the world, against the greatest military organisation that has existed through all time. It makes me sad to think that any one can be so debased as not always, let alone now, to recognise that it is his duty to do his best. However the existing state of affairs bids fair to land us in an inextricable mess, which will leave many countries broken in finance and lowered in prestige mongst the nations. Just think

[John Daniel (Jack) Fitzgerald (1862-1922), journalist, barrister and socialist politician. He was appointed to the NSW Legislative Council in 1915 and was vice-president of the Executive Council until 1919. He supported conscription and as a result was expelled from the Labor Party in 1916, but served in the Holman Nationalist Party government in NSW, becoming minister for public health and for local government in the same year.

Sir Allen Arthur Taylor (1864-1940), business man and conservative politician, was appointed for life to the NSW Legislative Council in 1912. Following reform of that body in 1933, he was elected for a six-year term, and re-elected in 1940.]

[Page 554]

how those of the same way of thinking as our little friend Hyman, would have grown angry, if some years back one had ventured to assert that there would come a time when financial experts would have necessity to cross the Atlantic ocean with cap in hand to ask the magnates in the U.S.A. for accommodation in money to tide the British Empire and France over the present difficulties. I might have become somewhat enthusiastic my self in denying that such an event was possible, or any how unlikely, between the two powers indicated and the Western or any other Union. However you and I have lived to see it done, and no censor can stop us thinking as we may upon the event. By jove it may be more epoch making than we wot of.
Daily we are expecting here to have word of the fall of Riga. Should this happen Russia will be in sorry plight, because the port is the only one of importance on the Baltic sea, even it is closed during some time of the year by ice. Dr Schuber told me that all sorts of devices are used to break the ice and to keep passages for the ships through the waters. One hates to write about these matters, but they are of the moment and they obtrude themselves on to one’s mental vision.

Tabbie dear: There was delivered to me three days ago a letter which you wrote on the 27th. July, it has been travelling round Egypt for three weeks. The address was perfectly clear. I asked the D.M.S. office about it this morning and afterwards at the military post office, because there is no excuse at this stage for such a happening, I shall pursue the matter further, but the end will bring to me no satisfactory explanation. A registered letter came into my hands to day, which is sixteen days late, it has been in Cairo since the 30th. of August, and came from Mr. Estell, Minister for Labour and Industry. When asking about this at the Military Post Office it was apparent that the chief of the establishment is not fully conversant with the business. He talks too much.
Yet Jerom has had worse fortune than mine. His people wrote letters put the correct address upon the envelope, posted them, the result being that they were put into the dead letter office and returned to the sender without apparent rhyme or reason. Inefficiency of the grossest order. I must send the envelope of Jerom’s letter to the P.M.General.

Shall complete the answering of your letter tomorrow, which will be Sunday, now I must be off to bed, because the Sunday has already come the hour of midnight having long since passed. Good night. Good night. Good night.
Caggie. [Followed by a line of Os and Xs.]
Joseph. [Followed by a line of Os and Xs.]
Kitty. [Followed by a line of Os and Xs.]

Glad that Maria likes the noughts and crosses placed in this manner in my letter. To please her I shall insert a whole line for her, but now I find the paper will not stay in the machine for the purpose. Good night.
[This last line is handwritten.]

[John Estell (1861-1928), coal miner and Labor politician born in Minmi, NSW, served on the NSW Legislative Council from 1899 to 1901, when he resigned, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly, where he served until 1922 when he resigned and was re-appointed to the Legislative Council. He was a strong anti-conscriptionist, resigning his portfolios as minister for labour and industry and secretary for mines in the NSW Holman government in 1916.]

[Page 555]

[The top of this page appears to have been torn off.]

still be struggling.

The sun now sets each night in Egypt as a red ball of fire betokening a hot day tomorrow, yet the weather is not at all unbearable, during the whole summer we have had but one hot wind which lasted only one day, it was a real scorcher burning to the bone, but it was possible to rest till it blew away. Often the afternoons have been scorching, but it is the custom to rest here for some hours during each day, this period gets one from the morning to the evening and thus the day is adjusted in accord with the necessities of the climate. White men could not work during the hot weather in the open air, there fore it has been decreed by God that those who are to live and work here permanently must become black, this colour protecting the blood from being injured by the rays of the sun.
Tell Maria that it is a long long way to Australia from Germany and that her fiver will be all right for some months, the intervening water is a difficulty against which it may not be possible for Bill and his merry men to grapple; Cheer up Maria. How can she be fatter, but it is one of the marvels of humanity how a skin adapts itself to what is demanded of it. Yet tell Maria that the Egyptians are like the Chinese great admirers of the adipose especially in their women kind and every one knows that ther be none in the world who know what is best in this regard. Now therefore it is best of all to be fat. Q. E. D.
In regard to dieing, like others it might be the case with Maria that she will be a long time dead. Tell her to live on the memory of the past when she used to go to David Jones or to Farmers to help her mother to spen hundreds of £s during one afternoon; alas we were all young once and many of us thouht ourselves to be rich, they were halcyon days therefore let us make the best of them in the only way one can. Be of good cheer Maria, be of good cheer every other girl envies you your rotundity, none admits it but the envy exists all the same. Look at the smile on the face of Joseph as she reads this, even my Kitty may possess the semblance of a titter at the gorners of her mouth, watch her.

Dear old Ma Bertrand I am glad she thinks well of you and me she has known all of us for a long time. The opinion of those whom it is most desireable to have good is they who have known one the longest. Think you not so? Thus have I thought for many years. I subscribe to

[Page 556]

the dictum: "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, Clasp them to thy breast with hoops of steel".
Glad to learn that M.M. Thomas was pleased with my letter.

To my mind the Referendum proposals are a great mistake which will first of all, if carried, place the states in such a servile condition that the yoke will in time become unbearable, then there will be a revolution which will destroy the Federation, people will not submit to be ruled by a beaurocracy, nothing is worse in the form of government than to have the ruling power in the hands of a few civil servants, and if the referendum proposals as now presented to the Australian people were carried, disaster would rapidly come into view, and it may be that in the course of time a civil war would be required to rectify matters. If you think like me then it is you duty to vote every time against the extension of powers to the Federal Parliament. As the Senate and the Representatives are at present constituted nothing, in the way of a parliamentary body, could be more unsuitable for dealing with small matters, such as those compassed by the new proposals.

Bellvue Hill should be one of the most desireable places about Sydney to live, the sites are of the best and the prospects not to be improved upon. If we were sufficiently well off Point Piper would be the place where I should like to live, at least I think so. Earp’s house is on a site hardly to be improved upon. What does the Government propose to do with Cranbrook, when H. E. moves to his new home?

I was wondering why the photo of Buddie was so short, and the explanation lies, in the letter which I am answering, which, by the way, is four weeks late. Fancy cutting my Buddie in half because the beads were not right, none here could have known the correct from the incorrect, oh, on looking at the letter more closely I note that it is her hands that should have been under her scapular to make her pose strictly Dominican, well it will be best when she has her photograph taken next to remember, even in a conventual order it takes time to master the details of the rules under which the institution, and where wisdom has prevailed each rule should have some sound reason behind it to justify its existance, and I doubt if rules could last for any length of time if they have not the backing to be found of such kind. Poor Buddie to be so bound. Yet why say poor, it may be that she has chosen the better part, and in the end may be the most happy. J’espere.

The tidt [tidy] which Buddie sent to me is hanging in my room, it helps to keep things in their proper places. I am much obliged to her. Kiss her for me when you see her again.
If there [are] Pointiana [Poinciana] trees about Sydney

[Page 557]

it is strange that there is not a picture of them upon the remembering tablets of my mind, they must come in after the Jakarandas [Jacarandas], and it is stranger still that I did not remark upon the sequence of the flowering. Here the Mhor trees are grown extensively as garden and street features. Pointiana Regia or Golden Mhor Tree.
I should have remembered that the name was Arthur Usher. I have often enough heard the boys about town call him by his christian name.
I did not know that Colone House from Orange had been sick. I must make enquiries.

There is nothin in you four girls that pleases me more, and I presume that others make the same observation, than the way in which each of you shows consideration for the other three, both in public and in private, your doing so has contributed much to the happiness of my life, and has given me good reason for admiring you on many occasions when you little thought that I was looking or listening. Such a disposition towards one another by sisters is twice blessed, it blesses themselves and blesses those to whom it sets good example. God will bless you for it and give to you ample reward. It is horrid to listen to children of one family who are impolite to one another, and if they be so in public, how much more so must they be in private.

This is Sunday morning. When I was at the Basilica, in Heliopolis, 9.30 Mass, I noticed Mrs. Jack Paton there and a lady with her. When mass was ended we met on the verandah, and Mrs P. introduced me to the younger lady. I did not recognise that she was formerly Miss Lane-Mullins. She is now wife to Bert Norris. Looks very well and is staying at Heliopolis The husband of the former has gone forward some where, but where he pertaining to the latter may be I do not know, I did not have chance to ask this morning.

Three men who have just come from hospital tell of the torpedoeing of a transport off the island of Lemnos, it appears that she was struck by a torpedo and badly injured but that she was able to steam into port. Colonel Linton of 21st or 23rd Battln. and some others were killed. I shall have further converse with them about it.

Good night my dears. God bless each of you. Heaps of love and loads of kisses from,
your loving and affectionate father
[Signed] John B Nash

[Two lines of Os and Xs]
Caggie
[Two lines of Os and Xs]
Joseph
[Two lines of Os and Xs]
Kathleen
[Two lines of £ signs]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Colonel Richard Linton, 54, merchant, embarked from Melbourne on 10 May 1915 on HMAT A38 Ulysses with HQ, 6th Infantry Brigade. he died at sea on 2 September 1915 and was buried at Mudros, Lemnos Island.]

[Page 558]

[Envelope]

[On His Majesty’s Service.]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

Franked
J B Nash L Col
[Australian Imperial Force]
Cairo 14-9-15

[Page 559]

C/o D. M. S.
Cairo
Egypt
28 Septbr 1915.

My dear Girls:

A letter was posted to you this morning with my benedictions that it may reach you in good time and bring to you happy thoughts about me. The enclosures too may amuse and instruct.

Two parcels & illustrated papers were addressed to Mollie.

This afternoon there came to me letters from you Joseph dear, two one dated 15.8.15 the other 17-8-15 the former written at Neutral Bay the latter at Macquarie Street, from Mr. Moroney, Dr Patar & MacNamara. How depressed friend Bob appears to be. His written words point that way to me. Are his spoken words indicative of the same condition? Sorry if he is commencing to take a gloomy view of life, such makes the game uncomfortable for oneself and those about him. MacNamara had not received the power of attorney, you must have it long ere this as the package was registered to you.
Word is to hand just now of the sinking of the Runic with much loss of life, we hope that it is not true.
Forgot above to mention a letter from Mrs Rouse, I sent her a set of pictures from Matarieh, on receipt she at once looked up the 2nd chapter of St Matthew, & as a consequence she was able to write a very interesting and intelligent letter in reply. She has ideas of the best, and writes and speaks well, her mind is filled with interesting records of Newcastle and New South Wales. Her teachers placed upon the remembering tablets of her young brain impressions of the highest class, they still dominate her thoughts, and always give cause to me for wondering who it was that should be given the credit for the good work. I like the old lady better every time I meet her.

[Page 560]

Joseph dear:/ You appear to have taken "Cooleen" under your charge during the absence of the heads of the house. Please give to the members of the family my best wishes and kindest regards, with hopes that the voyage around the islands has been pleasant and interesting.
Glad that you found my letters post cards & newspaper cuttings of interest. When Jerom obtains for me some further reproductions of the small photographs they will go forward to you. I have been thinking that one of the Old man in his working costume in the office might stand enlarging. As far as one can judge the work done in the photographers shops in Cairo is of a very poor class, the cameras must be the same as elsewhere, but those who use them have not the necessary standard of education in the perfecting of the pictures.
Jerom still talks to me about the letter from Tabbie. He has imagined himself sick for two days, & has placed himself on the list for a rest, this afternoon he is away somewhere, at Heliopolis or perhaps Cairo.
It is nearly time that the armies of the Allies should have success, personally I have but little hope for such being the case this year. The German Weight still imprints itself in large letters upon my brain. That picture of Bill and his sons issued by one of the illustrated papers before I left Australia was an indication of the high standard of training to which the people of the Empire had attained. It was wonderful. The reward for this efficiency is being reaped by Mackenson, Hindenburg and the other generals.
We have heard nothing from Galipoli for more than a week. General Ford told me last night that I was first on the list to move across there.
Col. Featherstone from Melbourne, P.M.O. for Australia called upon me yesterday, he looked round, but he did not say much. He does not know much about military matters. Ford

[Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen, born August Mackensen(1849-1945), was ennobled, becoming known as August von Mackensen, in 1899. A Prussian-German soldier he reached the rank of field marshal and was one of the German Empire’s most prominent military leaders in World War I.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Herbert Joseph Fetherston(1864-1943), obstetrician-gynaecologist, surgeon, academic and politician, served as a medical officer with the Victorian Militia from 1887. At the outbreak World War I he was appointed director-general of medical services, based in Melbourne. In 1915 he visited Egypt, Gallipoli and England to inspect and reorganise the Australian Army Medical Corps.]

[Page 561]

was asking me about him. If he represents the minds of the Commonwealth people, they have ideas about enlarging my hospital, on this score it is probable that the British authorities will have the last word. Most of the patients here now are from English regiments, about 400 out of 550. I must have a chat with Featherstone before he goes away.

Mrs Fraser sent to me a lot of material of the best. Two suits of the pyjamas are in my trunk, they will do me all right for a long time.

When you wrote the gardens in Neutral Bay must have been splendid, – wish I could just drop in to see you for a few hours –, while the promise for the crops in the country was of the very best. I hope that the result has been beyond the expectations of the most sanguine. Hurrah!
Sorry that the singeing iron went so near to burning Ivy, but where it was not applied dextrously to the skin with cauterising effect she suffered naught.

My regards to Mrs Suttor when you see her. She & her husband have been separated for a long time. I know nothing about them, because information of a personal nature in regard to people seldom reaches my ears, and never has. Why? Do not know unless it be that my life has always been fully occupied with work and study, and with the little episodes that have befallen me on lifes journey, not more perhaps than I deserved & certainly not greater than I have been able to carry. People have always been to me as considerate and kind as my desserts deserts warranted, therefore in regard to others their charity towards me deserves from me due recognition and gratitude. I fancy that there is far more real charity ’mongst the lowly and humble, than ’mongst the exalted & wealthy. It may of course that my mission in life has brought me more into contact with the former, certainly they are always ready and willing to help one another as far as lies in their power. It has give me cause for admiration many a time and oft by day & by night

[Major Harold Bruce Suttor, 34, wool broker of neutral bay, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 19 December 1914 on HMAT A31 Ajana with the 7th Light Horse Regiment.]

[Page 562]

You might have come attached to one of the hospitals. My best wishes to they who are good enough to enquire after me. My health is of the best, my spirits quite recovered, & I feel fit for any work that may come my way. Good think you not!

The boronia will perfume the rooms. Outside the native flowers will bring touch of the country to the city, August & September are the best months for the bush shrubs to bloom in the neighbourhood of Sydney.

To you heaps of love & loads of kisses.

What has happened to my Kitty? Midst the distractions of Cessnock has she quite forgotten me? My Kitty?

This letter has run into several pages, at the outset it was intended to be but a few lines in acknowledgment of your two letters, but a quiet cool evening, with but few interruptions has allowed me full scope to chat away to you, and it has been enjoyed. My lambs, "Nashs lambs" as they are called in Egypt, nearly 600 of them sleep peacefully in the wards, on the verandahas, neath the vents, dreaming of places and people scattered throughout the wide wide world. They have origin from all places around the globe from Newfoundland to The Bluff in New Zealand, Siberia even not being missed on the way.

Good night my dears. God bless each of you. To my Tabbie, Geordie, Buddie, and Kitty goes out of Egypt from me heaps of love and loads of kisses, & I do pray that Fortune of the best may be always with you while her eldest daughter may not pass your paths during the whole of long lifes journey.

You loving & affectionate father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St.
Sydney. N. S. Wales

[Page 563]

[Envelope]

[Majestic Hotel, Alexandrie (Egypte)]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia.

Franked
J. B. Nash L. Col.
Alexandria
10.10-15.

[Page 564]

[On letterhead of the Grand Majestic Hotel, Alexandria.]

4th Octbr 1915

My dear Girls:/

Here we are again in the city by the sea, aged about 2300 years. This world of ours moves round & we each play a little part in it.

On Saturday at 1 p.m. I handed over the command of my hospital to a Captain Bourke, threw off my responsibility after five months of strenuous endeavour to do good work. Did I? Well nous verrons!!!!! However here I am!

Tomorrow morning, in about five hours from bow you will receive a cable message telling you that Jerom & I are posted for Lemnos of which the port is Mudros, thence am I bound for Anzac, a new name that will last adown the ages. Alexandria is the first stage on our journey

Yesterday, Sunday morning I was at the Basilica Heliopolis and in accord with the arrangment made by Mollie I recieved Holy Communion. You did likewise some hours earlier at St Marys. Sunday was filled

[Captain, later Major, Isidore McWilliam Bourke, medical officer from Sydney, embarked from Newcastle, NSW, on 20 May 1915 on HMAT A41 Bakara with the 1st Australian General Hospital General Reinforcements.]

[Page 565]

with pack and in other ways preparing for our setting out, and with considerable industry all correspondence, accounts, books, &c were put in correct order. At 6 p.m. I went to the Convent of the Sisters of the African Mission at Zeitoun, to say good bye to them, thereafter I called at No. 4 Auxiliary Hospital to see the matron Sister Draper, she is Matron, but she was away somewhere. Sorry. Made all remaining ready by 1 a.m, on 4.9-15 and then to bed.

Up betimes, and at 9 o’clock this morning Jerome & I, with our belongings, stepped into the motor, the staff & the patients giving us many hearty cheers, the while wishing us good luck, and we headed for Cairo ry [railway] station. My business in the city occupied me till noon, & at this hour we were on board the train. Off she went heading for the North Western end of the delta of the Nile, and landed us at Alexandria about 4.30 p.m. A bath, a change, report at headquarters & here I am having a chat with you.

The mud of Egypt on either side of the ry line is as fruitful as ever, the crops of cotton and maize bespeak prosperity and food for the millions of men, women, children, and of nourishment for the camels, donkeys, buffaloes, other cattle, sheep,

[Page 566]

goats, and all other living creatures that in their myridas [myriads] live upon that soil which each year is renewed by the water of Old Nile, which brings it four thousand miles. Mirabile dictu! The water, of the great river, as it rushes this October under the bridges at Cairo is laden with mud, the residuum of that collected and not deposited at an earlier period on its course. Just think of it, how the stream creeping more & more up the banks on either side, flows rapidly onwards from the Abyssinian Mountains and the f. extensive lakes of Central Africa, to reach its objective in the Mediterranean Sea, in such manner as it has dome each year for more than six thousand of them, and the deposit is as rich today as at any earlier period. Wonderful Old Nile! Marvelous mud! The Nile is Egypt fruitful, all else is dessert. The water brings all that the living creatures desire and carries to the salt sea all that they reject. To take a last glimpse of it in the city of the Cairenes I crossed it twice during the morning, and the train rolled over it once on the way here. When shall I see it again?

General Ford told me this morning that I was the first senior officer, medical I presume he meant, to be sent across the Mediterranean from Egypt, and that I should feel highly honoured, but that it was a reward for work well performed during five months. I thanked him for the assistance he & his staff had

[Page 567]

always given to me, and that ’twould be my endeavour to do good work wherever I was. He hinted that I might be back in Egypt some day & that he would have other work for me to do. "Good bye & good fortune". "I thank you".

A sniff at the briny & a look at the sea was a great change from the surroundings of Cairo. Already I have walked along the sea front and looked out towards the [indecipherable] and the forts reared on every promontory, thos which in 1882 were bombarded by a British fleet.

After dinner Jerom and I will tour round making an excursion midst the sights, of this cosmopolitan town. The people here suggest at once a sea port, the mean whites, male & female, cross ones vision at every step, proclaiming the business floating population & the shipping business of their location. More of this anon.

An Australian woman, probably a nurse, & a young officer are seated on a lounge to my left front, each is smoking a cigarette, and sipping from a glass, no doubt both wish that I was in another room, that they might be the sole occupants of this one, which on the first floor is for working in. They will be pleased I must away as I have to report myself at the Hotel Metropole at 7 p.m., then to return here for an evening meal.

For the moment good bye. This will be posted tonight with some other material for you that it may catch the earliest mail for the South.

[Page 568]

A few days ago I had a letter from Mrs Bacon, of The Astor Macquarie St., telling me that she is coming to Cairo, and asking me for information. She thinks that she has two boys – sons – somewhere in these parts. She comes by the Maloja. I asked, by letter, Mrs Newmarch to meet her & look after her. I am sure that she will do so.

How long shall I be here?
8. p.m.: On looking through your envelope I see that the sheets for you taken together form a respectable letter, which I hope may be pleasing to you.

When my movements are decided upon I shall jot some more words down and send them after this.

Meanwhile I shall conclude by asking you to give to all my friends my best wishes & regards, & to accept for yourselves heaps of love & loads of kisses. From my Kitty no letter has come for a long time, perhaps midst the gaities of Cesnock she forgot all about a P. O. M. far away across the world. Naughty Kitty dear.

Your affectionate & loving father
John B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 569]

[Envelope]

[Majestic Hotel, Alexandrie (Egypte)]

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

Franked
J B. Nash L. Col
Alexandria
6-10-15

[Page 570]

[Reverse of the envelope on the previous page.]

[Page 571]

[On letterhead of the Majestic Hotel, Alexandria.]

6 Octbr. 1915

My dear Girls:/

Yesterday I arranged for our passages to Mudros and Anzac. We leave on Friday. All my heavy luggage will be stored with the Australian Military Head Quarters at Mustapha, Alexandria. You will know where to write about them in case of necessity. We take with us only our kit bags, and necessary articles.

How long I shall be in the region of the Aegean sea no one knows, but General Ford said that he did not expect me to be long away & that he had other important work for me

[Page 572]

to do. Time will reveal what it is.

I notice that Martin has had to go back to Lieut Col., he was appointed Colonel for the voyage on the Kyarra and he has kept it since. I fancy that he is not in good odour with Ford Maxwell and the rest, & it would not surprise me to learn that he will be travelling south before long. From my office at Abbassia General Ford rang Martin up a few days ago, and had a chat with him, during it he said "You have not attended to this", You have not completed this though I have been at you for more than three months to get it done". It may be that the conversation at the moment was for my benefit, because Ford promised to protect me from Martin if he attempted

[Page 573]

to report badly about me. He told me that my being sent to Anzac was a high compliment the reward for work well done under trying circumstances, that he would value highly being sent himself, and that he had some other work for me to do when I returned which would not be very long. I thanked him for the assistance he and his staff had always given to me.

Jerom & I had a pleasant trip from Cairo to Alexandria. He is having a day off ’mongst some soldier friends at Mustapha. He likes that best because he can smoke & do other things which he likes & which he does not care to do when he is with me. After dinner last night I took him for a long walk midst the streets & byeways of the city, he became very tired, finally I had to get a garry to bring him home. I am not sure that he feels enthusiastic about crossing the Mediterranean Sea. However he feels he will have to see the business through now.

In case anything happens to me you will find everything in good order. What ever befalls I shall be happy in the thought that midst ’mongst you girls there will be many a kind thought for a p. o. m. God bless you all. This is but a supplement to my earlier posted letter.

Many many happy days to each for many many more years
Heaps of love and loads of kisses from your loving & affectionate father
John B. Nash.

The Misses Nash
Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S Wales

[Page 574]

[This letter, pages 574 to 577, written on the letterhead of the Majestic Hotel, Alexandria, and headed pages 13 to 16, appears to be a fragment of a much longer letter, and with some pages out of order. Transcribed here in the order in which it should be read. The word "Girls" appears at the top of each page;]

[Page 13]
Did you ever know friend of mine to adopt that attitude when reading the newspaper. The lady is reading the morning edition, while her younger companion with her back towards me is deeply immersed in a volume. In how many ways one can be reminded of those far away. No typewriter handy, hence this pen has to do full work. It is a nib that slips with facility across the page and the hand that guides it loves the driving, or rather dragging of it.

You will find some enclosures that may interest you. Maggie did well to come out top in the Chemistry examination with a percentage of 87. Think you not so. Please congratulate her for me. She appears to have plenty of brains & to improve as she climbs upwards. Clever girl good luck to her

During two evenings, with a pal from Sydney, I do not know his name, he was Secty. to the Naval & Military Club in Phillip St, I wandered round the roads & lanes of the native quarter of Alexandria (9 p.m. to 11-30 pm). Why does not an epidemic of some kind sweep all the people away. The surface is not formed, except in the main thoroughfares where flags exist, the width is so narrow that no vehicle can pass along; the balonies [balconies] of the upper stories almost meet, the shops are but recesses in the walls, there is no drainage, the smell in many places is vile, the people sit round talking or praying, sipping coffee or other liquid smoking cigarettes. The narrow unpaved thoroughfare does duty in the day time as a vegetable market, the stalls are piled against the wall and in many places there is room for but a few persons to pass at one time. This is where in January last we saw the wonderful cabbages and cauliflowers about which I wrote to you. ’Memberest you? Why plague, typhus, typhoid, malignant scarlatina, meningitis, or the like does not destroy them all, is a conundrum? It may be that your Uncle Andys (R.I.P.)

[Page 14]
was the correct one, viz: "Where there is plenty of dirt the organisms of the place are antagonistic to & kill off those which produce disease in the human individual". There is more in this than one is inclined to admit.

In the letter from de Largil is enclosed two cuttings, the published writings of Springthorpe about the management of the Red Cross organisation in Egypt & the Mediterranean generally. I hope that Ramsay Smith & Barrett will fight their best, & badly beat Martin, Springthorpe, and the rest. The former two when compared with the latter pair are as holy Angels to Satan.

9-10-15. Met Austin Curtin last night. He is on the ship Kanowna and is leaving today or tomorrow for Australia. He has promised to call to see you that he may speak to you about me. I purpose lunching with him and others on board the ship today. He & his colleagues have been to England. He looks very well, but has aged a lot since I saw him last.

3 p.m. Have lunched on the Hospital Ship Kanowna. Besides Austin Curtin, Fluffie Viccars [Vickers], no longer Fluffie is on board, a Captain, looking as silly and as skin marked as ever, if not worse. The ship is not likely to leave for several days and mayhap a week. Dr. Hamilton of Adelaide, brother to the man with the awful wife, is a Major on board; he dines with me tomorrow night if I am still here. A nurse staying in the hospital & who was with Mrs. Fiasshi [Fiaschi] showed me an order she has just received to join a ship for Mudros this afternoon. She asked me if I were going by the same vessel, I replied that so far no information had been received by me. You are sure to meet the festive Fluffie in Macquarie St. You can then ask him did he see me and where.

This

[Page 15]
city is to the Australian a place much behind the times. Yet how can one coming from our Country, so recently occupied by people from the old lands afford to criticise a people who have lived on the spot for more than two thousand years, who have seen the coming and going of Empires, Kingdoms, Republics, Democracies of all kinds, whose forebeares more than the twenty centuries ago built & equipped libraries palaces wharfs and all other necessities demanded by 800 thousand inhabitants? Yet the unpaved undrained roads narrow lanes which are called streets, the balconies of the upper stories almost touching overhead, the sheep the goats the fowls the pigeons the donkeys all hearding together compell one to have the thought run through his mind:– Well this is a filthy hole, how far behind the times, & itis wonder that epedemics pass by and leave anyone alive. Yet To us other methods which we adopt. With the habitations, as with the food, were we to attempt to live in them we, most probably, would die of some disease and the place be left desolate. The black man always impeaches the white as being one who cannot stand hardships, mayhap it is true in many regards, two of them being dirt and little food. Glad no necessity exists for me to stay here all my life. Cairo could be made comfortable enough but Alexandra never. Why should I write this? It may be that being accustomed one could spend a very happy life here, but at first acquaintance it does not appear to be possible.
Now for an afternoon nap, and thereafter to await orders.

10 p.m. 9-10-15. Have just received the following:– "Please arrange for

[Page 16]
Lieut Col. Nash and 1 orderly to embark on the ship Ismalia, quay 45, at 10 a.m. 10th October 1915." Jerom & I shall therefore D.V. be on board tomorrow morning ready for our trip across the Mediterranean Sea. We hope that all will be well and that good fortune will wait upon us all the time. If possible I shall send a wire to you acquainting you with our progress. I do not know for how long I am to be away or what will be my position across the water, the orders in that regard will probably come to hand all right in due time.

And now good bye for the present. Should there be not too much mal-de-mer my pen will be set to work to keep you well acquainted with, each day to keep you informed of our progress and of the happenings that may befall us. Jerom has just come along, I had to send for him. He says that he was ready for bed. He is t be here at 6 a.m. to get everything ready.

Now good bye for the present, I shall post this before I go to bed, that there may be no neglecting it when we are hurring away.

My trunk boxes are left in charge of the Army Service Cops at the Base for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Mustapha, Egypt. Address in full on enclosed envelope that you may have no dubiety about it. Please keep the address in case there be necessity to use it.

Good bye my dears. God bless each & all of you. May Fortune in her best shape be always with you. To my friends best wishes. To each of you heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney. N. S. Wales

[Captain Austin Sydney Curtin (33), Captain Wilfred Vickers (31) and Major James Alexander Greer Hamilton (59) all served on No 2 Hospital Ship A61 Kanowna.

Mrs Amy Fiaschi (nee Curtis), wife of Dr Thomas Henry Fiaschi. See page 595 for information about Dr Thomas Henry Fiaschi and his son Dr Piero Fiaschi, both of whom served with the AAMC in WW1.]

[Page 575]

[For transcription, see page 574.]

[Page 576]

[For transcription, see page 574.]

[Page 577]

[For transcription, see page 574.]

[Page 578]

Wharf No. 45. Alexandria
10 a.m.
10-10-15

My dear Girls.

Here Jerrom and I are upon this wharf No. 45 awaiting the arrival of a ship, the Ismailia to convey us across the water.

We were ordered for 10 a.m. but the ship is not yet near the wharf, nor does any one here know of her whereabouts. We were just up to time.

Letters were posted to you this morning. Not a letter was left unanswered by me, I therefore feel happy in regard to my correspondence. Please thank those of my friends for writing. Amongst the last to whom envelopes were addressed by me were Sister Mary Borgia, & Mr. Hennessy.

The baggage, four packages, will be called for today and they will be stored at.
The Headquarter Stores
First Division
Mustapha
Alexandria.

One package, a suit case, belongs to Jerrom, the other three are mine. A list went in the letter posted to you this morning.

As we sit here a hospital ship, the Gloucestor

[Page 579]

Castle" is being unloaded, the wounded going in ambulances to Alexandria, and in one hospital train to Cairo, the men have come from the Dardanelles. Nurses & medical men were of the party.

Troopers and hospital ships are on every hand some loading, others unloading, fresh troops to be added to those already on the Galipoli Peninsula, others delivering their freight of fresh young Englishmen soldiers, newly trained, from the three divisions of the United Kingdom. What a terrible circumstance is this great war? Bulgaria joined too against us. What think you of the move? In view of the great fight they made against the Turk before reaching and when attacking Adrianople they are a force to be reckoned with. You remember with what admiration the people of our Empire viewed the struggles against Ottomans, bad weather, wretched roads, difficult country, formidable defences, brave soldiers, and all else to which they were opposed. Yet this morning the first man to whom I spoke on the subject remarked :– "They are of no account! What matter? They are so few! They against us will make no difference!" – Let us hope that he is right, and that, midst the clash of arms and the clang of battle, their 500000 men will be found to be rotters and puerile, changed from the Bulgarians of two years ago who used Krupp or Creusot guns, flying machines, and all the modern implements of war which had sprung from the fertile brain of man. Then mayhap our military writers lied. Let us pray that they did so. Under

[Page 580]

ordinary circumstances such prayer would not be justified from a Christian standpoint. But now, from our point of view it is all right.

Here comes our ship. She has to turn the point of a wharf and then come into our part of the harbour. It will take her half an hour before she gets alongside How long before she will set out? How long?

We shall soon have Africa behind & be steering for Europe across the historic seas of the oldest portion of the inhabited world. More anon if opportunity offers. I am catching the moments as they fly seated on a bag filled with my necessaries, or what I think are necssities. Jerrom is seated on a kit bag alongside waiting patiently, mayhap thinking about home, he has not the resources for occupying his every moment, & it is always a source of satisfaction to me that no matter what comes along I can use pen, or pencil, and paper to keep my muscles expressing what my brain is thinking, it is a change from simply observing, and makes moments day or night pass pleasantly. Good. Here comes the vessel backing in helped by a tug boat

11-30 a.m. Here comes our ship. Good bye my dears. God bless each & all of you. Heaps of love & loads of kisses. Best wishes to Maria & the others
Your affectionate & loving Father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 581]

S.S. Ismailia
Mediterranean Sea
10 October 1915
8.45 p.m.

My Mollie dear:/

Look at the heading to this letter and think of your map. Jerrom and I joined the Ismailia at No. 45 wharf at Alexandria Harbour at 10 oclock this morning, or rather that was the hour at which we were ordered to be at the embarking place, we got on board in at fact 1-30 p.m. Large numbers of bags of mails for the various units on and near Galipoli were being taken on board, and about 4 p.m., when they had been safely stowed away the ship was pulled out from her mooring place, & sought the road to the door out to the Sea. Truly it is now a door because but a narrow passage is left between the Net which extends Westeward from the Eastern breakwater, & the end of the Western breakwater, at night the gap is closed by the net, a huge metal one being placed to fill up the gap. The object to be attained is to keep out all enemy raiders or attacking craft of every kind.

When I walked on the deck just now there was some difficulty in moving about because all the lights are turned off. Why because in these times ships must not be brilliantly illuminated lest they attract the attention of those terrors of the ocean, the submarines. It is said that there are some enemy vessels of this class somewhere in the Mediterranean, weighting waiting to pay prey upon any

[Page 582]

anything that is upon our side. This ship would be especially valuable to destroy because on board of her is much material required by the artillery at the place where she unloads. Were she sunk this would not reach its destination, so much the worse for us. However with good fortune & Gods protection we shall be all right.
When I looked into the sky the Pleiades caught my eye, reminder of the South and home, at the moment the cluster of stars was in the North Eastern sky, but they are so familiar as objects to arrest the attention when one gazes upwards from Macquarie St., that suggestions of Sydney always come to me when I see them. I did not wait for the following Taurus and Orion to get above the horizon, but came to my cabin to write, perhaps read, and then to bed. A comfortable sleeping appartment too. A cabin to myself two beds, ample space for one man.

Good night. Good night. Good Night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os follows.]

11-10-15 – 10. a.m.:/ Have just had boat drill. I am at No 10 boat. With life belt on each officer & man on board the ship had to be in his place. I fear me that if a torpedo struck this vessel we should all go so high into the air that the water would be too far beneath for the descent. We hope not for heaven in such expeditious manner.
You should have seen the motley crew that are the crew of our boat, they of the ships company. If there were pulling to be done the off military officer must soon take to the oar, white black & brown miserable looking creatures, apologies for men, not worthy the name of man as we understand it. To be

[Page 583]

[At the top of this and most following pages of this letter is the word "Mollie".]

of their number one might well be ashamed.
At 11 a.m. I have to inspect the ship with the Colonel Commanding & the Sea Captain. Occupying a few moments in chatting with you.

There are some fifty officers on board of all arms in the Service. The clergyman I have noticed in the distance, Anglican I should say, he did not look happy on deck about 10 a.m. Most of them bound for Anzac.

One steamer is astern of us just on the horizon, she was closer at 6 a.m., we are going faster than she. We presume that Artillery are on board, bound for somewhere
in the same direction as are we. Poor beggars many of the men horses & guns will never see home again. Home what a long way to home? Yet some of us must be here, the wise alone stay midst friends and surroundings where submarines are not and the wide wide world intervenes between them & this land of foreign devils, their ancestors heroes of our youthful imaginations. Wonder do those of byegone ages look down upon their descendants of today? If so do they recognise in them the same blood, that we filled them with when they fought at Troy, Marathon, and other fields whereof historians and poets have written and sung. Were they as we in fancy painted them? Or is it all a myth? What is the use of asking such questions? It is best to have the picture in the mind as the chivalry of youth painted them, imagining Hellen to be of the most beautiful, Paris of the most gallant, and the rest warriors of the highest class.

[Page 584]

A little too warm is this october morning and noon on the Mediterranean Sea. Our good ship makes a fairly strong breeze as she ploughs her way through the salt water, were the wind behind us it is probably that heat would be more severe. We are travelling north and in ordinary course we should pass close to the island of Crete (Candy), but in these days of the underwater craft the roads followed have to be varied. Our ships Captain, a little Welsh man, just said that he did not keep a look out man in the crows nest in these waters, but he did so in the North Sea because there the danger from Submarines was much greater.

2 p.m: How differ barren of life is the surface of this portion of the worlds waters? Vastly otherwise than that which one sees in Southern lattitudes. Here ones two eyes survey the moving silver blue waves in search of something as a contrast to their rolling. Nothing. But, yes, away to the north a sea bird keeping close to the water, yes another, just number enough to bespeak the presence of representatives of the feathered tribe. How other then are the Southern lattitudes? Of these I have some knowledge. Where the great Albatross is never absent from the wake of a ship, waiting as a scavenger for what the cook may cast off from the galley. Graceful birds with ample spread of wings, swooping gracefully from port to starboard hour after hour, patience in excellsis. The Reward! The sea surface is coloured. The cook has emptied his scrap bucket over board. Wings fold, the webbed feet pitter patter on the wave, the body sinks gracefully snugly to rest on the heaving billow, the hugh beak snaps at the refuse, & he gets

[Page 585]

his dinner. One, two, three, four, five, ... a dozen of his comrades perform the same evolutions, and as a happy chattering crowd they consume all that suits their palates. Again the webbed feet pitter patter on the water the wings spread out & from the crest of a high wave the soaring begins anew, and the ship is followed as before. It is said that the same birds follow keep in the tail of a vessel for thousands of miles in the cold regions. I can quite believe it. Many a time and oft, for a landsman, have I watched them, absorbed mentally in the nature of their movements, and noting with how little apparent physical exertion and movement of the outspread feathers they used the atmosphere, be it calm or windy, to support their large heavy bodies, and to push onwards with speed many times faster than that of the steam propelled competitor. Did I tell you of the accident that happened to a big black albatross that was behind the ship in which in Febry 1914, I travelled from New Zealand to Sydney? He was gliding from side to side dipping down behind the great waves that rolled after the ship. From the hind rail of every steamer their trails about two hundred yards of thick cord, a register is on the ships end an a seires of revolving fans in a box on the other extremity; its name is the patent log & its purpose is to register the distance travelled each minute hour or day. When the waves are big the portion of this rope, near the stern, is raised high from the troughs between each pair of waves,

[Page 586]

As the big black bird glided down towards one of these troughs there was a crash thud, the rope quivered, I was standing alongside its fastened end, the feathered monster somersaulted at least once and struck the water. He shook his head, pulled himself together and rapidly was soon far astern of the vessel. I watched him with my field glasses and for several miles he was unable to rise. A crowd of sympathisers, or was it cannibals, mayhap surgeons and nurses, remained with him. My diagnosis was that he had broken a wing close to the chest, and as a consequence he was totally disabled.
’Tis afternoon. A sleep for a couple of hours is the next item on the programme. Tata. Tata.

5-15 p.m. – Awake. Two hours in oblivion! Sleep the gift, no greater, from God. He who cannot sleep is deficient in that which brings to each member of the human family chance for repair, when the blood stream, and its subsidiary building up cells, has uninterfered with opportunities for restoring worn out tissues from crown of head to soles of feet, a period of sweet forgetfulness, wherein the harried soul recognises not its tormentors and cares not where they be, and the physical parts know not pain.

Dreams, fellows to the period between wakefulness and sleep, are thoughts which fly round the world in the twinkling of an eye, or deal with affairs close at hand in moments few though they appear to compass hours long in their performing; they, like other mental work, are the sequel to some act of the individual compassed by seeing

[Page 587]

hearing tasting smelling feeing reading hearing suffering eating or drinking, a goodly galaxy of events which come to each one during the daily round. What think you? Does all this fit in with your experience? Do you believe me to be a dreamer? Sitting hear, in Cabin No. 3 in the steam ship Ismailia, crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Alexandria to the neighbourhood of Rhodes or Crete thence to Lemnos and Anzac, in this month of December 1915 a man might be forgiven for having day dreams, ones of the wakeful soul as contrasted with those of the sleeping body.

Jerom has just come in, he is looking through my bags for an electric torch which is very necessary at night on board because all lights are put out after dark. He has just turned out your tidy. It will look first rate in my dug-out or wherever else I may be stationed. The sox made by Joseph are A1.

12-10-15 – Still is our good ship pushing Northwards in response to the throbbing of the engines, which ceaselessly as one’s pulse beats in regular sequence, exercising through the screw astern a propelling influence upon the hull and its freight. There are on board 80 officers, drawn from different parts of the British Empire, 36 from England, 24 from Australia, sixteen 16 from New Zealand, 2 from India and 2 unattached. Nearly all new men, with a fair proportion returning from leave after being wounded or sick. A big crowd for one ship

[Page 588]

I have been wondering did I draw your attention to the analogy between the Queen of Greece at the present moment, at that of and Octavia, in Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra. Octavia was sister to Caesar and wife to Antony, and when there was question of war between them she had to struggle between love for husband and brother. So she of Greece today must be getting in some fine work to prevent her husband from throwing in his lot with the Allies as against the side whereon her brother holds sway. The King must have bad nights when he retires to his private appartments, curtain lectures of the most severe order by his mate, who, a Hohenzollern, has probably all the forcefulness of her forebears. After he has had a bad day with Venizelos, sympathiser with the Allies, the events at home must be particularly trying. It is too more than probable that the members of the family take sides with the Mother. Poor chap must be having a rocky time! Vide Antony & Cleopatra III – 4 – 1 to 26. Your book marker "To My Father" marks the page in the "Tragedies of Shakespeare"

How like men are today as ever? A favourite decoration for our soldiers, Australian and English alike, is a belt ornamented with buttons and badges. Homer in his Odyssey, (Homer the most famous of all the poets of Ancient Greece), writing a long time ago, describes the belt of Hercules thus:–
"...; a dreadful belt
He bore athwart his bosom, thong’d with gold,
Here, broider’d shone many a stupendous form,
Bears, wild boars, lions with fire-flashing eyes
Fierce combats, battles, bloodshed, homicide.

[King Constantine I of Greece (1868-1923) was married to Princess Sophie of Prussia (1872-1932), sister to Kaiser Wilhelm II (and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria).
Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos (1864-1936) was in favour of Greece, a neutral nation, coming into the War on the side of the Allies. Greece eventually did so, declaring war on the Central Powers on 2 July 1917.]

[Page 589]

"The artist, author of that belt, none such
Before, produced, or after. ...".

Our men are proud of their belts and any one returned from Galipoli, who had a full set of Turkish buttons was considered to be fortunate indeed with his possession. No doubt the warriors of old had the same ideas of emulation ’mongst themselves. Each of them is described to us in such manner as conveys to the mind that their size of body was much greater and their individual strength much in excess of that belonging to the present-day man. Mayhap the poet is responsible for this, the disparity being the outcome of the poetical imagination, in reality there being no facts proving its existance; it is more than likely that, taken as a class, the fighting men of those times were physically inferior to the best of our time. Certain it is that their exploits, in regard to travel, were puny compared with what is commonplace in the 19th & 20th Centuries. Homer & Virgil have made journeys immortal which for distance North & South but crossed the Mediterranean Sea, while East and West their utmost limits reached from Troy – Dardanus – to Carthage. We in tis ship, Ismailia, will, fortune favouring, have travelled in forty-eight hours what took the ships of the ancients more than a year to traverse. Then knowledge and information spread but slowly, and exageration in regard to detail was much more likely than under the conditions now existing.

8 p.m. – Some one is playing

[Page 590]

the piano in the smoking room. The air being now Adeste Fidelis. He is not an artist of the robust kind but one who plays a few bars from some well known melody, then passing on to another; grave and gay alternating indescriminately. It is pleasant to hear music it reminds one of home and far away, of how many pleasant nights when girls of mine discoursed sweet sounds from voice and instrument for the delectation of an old man who perhaps might plead guilty to falling asleep, under the influence of the entertainment. Good girls all who made happy the days and nights of a p. o. m. giving him cause to feel pride in their knowledge and behaviour. The air is now the Marsellaise.

Did you see that the French people have removed the mortal remains of the author of the National Song to the Invalides, where have been kept shrined the mortal parts of the great Napoleon. How the shade of Bony must rise up in anger when he notes that his beloved people have placed alongside side him one who has done no more than write one ballad. The contrast is really ridiculous.

You enclosed me in one letter some wattle blossom. They have kept very well. They are in an envelope with me here. It is my purpose on reaching Galipoli to seek out the graves of Messrs Braund, Larkin, & Onslow-Thompson, and to place on each a portion of the flowers Should my quest be successful I shall tell you in a future letter of my success. No doubt the act will be pleasing to the friends of many of the brave warriors who paid the debt to this great war.

[Page 591]

Several times today the recurrence of the birthday of my Kitty on the 19th of October has come into my mind. If it be possible to send a cable message to her from these parts about the date I shall do so. If the chance is not for me, when she reads this she will know that my mind had remembrance for her when her anniversary was at hand.

Another performer is at the piano. One who puts much more spirit into the action of his fingers, but who does not produce such popular airs.

10 p.m.: Have been on deck for half an hour. A warship has been on the port side (Left as one looks forward) working a twinkler, to it reply was made from the bridge of the Ismailia. The talk ended the black mass turned and steamed away from us. She was probably one of the war ships that is patrolling these waters with the object of protecting shipping from what enemy submarines may be prowling about. These veritable scorpions which left unobserved would be continuous in their attacks upon the ships of ourselves & our friends.
During the day as I look out on the blue expanse those sights come into my mind somewhat as follows:– What a vast surface of blue water? Can it be possible that beneath there may be a small warship capable of bringing at one blow destruction to the most powerful battleship in the world? Did my Father (R.I.P.) or any of his colleagues imagine that ever there would be such terrors of the ocean?

[Page 592]

Are there any German or Turkish submarine ships of war in these regions at the present moment? – No doubt through the minds of many of my fellow passengers the same sequence of questions run many times during the day.

The engines still throb and the ship moves on. Good night. Good night: [The rest of the line consists of Xs and Os.]
Some biscuits, two glasses of milk and water. Then to bed. Good night. [The rest of the line consists of Xs and Os.]

13-10-15 – 2 pm. After a night of sound sleep, my eyes woke to see a perfect morning for atmosphere, a deep blue sea, and land rising from the waters edge into the clouds on either side. The ship threaded a way twixt numerous islands rugged barren forbidding shores and highlands, often rising precipitately out of the sea. A village of white houses nestling here and there midst the valleys; isolated houses in some parts dotting the landscape; curious towers surmounted by windmils topping the ridges in peculiar and picturesque fashion.

In Egypt no dividing line can be seen separating the various holdings but in these regions the surface of each island is separated into small fields by walls of stone. If you look at a map of the archipelago and draw a line northwards from the west end of Candy [Crete] passing on the same side Milo, Zea and Andros you will marke out the course that we have been travelling since break of day.

2.15 pm. Excitement. The 2nd Mate told the Captain that

[Page 593]

that he had spotted a submarine. The engine bells rang and every one rushed on deck. After half an hour all is well so far. The sea is rising and the ship is more unsteady than she has been since we became her passengers. The atmosphere is sharp, and clouds hover overhead. The cold is far different from that to which we had been felt while we were residents in Egypt. It is to be expected that cold and rain will characterise the weather on the peninsula. The Captain said to me about three quarters on an hour ago, just before he was summoned by the mate, that we are now going into the widest part of the Aegean Sea, and that often there was rough weather to be met with. If you look at the map again you will see note that the water space widens North of Attica across to the Westernmost shore of Asia. Those who are susceptible to mal-de-mer will perhaps have chance to give way during this afternoon, however let us hope that none may find necessity to pay tribute to Neptune.

6 p.m. We have passed Skyros, it being to the West of our track. The Captain says that we should be off Mudros, the harbour of Lemnos about midnight. He does not know that we shall be allowed in before tomorrow morning. When talking to Jerrom a few minutes since he said to me: "Were you in the scare this afternoon Sir? Do you mean about the submarine? Yes Sir. Oh yes, I was about at the time. Did you have

[Page 594]

your life-belt on Sir? No. I never thought of that. Did you have yours? Oh, yes, we all had the belts on up our end. What for? To make a jump into the water if we were hit." The Captain told me that an object that was being towed by a steamer in the distance looked to the Mate through the telescope to have the shape of a submarine.

I hope to have chance in the morning to post this letter with wishes of safe conduct to you at Moss Vale. When you & your Community have read it, please send it on to the girls at Macquarie Street, because I have not been able to write to them a long letter during the voyage.

Please give my best wishes to M. M Dominic and her colleagues. May fortune of the best be always with you, her and them. "Farewell my dear child, fare thee well, The elements be kind to thee, and make Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well."

With heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your affnte & lvg Father
John. B. Nash

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
Moss Vale
N. S. Wales.

[Octavius Caesar, in Act 3, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra:
"Farewell my dearest sister, fare thee well:
The elements be kind to thee, and make
Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well."]

[Page 595]

S.S. Ismailia 15.10-15
7 am

P.S.
Here still are we. As one looks out from the deck of our steamer, one sees all classes of ships anchored round about. Great war vessels bristling with guns, shouting aloud to all and sundry "Come on & try a tussle with me, perdition to him who loses & glory to him who wins". In regard to war there is an apt quotation on my Calendar under this date:–
"The self sacrifice of a human being is never lovely. It is often a necessary and a noble thing; nut no form or degree of sacrifice can be ever lovey."
The Ethics of the dust.

Great passenger ships, as high up as the Mauretania visit here as hospital ships. At night each of these stands out as a brilliant show midst the surrounding darkness because at the topmost edge of the sides a row of bright green lights, interrupted in the middle by a large red cross, leads one to expect instant display of rockets and other fireworks.

Dr Fiaschi Snr., Dr Harris, & many other Sydney medicos are on shore here. I should like to visit them but the bay is large, the wind howls continuously, the landing places bad, no boats are available for the shore, these impose difficulties which so far I have been unable to overcome; besides our time of departure is shrouded in mystery

The surface of the Ionian Islands must be little productive. Olives, grape vines, some corn, & various animals, are said to thrive at the hands of the cultivator, but there can be little profusion. Were it otherwise the population had been larger today, after so many thousands of years, that the history of human kind has shown them to be inhabited. Not far are these shores from the cradle of the family Man.

The breakfast bell. Good bye
John. B. Nash.

["The Ethics of the Dust" by John Ruskin, published in 1866.]

Colonel Thomas Henry Fiaschi (1853-1927), born in Florence, Italy, and a surgeon of Windsor and Macquarie Street, Sydney, commanded the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos.

His son, Piero Fiaschi (1879-1948), also a medical practitioner, also served during WW1, embarking as a Captain with the 1st Light Horse Ambulance on HMAT A27 Southern on 23 September 1914.

Father and son are commemorated by the bronze replica of Florence’s famous Il Porcellino monument that stands outside Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street.]

[Page 596]

[On letterhead of the Khedivial Mail Line.]

[R.M.S.] Ismailia
13 October 1915

John B Nash

[A line of Os with a line of Xs underneath] Carrie

[A line of Os with a line of Xs underneath] Josie

[A line of Os with a line of Xs underneath] Kitty

[Page 597]

S.S. Ismailia
Aegean Sea
near Lemnos
13 October 1915

My dear Girls:/

A long letter has just been completed to Mollie and I have asked her to send it to you when she has read it, because there are but few hours during which sentences can be set down for your perusal.

The morning of the 10th inst, two letters from me were posted to you, with hopes that each might find you expeditiously in due course.

Since leaving the harbour at Alexandria on Sunday evening we have had fair passage Northward pursuing a round about course, when ours is compared with the direct track If you look at the map you will see that the most direct line from Alexandria to Lemnos leaves Crete well to the Westward, our ship passed left Candia or Crete to the East, and passed North between the mainland of Greece and the islands of Milo, Zea and Andros, keeping close into the shores of Atica. These names are familiar to me because in the days of my yon Grecian Ancient Greecian History was well drilled into me by my dear Father – R.I.P. – and my other teachers. Hence we have come nearly north and now 8-15 p.m. are not far from Lemnos. Our Captain does not expect

[Note at the foot of the page:] Milo Zea Andros

[Page 598]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

to be allowed to enter Mudros harbour tonight because the boom is placed across the entrance between daylight and daylight. A bit of a scare this afternoon in regard to a submarine caused some of our crowd to don life belts. Yesterday morning we had a boat drill when each of us was shown the boat to which he belonged and lessons were given in properly adjusting the life belts. This in case of accident of any kind. On board the Kyarra several like exercises were practised. When I was a lad we used to gather up old corks place them in a bag, attach strings to the end of this, then fasten it around the chest, & plunging into the water learn to swim. When I see a life belt now it reminds me of the days of youth in Woods Point where learning to swim in fresh water was a more difficult matter, than is the like accomplishment attained in the salt waters near Sydney. There were less dangers in the former because in few places was the water deep, and there were no sharks.

We are far from the madding throng tonight and know not how the world does wag. Whether Bulgaria has done this or Greece moved in other than the correct direction. There is no wireless apparatus upon our ship, we are therefore out of touch entirely with our surroundings.

Today we have passed several ships of war, British

[Page 599]

of course and signals passed between them and us. Most probably we are now, midst the darkness, closely in touch with some of the patroll ships that have for their object the guarding of the vessels carrying men & material too and from the fighting area. At least we feel that we are, and that gives to us a sense of safety which is comforting.

The Electric bulb has been taken from my cabin, no doubt because it is on deck, and I am writing this in the dining hall, where most of the officers are seated talking reading and smoking, a lively chatter ringing through the room. Only one other is writing some are playing cards. All have been driven in here because in no other portion of the ship are lights allowed.

What a comfort smoking appears to be to mere man. Nearly every one of them is pulling away at a pipe, not one has a cigarette in his mouth. It always struck me as being peculiar that in Cairo nearly every one smoked cigarettes, when those who at home would scorn the paper enclosed tobacco did not produce a pipe in Egypt, though all the time the implement was within a coat pocket, and when asked what was desired in the way of tobacco nearly every one replied cigarettes. The custom of the country may have been sufficient explanation but it was not satisfying to me. Egypt is famed throughout the world for Cigarettes yet no tobacco

[Page 600]

is grown within the limits of the state, there being a statutory prohibition. Strange. Mayhap I wrote you to this effect in a letter of earlier date. Recently in the Egyptian Gazette and other newspapers the growing of tobacco has been suggested as a profitable crop. Since Turkish suzerainty has been abolished the monoply in the growth of the finest tobacco possessed by the people of European Turkey does not count and it may be that soon the weed that whose dried leaves bring so much comfort to so many millions of the male population of the human family, may be classed amongst the profitable crops on the banks of the Nile. It may be of course that the mud of Egypt has not within itself that chemical composition which will give origin to tobacco of the finest kind, or of any kind. Plant production is of course entirely a matter of physical and chemical relationship, as well as climatic suitability, between the seeds and the soil wherein each is placed. Midst the snows of Iceland moss does flourish, neath the tropic heat palms do thrive, and so on for the flora throughout the world, North to South, East to West.

Only three electric bulbs are aglow in the cabin. We are wondering for how long they will remain. An electric torch is at my right hand, the refils in my possession are few, therefore every flash from its amplifying glass is precious. When in Alexandria I tried to secure a dozen charges but they had not been brought to me before I left. Sorry, because they must be of great service on

[Page 601]

the Galipoli peninsula at night time. To carry a lamp would be dangerous, to have a torch must be a blessing. It was very silly of me not to have looked for the supply earlier during my stay in Egypt.
The Colonel who is in military command on the ship is sitting opposite to me writing in his diary, a young officer to my left is writing a letter, the stewards has just finished clearing from the sideboard the last of the after dinner materials. A cloud of smoke from the Colonel’s pipe has just come into my face.

The numerous islands and headlands that we passed close by on either hand today, would not with eagerness be taken up or purchased by an Australian as a sheep or cattle station. The land looked barren, with scarce patches of trees or other growth, often rising sheer from the waters edge, rising in terraces till the topmost summits were cased by clouds, rocks bear forbidding masses of stone being the junction between land and water. When one looks upon this part of the world and projects his memory back, he marvels not that of it were written the legends and stories of the deeds of the ancients, because it is just the sort of place were perilous adventures must have constantly awaited those who launched frail barks upon the water and temped the breezes to do their worst; fortune of the best had to be always with him who got safe home to his starting point. Midst the rugged and barren vales nestled clusters of houses, built of white stone, forming villages which were a

[Page 602]

marked contrasted to the brown surface of the surrounding soil. In Egypt there are no fences or other visible limiting marks between the various farms, but on these islands stone walls divide the whole into small fields, varying much in size yet to one from Australia of but scant acreage. The fathers & mothers of these people for many thousands of years have been born lived and died on these projections from the sea, & those of today probably pursue to space from their coming to their going hence much as did those who lived in the times of Homer, Hercules, Achilles, and the rest. Strange why they and we have come into being, and equally midst the unknown & the unknowable will be the manner of our leaving. Mysterious all! Very!!!

And now good night. Good Night. Good night.
Hoping that Fortune in here best of moods is with you still and will abide with each of you always. Please convey t my friends my best wishes. To Maria & my special friends a mead mede of love. Accept for each of you heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John. B. Nash

[A line of Xs with a line of Os underneath] Car. [A line of Xs with a line of Os underneath] Joe
[A line of Xs with a line of Os underneath] Kitty.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St.
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Page 603]

Mudros Bay
Lemnos
14-10-15

My dear Girls:/

This is Thursday the 14th day of October 1914. At daybreak I looked out through my cabin window, having noticed that the ship was stationery, and I saw that we were in smooth water between land on either side.

During the hour 11 p.m. & midnight last night I was on the bridge with the Captain, a search light shone out ahead. He told me that we were seventeen miles (17.) from the entrance to the harbour, & that the light was showing out from the entrance. Before I left him the distance was under seven miles. A keen hard wind made the atmosphere cold so bidding the bridge good night I was soon comfortably wrapped in blanket street

About 6-30 a.m. we commenced to move again and soon the ship passed through the openings in the nets which at night time completely cross between the limiting headlands North & South. These nets serve as protection during the hours of darkness from entrance ships that might be on mischief bent. Within there opened in front of us an inland basin, the far end of which was occupied by a big fleet composed of English and French warships, hospital ships and transports,

[Page 604]

each class being represented by vessels of varying sizes. A small submarine flying a French flag crossed behind our stern and went quietly up the harbour, the gentle onward movement suggested the progress of a swan with the head & neck level with the water’s surface. The Captain told me last night that the latest of these fighting machines has a radius of 3000 miles and can pass at the rate of 18 miles on the surface of the water.

The ice chest is close to my cabin window & every time the door is opened the odour from the cheese which is stored within it is horrid. Such material should be destroyed.

The land, around the waters, is gently sloping to high ridges, the surface being cut up into undulations by valleys. Round towers surmounted by very large windmills are to be seen in many directions, these no doubt are for grinding corn pumping water and the like. Two small villages, the houses of brown colour, and some isolated buildings, dot the landscape. The tops of the hills & ridges, as well as irregular patches of rock here & there suggest a volcanic origin. From the distance the colour of all the land is a straw brown, & appears to be devoid of vegetation, but when closer seen patches of olive green present themselves, these, I was told by two Syrian doctors, are the groves of olive trees which are cultivated on all these islands for the fruit and the oil, they and vines grape vines being the staple product of Greece & the Ionian isles.
These two pages are intended as commencement for a new letter but as the earlier written one is not yet closed I shall insert them. Good bye. Love & kisses
J.BN

[Page 605]

PS.

S.S. Ismailia
Mudros
15-10-15. 5 a.m.

Girls
Still are we in this harbour surrounded by great and small ships of all kind.

I have just completed a letter to Herschell Harris, who is said to be with his X-ray apparatus attached to No. 3 A. G. Hospital, harry McCormack, Dick, and others with him. I met Dr. Dick in Alexandria he told me that there is not surgical work at No 3, & now I can quite understand why. The harbour is wide the winds are strong, the wharface accommodation practically nil. These all make the matter of landing surgical cases a matter of difficulty. All are therefore sent on by the ships to Alexandria or other ports where the conveniences for landing are complete.

Rather an apt quotation on my calendar this morning
"The self sacrifice of a human being is not a lovely thing. It is often a necessary and a noble thing; but no form nor degree of suicide can be ever lovely." The Ethics of the Dust.

Today is set down as the anniversary of the birth of Virgil. He is the Roman Author, who set out in Latin in his Aeniad the Voyage of Aeneas and his people from Troy (Dardanus), along the Mediterranean sea Sea to Carthage, where Dido ruled as queen, in the North of Africa, then back & North again, passing the straights of Messina, to the shores of Latium, between Rome Naples and Rome. His descen The descendants of Aeneas, were Romulus & Remus who are the real or mythical founders of Rome. May be the birthday is correct or approximately correct as B.C. 50 and October 15.

The temperature here is cold as compared with Egypt. Jerom found for me medium underclothing, with these putties ad a heavier suit of kahkhi I feel quite comfortable. We are in about the same lattitude as Anzac. We shall be quite all right. Tata. Tata. Tata.

[A line of Xs with a line of Os underneath] Car.
[A line of Xs with a line of Os underneath] Joe
[A line of Xs with a line of Os underneath] Kitty

J B Nash

[Sir Alexander MacCormick, 1856-1947, surgeon and army medical officer, went to England at the outbreak of war and served with the British Expeditionary Force at Boulogne. Also commissioned in the Australian Army Medical Corps, he was sent to Lemnos. Frustrated at not being able to operate there, he returned to Australia in February 1916 but rejoined the AIF when his eldest son was killed in action in October of that year, and served as a surgeon in France.]

[Page 606]

S.S. El Kahara
Mudros Harbour
15-10-15
3 p.m.
The same line of steamers as the Ismailia – The Kehdevial S.S. Coy.

Dear Girls:/

This morning I was ordered to be read for the pinnace at 2 p.m. At that hour Jerrom and I were ready and on board the small steamer. We were brought across the harbour and with our baggage are now, 3 p.m., on board a steamer named the El Kahara, in which we are soon to leave for Anzac.

There is a Dr. Carlisle from Australia, who belongs to a Clearing hospital, and who came from Australia in the Kyarra with me, and a few other officers on board. A number of soldiers are on deck cleaning their rifles and seeing to their packs. The only freight that I noticed on deck are boxes of cartridges. The steamer is something about the size of the Namoi which plys between Newcastle and Sydney.

There is a fleet of great war ships anchored round about us, also passenger ships converted into troopers, two yachts of ample size and proportioned beautifully, one is the headquarters of the Red Cross and the second is for the headquarters staff

[Hon Lieutenant, later Major Hildred Irving Carlile, medical practitioner of South Yarra, Melbourne, embarked from Melbourne on 5 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 1st Australian Clearing Hospital.]

[Page 607]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Our next landing place, fortune favouring, will be the beach now called Anzac, which must remain famous for ever in Australian history, because how, while chronicles last, can the deeds of the 25th of April 1915, St Mark’s day, ever neglected be by the speakers or writes who will tell the children and their childrens children the story of the deeds of valour which were accomplished by men from far away Australia. It will be good to look upon, and for those of us who get safe home, remarkable to tell about in the days that are to come: of it more will be added to these sheets when my eyes have looked upon it, then you will have from me personal account of what difficulties, and other, presented themselves to those who effect a landing in the face of the storm of shot and shell aimed at our men on the first day of their eventful undertaking.

Fresh people, Gurkhas & Seiks, from India both are now climbing the gangway with their packs and other luggage. The Ghurkha is small compack sprightly and savage looking. He is a Mongolian in type suggesting the small chinaman. The seik is a tall thin man narrow of chest, somewhat bowed in the back, long of leg, slovenly in walk, dragging his big feet along, far from suggesting

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sprightliness or activity. The former as you may recognise to be a fighting man. The latter out of uniform none would suspect of being a soldier man. All on this ship are bound for Anzac therefore they are chosen fighting men or their attendants in the way of doctors and their assistants.
Feel somewhat sleep, my overcoat is arranged as a pillow therefore I shall stretch myself on the couch and soon be in dream land mayhap my mind to wander back to Australia and to you. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

4-15 p.m. Have had a slight doze but not much of a sleep. We are on the move again. Jerrom has just come in for his coat. The atmosphere through the door suggest rain. I not seen water falling from heaven for a very long time. Not since the sprinkling which appeared one night at Mena.

An officer on board here is the image of Mr. Clarence Bridge. The men on the ships as we pass are calling out Cooee! Cooee!!!

I shall put the names on some photographs

5-10 p.m. A stiff breeze ahead, chilly, but not much disturbed sea, allows us to be comfortable. Jerrom & I were having a chat on the deck. He with his coat on I without. This morning he gave to me a suit of medium underclothing, this with Joseph’s brown socks make me feel perfectly comfortable, & as Kitty would say "Warm as toast."

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As we looked out from the deck across the sea, many ships were in view, some making for Mudros Harbour, a hospital ship flying the French tricolour followed a large P. & O. ship, each hoping to pass the nets before the gap will be closed. Small war ships move North & South no doubt patrolling the water on the look out for enemy submarines.
The stewards are busy laying the table for tea.

The Seik soldiers wear large turbans.

The Ghurka wears any old thing as a head-dress, cap of wool, hat of felt. Each has a small pack in his hand or on his back. The latter has the facial appearance & the almond eyes of the Chinaman.

We should be at our destination about 8 p.m. Wonder shall we land tonight, and if so where shall we sleep. Where?

I wrote the names on the photographs, placing near them the place & date Mudros 15-10-15: You may some day read the entry.
Have just been thinking how silly it was of me not to have left a telegram in Alexandria, to be sent this week end as a birthday greeting to Kathleen. Please tell her that I am very sorry!

6 p.m. Have just finished walking the deck with Jerrom. Well warmed up before the evening meal which is to be at 6.30 OClock. During the walk we talked nearly every moment of You & home. I told him that of course you sent word to his people that we were coming this way

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bound for Anzac in European Turkey. Notwithstanding the head wind we should soon be there

16.10.15. – 7-50 p.m. We arrived at Anzac beach about 1-30 p.m., and got to be[d] on a stretcher about 2-30 a.m. Rifles and big guns were being fired in all directions from the ships in the offing the latter and from the tops of the hills the former. A terrible clatter about 4 or 5 A.M. which woke me and kept me awake for some time. Jerrom slept on the ground alongside my stretcher The night was, or rather the morning was, cold.
Breakfast about 8.30 a.m., porridge, chops, bread, butter, tea, did me first class. The saw Colonel Howse. [indecipherable] He told me to put up for a few days at No 1 Australian Casualty Hospital. Today I have been a guest with Col Major Gordon, a medical man who comes from Melbourne I believe.

The clatter above referred to I was told was a demonstration by the ships and other guns against the Turkish position. It went on for hours. The enemy took no notice. The hospitals had been warned to be ready for casualties. The result was one man wounded. How many on the Turkish side no one knows. Considering that the Turk took no notice it is to be supposed that he suffered but little. Such a show must cost a lot of money.

No one can imagine what the hills here are like. They rise almost at once from the beach. The land is a composition of reddish sand mixed with stones, no loose as is
the sand on a sand hill round Sydney but more closely held together. It is for the most part covered with shrubs which are but a few feet high, in appearance they suggest broom, holly, the waratah plant (whereon the flowers bloom around Sydney)

[Lieutenant Colonel, later Major General, Sir Neville Reginald Howse, 1863-1930, surgeon and army medical officer, embarked from Melbourne on 22 October 1914 on HMAT A3 Orvieto with Headquarters, 1 Australian Division. He was in charge of the evacuation of the wounded from Gallipoli and was later given command of medical services, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, as deputy director. From November 1915 he was director of medical services of the AIF.

Major, John Gordon, surgeon, embarked from Melbourne on 5 December 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 1st Australian Clearing Hospital.]

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the commencement of gum trees, (saw no eucalyptus), some flowering creepers which at once suggest our false sarsaparilla. None of them has a very tight hold in the ground. The hills rise to 300 feet or more at special places. Where their sea fronts are almost perpendicular there is no growth of shrubs.

On the 25th of April in is natural condition it was of course far different from today. Then there had been but little traffic upon it. To essay the task of climbing the hill sides on the morning of the 25th of April was a feat which few men in the world would have undertaken at the orders of any man, and to have accomplish it was a task only possible to active, strong, determined, well trained conditioned men. And when the climbing had to be done in the face of an enemy armed with guns of any kind, let alone magazine rifles and machine guns was an accomplishment that places those who did it in the ranks of heroes. Ground too it was absolutely unknown to almost every man who climbed it. Just think that as the soldiers got to the sea shore they were being shot at to wounds and death, that they jumped into the water waded ashore and then holding on to these bushes they mounted higher and higher? Tell him who says that the Australian blows about it, that if he does, he has a worthy subject, and to class the episode as amongst the greatest in the annals of war, ancient or modern, must be correct. In the doing of it too he broke all the dicta that have been laid

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down by writers of text books on war. It has been the commonest amongst them to have paragraphs to the effect, that men would never again be able to face the fire of the modern rifle and its ally the machine gun, that battles would have to be fought won & lost in extended formations, & that it would not be possible for me[n] to get within striking distance of each other with the bayonet. It was all belied on this memorable 25th of April, and by men, from far away Australia, who had never in their lives handled a rifle in anger with intent to kill any man. Yet they not only climbed these hills, but rushed beyond them in pursuit of men, amongst whom must have been many war-stained veterans, who had been through the late Balkan war, and other fighting for which like lesser troubles of the Ottoman Empire give opportunities.

During the whole of the morning and the afternoon I wandered over the positions whereon our men and the New Zealanders fought on the 25th of April, and the 6th of August. On The latter date was marked by a great fight to the left of the crescent of held land, then the nature of the ground & its covering of shrubs was well known, the water courses and the summits were familiar men knew what they had to expect, four months of experience on the land of the peninsula had taught them what to avoid & how to do so, which was the best way to counteract this difficulty and that, where the enemy was situated, what his

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he was personally, the nature of his prowess, his methods of attack and defence, a judgment had been formed as to his qualities as a fighting man, both as a rifle shot and a close fighter.

The 6th saw much accomplished in extending & consolidating the area occupied away to the left.

When a great descriptive writer comes along to fill up the gaps left by ordinary pens, and to link together all obtainable information, there will be a story told which, without exaggeration, or can tell of deeds fit to be classed amongst the greatest of those which have made the Empire, and which have given to the Briton his right to respect from the nations of the earth. It is nice and pleasing in times of peace to say that: "the pen is mightier than the sword"; but, in these days of war, it is he who can win battles, with his guns and his rifles and his grenades, who will, in the end, have the dictating of terms to him who will be vanquished.
The man who weilded the pen as well as he who shouldered a rifle, will have to bow humbly to the conqueror. This but a repetition of what has been writ large on the pages of history adown all the ages. Worthy honest people belived, not later than last year, that man was becoming so advanced, – and especially the German variety of him –, a creature of God that he would have too much sense, call it common or uncommon as you will, to fight for the possession of women or property. These good people gave other people credit for having like thoughts to themselves, forgetting that, on occasion, they themselves were the most easily upset, becoming angry at the least opposition or criticism. Man is a quarrelsome,

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creature and until God alters his nature he will fight as occasion demands. Rather a neat quotation in this relation.
"The self-sacrifice of the human individual is not a lovely thing. It is often a necessary and a noble thing; but no form or degree of suicide can be lovely."
The Ethics of the Dust – Lubbock.

How strange it is for me, on this beautiful October evening 8 o’clock, to be sitting in a dug-out, on Gallipoli Peninsula, writing these sentences? Who would have, thirteen months ago, believed it to be within the regions of the possible? The bullets from the Turkish rifles, the shells from the British, and Turkish shells guns flying overhead. Strange. It is passing strange.
The waters of the Gulf of Saros lap the shore some thirty yards from my feet, my residence is in part of the very land up which the Australians climbed on the 25th of April, an oil lamp, resting on my dressing case placed on a stretcher, gives me light. Away in the offing are two hospital ships, brilliantly illuminated with green along the who length of either side, save for the red cross interruption. Several war ships, black lines upon the water’s surface, dot the sea here and there. From one of these, now and then oft times, a great beam of light is projected towards Gaba Tepe peninsula. Still the continuous crack of the rifles. Now and then the tick tacking of the machine gun, off & on the whistle or the drone of a shell passing through the air to end with the explosion or the plop into the water. Wonderful. Truly wonderful.

["The Ethics of the Dust" by John Ruskin. John Lubbock was one of Ruskin’s admirers.]

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During the afternoon I went along to Captain Pierro Fiaschi. I found him with a Mounted Infantry regiment at the left of the Australian position. The English force prolong the position still further to the left at Sulva Bay [Suvla Bay]. With Fiaschi I tramped up to the hills visited the most advanced posts where the men are ever on the look out for Turkish heads or bodies to show themselves above the trenches about three hundred yards distant. With a periscope I looked at the trenches held by the enemy, surveyed with my eyes the positions where Turkish snipers have their posts, with watchful eyes seeking for a chance to shoot one of our people. The Turks still hold the dominating ridges in this region. The marvel of it all is how our men have managed to perch themselves upon the eminences where they are situated. Wonderful! Truly wonderful!
Manly, fearless Australians, night and day, conserve the interests of the Empire by, look fully armed, looking across the valley for an enemy to show himself, mayhap a Turk or his German mentor. The man from every section of our Island Continent who came as a light horseman does his turn on these dangerous perches.

17-10-15. Forgot ’twas Sunday morning, till I look at my calendar.

After breakfast I started to keep a 10 o’clock tryst with Captain Fiaschi, I walked along the tracks and through the saps – a sap is a trench dug along the parts of the land separating different camps or posts, and which is still exposed to fire by from the Turkish rifles – to the gallant Captains quarters. I found him busy

[Captain Piero Fiaschi, 1879-1948, medical practitioner from Sydney, embarked on HMAT A27 Southern on 23 September 1914 with the 1st Light Horse Ambulance.]

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amongst the sick and slightly injured men. His work in this regard being ended, we started out to walk round the area for which he is sanitary officer. We visited the camps and posts and about 1-30 p.m. we were back a his dug-out for dinner. At 2-30 p.m. I left him, and started for home. I arrived at my quarters, after a brisk walk at about 3-15 p.m. – stretched on my sleeping place, dozed and thought of home and you till 4-45 p.m. Jerrom was seated alongside me when I woke. Rubbed my eyes, raised my body, got my legs under me, put on my coat, donned my hat.
"Did you find the graves of Larkin & Braund? I found the grave of Col. Braund but not that of Sgt Larkin Sir. Good! Let us take a walk round that I may see what you have discovered, leave this letter for Major Harris, and seek new experiences on the right flank."
We started off, I intending after visiting the grave of Colonel Braund & leaving the letter to go to head quarters. When I wandered near the top of the hill where the artillery have their offices, I met Colonel Charley Cox. "Hullo! Hullo!!! Fancy meeting you on the top of this hill! What are you after? Look for someone to show me round. Right oh I am your man. come along to where I hang out? Tomorrow morning be with me at my dug-out at 10 o’clock and you will go round with me through all the trenches in these parts, and you will end up by lunching with me. Right oh!" After visiting his office and residence, & refusing an invitation to tea I left for my feeding quarters, have had dinner,

[Lieutenant Colonel later Brigadier General, Charles Frederick Cox CMG DSO, 1863-1944, railway auditor, soldier and politician, was in command of the (dismounted) 6th Light Horse at Gallipoli. He was wounded in May 1915 but returned to service in July. From September that year he was in command of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, and from November commanded the 1st Light Horse Brigade, holding that position until the end of the war.]

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and now 9-45 p.m., by the same light as before am writing to you.
The great guns from the warship is sending forth its projectiles against the Turks on Gaba-Tepe peninsula. The rifles still crack, crack, crack, in all directions.

Good night! Good night. Good night.

Though the night is cold I shall undress and with my overcoat as covering I sha seek the sea water for a bath. The waves swish swash along the pebbles to the shore. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os] Car. [A line of Xs and Os] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os] Kit.

10.30 p.m. Have had a dip in the briny. The water was not cold but at the spot where I entered the pebbles were rather large & slippery. However it was cleaning, as far as salt water can be & it was pleasant. Feel right for another twenty-four hours.

From a war-ship away to the left front of our position a great gun from a war-ship has flashed forth fire a boom, a sharp thud, a rushing through the air, and after a time an explosion amongst the hills proclaim the start the course and the end of the projectiles journey from the interior of the gun to the Turkish terriorty. What was the effect mayhap the soldiers of the enemy do know. On our side by day the result is a matter of pure conjecture. At night there is no information. During daylight shells flycome from behind the enemy hills shriek, grumble, or whistle over the camps strike the ground or enter the water. Many have been within the scope of my vision, pieces of some have dropped alongside of me but not one has hit a gun pit an inhabited or occupied spot, or a man. I saw two

[Page 618]

men each had been grazed on the fore arm by a bullet or a shell fragment. After being here for two days one can easily understand how it takes a ton of metal to kill a man in war.

Again Good night. Good night. Good night
[A line of Xs and Os under each "good night".]

18.10.15 – 6.30 o’clock Monday morning. A drizzle of rain has been falling for some time. Have slept well & feel as fit as possible another days ramble round. I hope that Fiaschi comes with his camera today, because I should like to have the photographs, or rather the plates to take back with me. During the morning I may find the places where Larkin, MacLaurin, Onslow-Thompson and some others are buried. I think that I wrote down before that I have seen Col. Braunds grave & have placed upon it a sprig of wattle blossom that Mollie had sent me from Moss Vale.
The gently moving sea water laps the land margin. All is quiet. No guns shooting. No rifles being discharged. No loud voices on the wharfs or beach. The men must be breakfasting. Jerrom has just arrived to get me a little warm water for shaving and fresh cold water to wash with. His boots are covered with sticky mud. "Good morning Jerrom. Good morning Sir. How are you this morning Jerrom? Very well Sir. How are you? First class. A disagreeable morning Sir. It looks it. What about wearing my long rubber boots this morning? Not a bad idea Sir. Right oh. Get them out of the bag. If you get me a little hot water & some cold you may leave them that I may shave and wash, while you make sure of being in time for your breakfast, for which you said you were

[Page 619]

, up to missing, it yesterday morning. Plenty of time Sir. Right, but I do not desire to keep you from breakfast."

The men are returning to the wharf in front of me there will in a few moments be the chatter and the other noises. The place where they are moving was dominated for some time by a gun on Gaba Tepe, it enfiladed the spot and one of the last fired shells from him, his name is Beachy Bill, in our lines, killed one man and wounded nine others on the waters edge about thirty yards below where I sit writing. He has not spoken for six days. Every one wonders why.
Some of the men must have brought food on to the wharf because I see them cutting up bread & starting to eat it. Others must have had the meal because they are carrying materia blocks of wood along towards the shore. I have not seen men fishing here, but I have no doubt that some thrifty and wise souls amongst them practise the Isaac Walton art. Fresh fish would be a most desireable article of diet to almost any man here. The variety of food is not great for either officers of men, though the former tell me that they are very much better off now than they were formerly.

The whole of these hills & valleys as they front the ocean have been transformed by our men. The shrubs have been removed, a road for wheeled traffic and a tramline with off shoots have been made along the beach. Three warfs have been run out a short way into the sea: Tracks, roads, & saps have been made all over and through the hills. Camps, hospital and other, for man & beast, have been located in the most safe & suitable ravines & hill-sides. Dug outs covered with canvass or iron are burrowed from the hill side, & in each a man or several live, from the general to the buglers. Men exist here as did the cave dwellers of some lands, there

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being necessity for the caves that one may be reasonably safe from the almost constant hail of shot and shell which is being rained from the enemies positions. On the ridges above the camp the fight with rifle fire is continuous night and day along the whole front, increasing in severity here slacking off there, thus varying hourly. It is all indeed truly wonderful.

At 10 a.m. I kept my tryst with Col Chas Cox, now acting in Brigadier General Ryries place as commander of the light horse on the right flank of the Anzac position. When walking over to the rendezvous I saw Col. Braunds grave with two pieces of wattle which came from Mollie stuck into the ground at the foot of the cross. Captain Fiaschi promised to come along during the afternoon to photograph the cross & the neighbouring ground.

Col. Cox took charge of me and took me into the trenches led me through the trenches. We were occupied the whole morning visiting this post and that, looking over the sand bags with a periscope on to the trenches in the occupation of the Turks. Peeping through loop holes to examine object more closely. Without seeing them one could not imagine the intricacy of these tunnels, cuttings, resting places, storage spots, sleeping ledges, observation posts, lookouts, peep holes, shafts, ventilating holes, sandbag structures and the rest. Without a guide one would be lost amongst them. The finest specimens of Australian manhood sleep in these trenches, stand with

[Brigadier General Sir Granville de Laune Ryrie, 1865-1937, grazier, politician and soldier, commanded the 2nd Light Horse Brigade in Egypt and at Gallipoli where he was wounded twice, receiving a shrapnel wound to the neck at the end of September 1915 which resulted in his transfer to No 1 AGH in Heliopolis. He returned to duty in November 1915.]

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rifles ready to pour out bullets on any enemy who may be within the scope of their vision, constantly on the watch, night and day they keep their vigil. It must be a strain but from the nerve point of view they appeared to me to be standing it well, and to be as happy as could be under the circumstances. The trenches wherein the men told me there were plenty of watchful enemy were distant from many of the front line firing posts 40, 60, 100, 120, to 300 or 400 yards and further, sandbags topped their earthworks wherever they required them for special protection; loopholes of all kinds gave them at frequent intervals the necessary spaces, in the line of bags, through which to look out on our defences, and poking the rifle barrel through them to fire at a periscope or anything else that might appear on our side. A constant warning to Col. Cox and me from the men was, keep your head down Sir, a bullet would be sent at you in a moment if you stand too high. "By George keep your head down Nash" he said to me.
Met many men reading the newly arrived letters and newspapers from Australia, Sydney Mails, Australasians, Sydney Morning Heralds, Arguses, and other well known weekly and daily publications from the various States of the Commonwealth. The letters were from their relations and friends. One man was had a black edged letter in which he was advised of the death of his brother in another portion of the fighting area.

After a thorough look round we were back for

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lunch or dinner at about 1 o’clock. The walk was full of interest. The Colonel was proud of the digging his men had performed. He said that when the light horsemen topped the ridges first it was "dig or die", the man who did not rapidly dig himself in would be shot by the men he was driving in front of him, yet under the pressing necessity they dug well and kept the Turk at bey. A feat which of itself must be classed amongst the great episodes of war.

The country in front of the trenches was a wide expanse of undulating country, the near ridges being named by the officers and men, one of the very nearest called Knife edge was a small ridge running to a point in a valley, this dividing on either side of it to become two smaller valleys ascending valleys. On this knife edge the Turks are firmly entrenched. On every near elevation the enemy works were to be seen. Away to the right of us projecting into the waters of the Aegean Sea was Gaba Tepe (Hill Tepe [equals] HIll.) peninsula, being a raised piece of ground – 50 to 150 feet high – ending abruptly at the waters edge. Up to the left of us was Pine Ridge, being lost to our view as it stretched to One Pine Hill. Away In the middle distance was a flat called the Olive Grove wherein are placed the guns belonging to the Enemy. With these they enfilade Anzac beach, and it is said to the home of Beachy Bill, whose voice as I have written before has been silent for more than a week.

[Page 623]

More distant still is the long ridge called Sed El Bar which stretches from the Dardanells water to the Aegean seas. Further away on the sky line and to the right was Achi Baba, the highest point in the panorama before me. At still greater distance were the mountains of Turkey in Europe. This last sentence is wrong the informing officer spoke without knowledge, Achi Baba is between us & Helles Burnu.

During the afternoon there was a continuous battle between the opposing forces. The rifles spitting forth their death bearing pellets, the great guns roaring forth defiance each with his special voice and hurling projectiles of various weights through the still atmosphere, each telling of its passing, in sounds which soon become familiar, to the ear of him who lives here; so that any ordinary officer or man can say: "That is the 75 from the Turkish side. That is a howitzer. That is a 4.5 from the foot of the hill. The enemy are now firing at the guns which are in our front line seeking to destroy our gun pits and the officer is particularly proud of himself if he can so place a machine gun that the Turks cannot find out from where it is pouring out its hail of bullets

Col. Cox & I were walking along the edge of Shrapnell green when a sharp whisking whiz passed close to us, he ducked so did I, and within ten yards of us lodged in the ground a piece of shell which weighed two or three pounds, I have it hung in my dug out as a

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and if fortune is kind to us I may some day show it to you.
A sad episode occurred during the afternoon. A big gun, 4.5 they call it, is place down the hill from the light horse camp. One cartridge fired by it exploded before reaching the top of the ridge, the contents went in amongst our men killed one, severely wounded another, and slightly wounded a third. The third man looking at the second and noting that he was sufficiently seriously hit in the neck to be sent away remarked: "Give you a fiver for your wound I’m sick of this blooming place". What think you of that?
Last week a like accident happened from the same gun. Since then on a whistle is blown three blasts to warn the men at work and living on the hill side that a shot is about to be fired. More or less of a move is made from the line of fire.

As I was returning to my quarters I called in to see Dr Bean from Wallsend. He is in charge of an ambulance on the beach near the right flank. Five medical men are with him several being from Sydney. He looks well but I am not sure whether he was pleased or not to see me.

7.30 p.m. Here I am again in my dug-out with a lamp beside me writing to you. The last few sheets were filled before dinner. Jerrom has gone for the night.

A great battle is taking place on the highest point of the ridge behind the main camp and up from the beach, a small area taken by our men soon after the first landing. Rifles shots. Machine guns & big guns follow one another and accompany each other in rapid succession. The clack clack clack

[Lieutenant Colonel Harold Knowles Bean, 1857-1916, medical practitioner of Wallsend, NSW, served with the Australian Army Medical Corps in the South African War. He joined the AAMC on 1 November 1914 and embarked from Brisbane on 16 December 1914 on HMAT A30 Borda in command of the 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance, 2nd Light Horse Brigade. He served at Gallipoli and later with the 3rd Light Horse Filed Ambulance in Egypt. He became seriously ill there, and died at sea on the way home to Australia on 25 September 1916.]

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,hammer hammer hamer, of the machine guns break into the fray with startling suddeness A great gun, on a warship away to the left, spoke six times in succession: flash, boom bong, swish swish swish swish, ending away in the hills with a bang. The character of the noise immediately following the flash depend upon the stratum of air through which the projectile and its accompanying column of gas and smoke are forced or force themselves. This relationship of gun air & surrounding country give rise to the variations in the sounds which designate to the listening men the special weapon from which has just been discharged. What injuries to men result from all this clatter and sending into the air of smoke iron lead brass and copper? Apparently very little.

Sleepy. A short read and then to bed.
Good night. Good Night. Good night.
[Three groups of Xs and Os]
Car. Joe. Kitty.

9.30 a.m. The morning has broken fair. Sea smooth. clouds high up in the sky. Imbros island, its mountains, are sillouhetted against the Western sky. Somewhat to the North is Samothrace, an island of mountains with a very ancient history. Steaming across the water horizon from South to North, in succession, is a fleet of war ships heading apparently for Sulva bay [Suvla Bay]. Wonder what the arriving of so many portends?

Two hospital ships still lie in the offing and at the wharf a hospital barge is receiving the sick men to take them to the ships, a sad procession is this stretcher after stretcher few wounded but many sick.

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Enteric troubles mostly. The majority of sick men walk on board but several stretchers have gone too while I have been writing here.

The mule, of the medium sized variety, is the beast of burthen that does the carrying and dragging here. They move the food for man beasts and guns. Docile manageable and willing they require but directing by the soldiers from India, mostly turbaned men from the Punjab who have charge of them. There are but few horses to be seen. All animals are in good condition.
10.30 a.m. The booming of the great guns, on both sides, has ceased, even the rifle fire is stilled. The combatants must have wearied of the contest. The sick men more or less wearied and on stretchers continue to file on to the barge. Ah me the pity of it all.
Those masses of metal the warships move lazily, apparently, along the horizon. The men on the shore I note are busy unloading and loading what is required on shore, while The men of the medical unit are performing their allotted task.
Boom!!! A warship speaks. Boom!!! Another warship breaks in upon the still atmosphere that overspreads the sea. Boom!!! A third.

I must away to explore another portion of the fighting line. For the present goodbye.

One sentence more. Last evening it was notified that Sir Ian Hamilton is leaving this command, and that another General officer has taken his place. You already know more about it than we.
The laden hospital barge has moved away, bound for the hospital ship.

6 p.m. And this is the anniversary of the birth of Kafoline [Kathleen]. Good my Kafoline. May God bless you and grant to you many many happy returns of the day.

[Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, 1853-1947, British general, was Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli. The failure of the campaign resulted in his being removed from command on 14 October 1915. He was replaced on 15 October 1915 by General Charles Monro, who recommended the evacuation of all troops from Gallipoli.]

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When walking between 5 p.m. & 5-45 p.m. from Popes Hill and Shrapnell gully to my dug out I was telling Lieut. Col. Millard what a neglectful boy I was not to have left a week end telegram to be sent conveying my congratulations to my Baby on her berth [birth] anniversary I added that she was aware of my being at Anzac and that she would know the reason for the delay in dispatching to her a message from my place of residence. He said that he was sure that she would forgive me under the circumstances.
The hour for the evening meal approaches, I must away as I do not like being late. Later on words will be set down to tell you about my travels during the afternoon. Good bye for the present

8 p.m. About 11-30 a.m. I went to the headquarters of the 2nd Australian Division and there met Major Williams, Lieut Col. Millard. (Dr Millard of the Coast Hospital), General Legge, & others. Millard invited me to lunch.

About 2 o’clock we set out for the trenches, passing over much of the ground that was so gallantly traversed by your fellow countrymen on the 25th & 26th of April we came to the Sap (travelling road) which connects the various points in the present firing line. In it we met officers and men who hail from Sydney with its subburbs and many other places in New South Wales. One man named Manifold [Manefield] I knew as a child in Wallsend, and many of his relations were of my acquaintance & my patients.

[Lieutenant, later Captain, Ernest Thomas Manefield MC, shop assistant from Wallsend, NSW, joined the army on 5 May 1915 aged 21 and embarked from Sydney on 12 May 1915 on HMAT A32 Themistocles with C Company, 17th Infantry Battalion, 5th Infantry Brigade. He served at Gallipoli and later in France where he was awarded the Military Cross for actions in the field during the attack on Mont St Quentin on 31 August 1918. He returned to Australia in 1919.]

[Page 628]

It was not altogether with pleasant feelings that I saw these splendid specimens of manhood living like rabbits with a rifle and fixed bayonet at the side of each one, when the thought flashed across the mind, how badly they are needed in far away Australia to grow wheat, dig for coal, and do the one thousand and one acts essential to helping the country on prosperity’s road. Yet there was a feeling of pride when the further thought came up, that each is on the Empire’s business standing as a sentinel to uphold the best traditions of our race & our civilisation, prepared to give his life, if necessary, as proof that he requires no German Kultur, & that he will do his best to keep the Briton and the Briton’s cause in the world’s van, where the principles of liberty and justice will be held inviolate in accord with the best traditions of the Empire of which he is a citizen.
You should be proud of your countrymen. When compared with other men, from all parts of the Empire, there is not one his superior in those many qualities which appertain to the best of fighters and to those who by their knowledge energy and grit have a right to demand the first place in the Sun. Within fifteen, twenty, forty, sixty, or one hundred yards these men sit or stand behind trenches and sandbags, ready at any

[Page 629]

instant to seize a rifle and with it by bullet or bayonet bid defiance to the Turk and his German officer. In these places, & under such circumstances, these young officers and men from New South Wales and other portions of Australia spend anxious days and nights. Not pressed soldiers day but free men who as volunteers have come ten thousand miles to perform what work may constitute the share of each in bringing to a favourable conclusion for the British Empire of the greatest war that has been on this our earth.

After traveling through Walkers Ridge, Popes Hill, Quinns Post and many other places we were back at Captain Millards dug-out by 5 p.m.

At In front of the trench were many dead bodies of men who had been killed during the last effort made by our men to push forward. The helmets, the make of the clothing, the colour of the cloth denoted the Australian soldier. At this spot the advanced lines are within thirty yards, & the bomb throwing redoubts are within ten yards of one another. Under cover of darkness a man will creep out t the heap of thrown out earth & from behind it heave jam tin bombs or cricket ball bombs upon into the Turkish trenches. The Turk performs the same manouver against our men. Just think of it.

When one looks back to the beach from the highest spots occupied by our men, and surveys with

[Page 630]

his eyes the narrow valleys, and the steep sand hills, and the well nigh inaccessible hill sides and ridges upon which they reside and keep everlasting watchful lookout, he marvels how it was possible for ordinary mortal men, to reach them in the face of an opposing force be it ever so small. They were not ordinary mortals they were extraordinary men who by the historians of the future will be classed as the Agamemnons, Achilles, and others of like reputation, of the 20th Century
 
I did not find the graves of MacLaurin, Onslow-Thompson, or Larkin, but I hope to do so tomorrow morning when Col. Millard has promised to make enquiries with me and to visit the only part of the position to which I have not been.
As far as gun fire & general battle today has been quiet. During the late morning hours the big guns took a hand but they soon desisted.
Tonight 8.45 p.m. an occasional shell whizes through the air but others do not follow it.

A Turkish sniper killed two men in rapid succession at a point in Shrapnell Gully just before we got to the place this afternoon. When coming down this gully we came to an Ambulance. Here I met Dr. (Major) Phipps. He told me that he had a letter just recently from Maggie & that she reported Mary Nellie & the rest as being quite well.
9-50 p.m. Again is a hospital ship in the offing been filled from the shore. There is a heavy wastage in sick going on mongst the Australian solders here. Pity. Great pity.

[Major, later Lieutenant Colonel, John Hare Phipps DSO, surgeon of Mosman, NSW, joined the army on 25 March 1915 and embarked from Sydney on 31 May 1915 on HMAT A31 Ajana with the 5th Field Ambulance. He served at Gallipoli and later in France.]

[Page 631]

Many happy returns today to my Sweet Kathleen Monica. God bless her.
The wind howls in gusts. The air grows cold. It is necessary for me to be astir at 6 A.M. tomorrow.
Good night. Good night. Good Night.
[Three groups of Xs and Os]
Caroline. Josephine. Kathleen.

20-10-15 – 5-10 p.m. On this 20th of October what have I been doing? Wednesday. A priest, Maltese by birth and residence, told me yesterday, that he was to say Mass this morning, in a cutting in the side of the hill behind his hut at 7 o’clock. I was up to time. A Maltese officer with several of his countrymen who are working here were present. The priest asked me to serve and I did so.

Breakfast over I walked up Rest Gully to the abode of Dr. Millard. Called to see & speak with General Legge. Sorry to note that he is not keeping free from the prevailing sicknesses. He told me that he has rheumatic pains, skin irritation, and enteritis. Hope that he will soon be improved because he should know his work well.

On my road up the valley a man was shot close to me. A bullet passed through his thigh. He was taken to the casualty hospital near by. Millard and I soon set out for a round of the trench area to which I had not been before. I found the crosses which marked the resting places for the bodies of Colonel MacLaurin, Col. Onslow Thompson, having previously seen that of Col. Braund. Millard took photographs of each of these & when I have the negatives developed I shall said the pictures to you

[Page 632]

for distribution. Besides those he took for me a picture of the head cross & grave of Captain E. F. R. Bage, who was with Mawson at the South Pole and who Car will remember travelled from Melbourne to Hobart on the same steamer as we did on one occasion. His family are friends to the Buckleys in St. Kilda.

The trenches we travelled are driven through the hills in all directions, each leading to some place in the firing line from whence our men observe or fire at the enemy. This war is one of spade against spade as much as rifle against rifle. No one ten years ago would have dreamed that men of opposing armies were could dig themselves into the earth much after the manner of rabbits in a warren, with ledges & recesses for resting and all sorts of drives for communication.

You and all others in Australia have good cause to be proud of the men who represent you here. Their deeds of valour I have written about before. In general appearance they compare more than favourably with all others who have been in Egypt or on this peninsula, nearly every one of them is tall of stature, robust of figure, alert of in walk, active in movement, and intelligent. At the firing posts and in the trenches they appeared to me to be making the best of their surroundings, and to be keeping a watchful eye on the country and the enemy to whom each party is oppose. I felt proud of the boys as I spoke to each, not bothering whether he came for N. S. Wales or other part of Australia.

[Lieutenant, later Captain, Edward Frederick Robert Bage, of East St Kilda, Melbourne, embarked from Melbourne on 22 September 1914 aged 26 with 3rd Field Company Engineers. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 7 May 19915. Note: he appears in the AWM WW1 Embarkation Roll under Bags, and in the Nominal roll as Badge.]

[Page 633]

The Mothers who have such men can rejoice, as did the Spartan woman of old, that it has been their lot to be their Mothers.

A shave before the evening meal – 5.40 pm now.

7.25 p.m. Jerom has found for me bed sox and a covering for my head. The wind during the night sometimes whistles round my head in the dug-out, necessitating the covering of my bald head with the blanket, this is not entirely comfortable. When the wet & cold weather comes this place will be somewhat uncomfortable to live in. Our men still being here they will stand all inconveniences as well as will their adversaries.

When Millard & I were coming along the shore this afternoon, between 4-30 & 5 O’Clock, Beachy Bill fired from the Olive Grove, the shell exploded alongside of us & dropped into the water. A general scatter took place but he spoke no more. Some of those on the working on the beach told me that he has fired several times today.

The usual fight is going on tonight on the ridge above the hospital camp; rifle fire, machine guns, bombs. No ship has fired since dark. Two hospital ships await patients in the offing.

Good bye my dears. This letter maybe is too long. If so take it in pieces. God bless each of you.

Convey to my friends my best wishes & regards. To Maria a special share. To Pat Watt & the other girls my love

To each of you heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B Nash

[Three lines of Xs and Os]
Carrie Joseph Kaholine

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St.
Sydney
N. S. Wales.

[Page 634]

[Envelope with the original address crossed through and a new address written in a different hand.]

[Original address:]
O. H. M. Active Service

Sister Mary Hyacinth
Dominican Convent
Moss Vale
New South Wales
Australia

Franked
J B Nash L. Col.
Alexandria
27-10-15

[Re-addressed to:]
Miss Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

[Page 635]

[Reverse of the envelope on the previous page.]

Miss Nash
219 Macquarie St.,
Sydney.

[In addition there are some numbers or dates written on the envelope.]

[Page 636]

[First page of a letter, with the greeting line cut out.]

Anzac.
20 October 1915

It would amuse you, were you to see me seated on a camp chair in a hole dug out of the side of a sand and clay hill, which rises precipitously from the edge where the waters of the Aegean are gently lapping the land. The small waves roll gently in and with a soft roar proclaim the strike and recoil of their movement
The outpost of a casualty hospital is at my feet, to it the sick and wouned pour in continuously the twenty-four hours round. Near by on either side & higher up officers and men have dug-outs somewhat similar to mine. Two piers jut out into the sea serving as areas along which living, traffic and goods, traffic can pass from small steamers and the land.
In the distance are two hospital ships, each with its band of green lights extending from stem to stern, interrupted about the mid point by a red cross, these giving warning by night that hereon are but wounded men and non-combatants. The appearance suggests a fireworks display is about to take place, because in times of peace we have grown to associate brightly lighted ships with gala times and the firing of rockets and other gorgeous night lights

[Page 637]

[On this and subsequent pages of this letter, the top right-hand corner of the page, where J B Nash usually writes the name of the recipient, has been cut off.]

Jerrom and I left Alexandria and came via Mudros to Anzac. You have had account of from me till the time of my posting a letter about Wednesday last. We landed on Anzac beach about 1 A.M. on Saturday the 16th inst. Fortunately there was on board packet from Mudros a Doctor Carlisle whom I knew. He was kind, and taking Jerom and me under his protecting wing he found us a place wherein to sleep for the night, taking us to the 1st Casualty hospital for breakfast in the morning, we both have been quartered there since as guests to Lt. Col. Gordon, a doctor from Melbourne.
I did not know if there would be work here for me to perform. On reporting to Col. Howse he told me that there was nothing suitable for me. I then arranged that I was to stay for a week or so to look round. I have been so doing in the interval.
Each day I have found some pal of old acquaintance in or near Sydney and with him I have tramped the trenches, gone into the firing lines, looked over the parapets at the Turks and their defences not fifty and more yards away, have surveyed the country towards the point of the Galipoli Peninsula, over Gaba Tepe, Sedel Bar ridge stretching from the Dardanels to the Aegean Sea, at the mountains in Asia, and to the North the highlands of European Turkey. From where I sit in a dug-out writing, I see to the West the island Imbros, somewhat to the North of it Samothrace, and more to the North that part of Bulgaria which fronts the Aegean Sea,

[Page 638]

a piece of Europe that was given to the Bulgars as a reward for their victories over the Turks during the recent Balkan war. What strange things happen? After being enemies so lately, the two contestants, of but few years agone, are combined to fight the Briton, who for a long series of years has been the best friend to all the Balkan States. Such are the viscissitudes of political necessities. The victories of the Germans over the Russians have terrorised the rulers and inhabitants of the small states which are suffered to exist under separate rulers on the Balkan portion of Europe.

Away on the ridges behind me the rifles are cracking as the opposing troops fire at one another or at the sandbags, edges of the trenches, the loopholes, or heads appearing. The bang bang bang in sharp notes of the rifles, the rapid clack clack clack hammer hammer hammer of the machine guns, followed by the boom of a bomb or grenade, indicate a sharp tussle at any portion of the lines. Such exchanges are taking place the twenty four hours round. Now & then a war ship comes into position from which her guns can be pointed at a part of the lines wherein are Turks. A flash out to sea, a great boom or bang echoed from the hills & valleys, and a burst amongst the country ridges, proclaim that a shell has traversed the atmosphere & has ended by exploding.
Before breakfast this morning fifteen such shots

[Page 639]

were fired. About five o’clock this afternoon nine were sent to search the enemy positions. Just now 10 p.m. a howitzer gun a little way along the beach from me performed her alloted task three times
There is a gun named by our men Beachy Bill. He has been a terror to the space that surround the wharfs and that which lies between the water’s edge and the rising lands, but a few yards this. He had not fired for some seven days. This afternoon he began again sending in some six shots. As Dr. Millard & I were walking along the beach a terrible whiz flew past, a splash in the water near proclaimed the arrival of another messenger from the Olive Grove away beyond Gaba Tepe.
The officers at dinner were telling me tonight that when Beachy was at his best & the Turks held the Anafarta position on the left of our line, the beach was enfiladed from both flanks, shot and shell poured upon them, and the position of their hospital was almost untenable. Beachy has had the game to himself for some time.

When the girls have finished with the letter to them posted this week they might send it to you. It contains much more than I can write to you. Please return the letter to them?
No one can imagine the difficulties which the Australians & New Zealanders

[Page 640]

had to face when they landed on the 25th of April. What they accomplished is incredible of belief. The hills and valleys were so irregular steep and long, that none but those endowed with the greatest of fighting gifts could have reached the summits againt even a very weak enemy. That our men did it will stand to the credit of their grit and prowess for ever. It was wonderful. One has just cause to be proud of the Australian as he is seen in Egypt and here. – Again a great gun speaks; once; twice; thrice; four times; five times; no more. –

How great a, – six – contrast is the peaceful water as – seven – water as it gently laps the shore, – eight – advancing and receding in irregular se – nine – quence. The gun is a howitzer – ten –

After my – eleven – few days experience here the conclusion forced upon me is:– How wonderful are the works of God; of what great size the world is; how puny are the acts of Man.

This morning a Maltese priest said mass in a dug out open to high heaven – twelve – I served. – thirteen – A Maltese officer & – fourteen – some twenty Maltese labourers were the congregation – fourteen – This afternoon I met Father Fahey – fifteen – who has been at Anzac since the 25th of April. There is no more popular man here. He has done great & good work. He is joviality itself &

[Page 641]

helps to keep cheerful all those with whom he comes into contact.
The clatter of the Machine guns again. I must to bed. Good night. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]

21-10-15 – 6.30 a.m. When the last O hereon had been made last night I undressed put on my long boots, overcoat, and provided with towels and soap went to the beach & had a dip in the salt sea water. The morning air was sharp but the water was not too cold. Straight back to my dugout, into blanket street, a brief read at Homers Iliad, then to sleep.

Just think of it not a sound of a shot has impinged on my ear since I have waked. Each side must be taking a brief holiday.

Did I tell you the following? Where the trenches are close to one another and a man is present who can speak the languages of both soldiers, a periscope is waved a few times above one trench, response to the signal is made, talk ensues, the Turks throw cigarettes to the Australians, & these throw tins of Bully beef to the Turks, the last named make acknowledgements indicating which kind is most pleasing. Such is not an uncommon occurrence. It is said to happen if the German officers be away.

Snipers, that is single individuals on either side, perch themselves on overlooking spots conceal themselves in many ways from view, and from their resting spots look out for and shoot at any man who may come within range of their rifles.

[Page 642]

The day before yesterday a Turkish sniper killed two of our men in rapid succession one being a fighting soldier the second an ambulance man who went to his assistance.

Yesterday when I was looking for the places where Col. MacLaurin and Sgt. Larkin are buried, I got to the side of an exposed ridge, several men saw me and [c]alled out look out Sir you may be sniped there from the Chess-board, this being the name of a place occupied by the Turks. At head quarters I was informed that a sniper on our side has 181 Turks to his credit. What think you of that? Would it not in peace time be considered to be savage murder? The mind of man and his view of killed are much different during peace and war.

Yesterday I was speaking about Dr Brennan. Of him some one told me as follows: During a heavy fight at the commencement of the campaign here many of his men were killed or wounded on a spot near to him. When there was a lul he rushed out, held up his arm with the red cross upon it. The Turks ceased firing and allowed him to attend to all the wounded men. A brave deed well done.

You may judge from some passages in the foregoing that there is some danger from shot and shell at Anzac. Indeed not a spot can be said to be entirely safe. Yet everyone walks about and works, by day & by night as if he were in Moss Vale. When Beachy Bill or one of his companions sends a shell close to or into a group of men, there is a scatter, & a rush for safe places, of course it is too late a move from that shell, but

[Page 643]

others may follow from the same source.

A little while before my arrival a bursting shell from him just below my residence struck eleven men killing one & injuring the others more or less severely. He commands respect.

When walking along the beach yesterday morning I met Joe O’Sullivan, brother to Dora. He is in the force here. As talkative as ever, and as free in his speech favourable or condemnatory of individuals as ever. He told me that one of his younger brothers, Den, has been given a Commission and that he has left Australia. Joe appears to be working hard. Judging from his talk he is as jolly as a sandboy, and with his bearded chin he looks as savage wild as a warrior should.

Many an Australian mother or sister would smile if she but saw her son or brother up in the front trenches frying his two pieces of bacon in the lid of a mess tin over a fire coming giving heat from a few twigs. Wood for fuel and other purposes is very scarce, because there are no trees growing, shrubs, not more than four feet high, constitute the flora. A few creepers, somewhat after the style of the false Sarsaparilla which flowers in blue during September or October around Moss Vale, twine amongst the shrubs. Men pick up every particle of dry twig and dig out roots, with them to make fires for cooking. Bacon appears to be the most frequently obtainable of meat. Fresh beef is to be had sometimes. Tinned Beef in tins is in plenty.
No fifing yet 7-15 a.m. I must get ready for breakfast which is set down for 8.30 a.m.

[Page 644]

21-10-15. 9-30 p.m. Most of the day I have been wandering through the trenches under the guidance of friendly officers. During the morning I went nearer to the fighting places than ever. A Major Fitzgerald, formerly a lieutenant in the Irish Rifles under me was my guide. He took me to the front line trenches on Russels Top where ours and the enemys are separated by but twenty to forty yards, and on through a tunnel to a bomb shelter which is but ten feet from the bomb shelter from which the
Turks throw their bombs at our men.
It makes one marvel as he sees young men from Sydney & other parts of New South Wales standing with loaded rifles looking through with periscopes over the sandbags, or through the loop holes for any enemy at whom to fire a bullet or to throw a bomb. Brave and patient are they.
Near a hole in the top of the tunnel one or two youths stand with bayonets fixed & barrel loaded ready to give to any venturesome Turk who may try his fortune at the opening. Day and night these sentinels of the Empire, who have come of their own free will, stand ready to sacrifice their lives or kill the enemy who is exhibiting equal bravery within but a few yards of him. Is it no all wonderful? Men from Manly, Mosman, Waverly, Paddington, Bondi, Sydney City, Balmain, Tamworth, Cooma, Bourke, Cowra, & many another town & hamlet in sunny New South Wales, keep vigils and uncomplainingly do their duty to their country & theire King.

[Major Richard Francis Fitzgerald, DSO, had served with the NSW Irish Rifle Regiment prior to the outbreak of the war. He embarked from Sydney on 25 June 1915 with the 20th Infantry Battalion and served at Gallipoli and in France. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in June 1916. He returned to Australia in 1919.]

[Page 645]

Away to the right, off the Gaba Tepe peninsula the great form of a warship has just spoken four times, sending shells probably into the Olive Grove, where the enemy has several guns emplaced. From them during the day he fires upon various portions of our area of occupation. – Boom again – It is somewhere on the – Boom again – flat midst those olive trees that Beachy Bill has his home.
Joe O’Sullivan was – Boom again – my pilot for – Boom again – a little time this morning. He is an entertaining ex – Boom again – agerator of the highest order. He is one of those men who can say much that other men would not venture, and – Boom again – He is a peculiar fellow. One never knows whether his is joking or talking seriously. He was to have – Boom again – called at 8 o’clock tonight, but he did not keep his tryst.
Rain falls – Boom again – gently, the wind is cold, I must to bed. Good night [A part-line of Xs and Os follows.]

22-10-15 – 6.30 a.m. The one hundred and tenth anniversary (21-10-15.) of the battle of Trafalgar passed off comparatively quietly in this section of the great war. The sky was obscured by clouds, blasts of wind whistled by occasionally, rain threatened. You remember how enthusiastic Little Hyman was about the yearly recurrence of the great sea fight between Nelson and the French. These then were our deadly enemies today are they our valliant friends.
This morning one of the Howitzer guns has sent 17 shells into the hills.

[Page 646]

A morning salutation, called here "the morning hate", as evening repetitions are designated "the evening hate". It is an unanswered question what good they do to us or how much harm to the Turks. With each shot and explosion there goes forth gas & metal for which each individual throughout the length and breadth of the Empire must in some way pay a share.

I see but few warships in the offing this morning. While I sit up on my stretcher, arms & head alone free from the comfortable surroundings of blanket street, I await the coming of Jerrom that he may procure for me a little hot water for shaving and cold fresh water for washing. The allowance on in the camp is one gallon per man per day. It is brought from somewhere across the sea, and pumped from a barge into tanks builtwhich are in safe dug-outs at various places. Jerrom has come. He looks somewhat frozen.

"All one’s life is a music, if one touches the notes rightly and in time. – But there must be no hurry." (The Ethics of the Dust.) The quotation upon my calendar. What think you of it in these times of war? The sentiments and ideas hardly fit in with the snap of the rifle, the crash of the grenade, the booming of guns, & the whistling of missiles through the air. Beneath are the following references. Franz Liszt born. 1811. Louis Sphor [Spohr] died 1859. Men of peace & pleasure.
How different from yesterdays, which were "Battle of Trafalgar, & death of Nelson 1905 1805. Battle of Elandslaagte 1899. Successful trial of Zeplin air ship 1900.

[Page 647]

10 p.m. This has been a day of clouds & threatening rain. With darkness the drops commenced to fall more rapidly, now they are a continuous mild downpour. The evening hate from the warship on either flank consisted in but four shells sent as complements from the sea to the land. Up on Walker’s Ridge & Russel’s Top the crack of the rifles ceases but for moments, a machine gun now & then pours forth its savage rapid hammer hammer, while occasionally a bomb resounds through the air. Wonderful men on both sides to keep the famous game going both night and day in fair and stormy weather.
This morning I saw two dead Turks; they were of a party that passed between two outposts to attack the camp, they were noticed & fired upon; the others of the daring men escaped to their own lines. They were both strong young men. Each was armed with rifle & bayonet, provided with plenty of ammunition & two varieties of bombs, the jam tin & the Cricket ball.

Good night my dear. Good night. Good night.
[A line of Xs and Os.]

23-10-15. – 3 p.m. Jerrom has all packed up we are timed to board the steamer for Mudros at 8.45 p.m. thence to embark for Egypt, where in due course we hope to arrive safely. There may be some work for me to do in Cairo or elsewhere it I shall tackle with gusto.

[Page 648]

What do I think of war, having lived for a week in its very midst.
Concentrated my ideas are:/

I
How wonderful are the works of God:
How great is the size of the world:
How puny the efforts of man in it.

II
But for the great Crime of the 19th Century, – The allowing by the British Government of the stream of manhood and womanhood, the best brain blood & muscle that ever flowed from any country as emigrants, to go to foreign lands, instead of being directed into the outposts of the Empire. For sixty years it was a huge river –, if there be a modern Pyrrhus mongst the generals of the British army, and the people of the Colonies number twenty to thirty millions, offsprings of a Caucasian an Anglo-Celtic base, he would have a sufficiency of soldiers upon which to draw to enable him to bid defiance to all enemies of the empire and if he so desired to conquer the world.

Note:/ You may remember that Pyrrhus won the last battle he fought in Italy against the Romans. When walking over the field after it he noted that every dead Roman had his wounds in front. He said:- "If these were my soldiers or I their general we should conquer the world."

[Page 649]

26-10-15. 10 a.m. – under the best of circumstances are regards atmospheric and sea conditions, are we in the good ship Demosthenes, ploughing the waters of the Mediterranean sea this morning. During three days I have been on my way back to Egypt from Anzac. But two Episodes, out of the ordinary, marked our progress South through the Aegean Sea. The officer on the bridge sighted a submarine, and at once turned the ship stern on to place where he saw her. If there were one near us no harm ensued.

Away on the port side a great column of water was seen to rise from the sea and climb upwards to the clouds, giving to us the impression that a broad dark band was connecting the clouds and the water, the end at the sea surface being much spread out at times resembling a ship. The spectacle lasted for about half an hour and then disappeared.

The ships Purser said to me this morning. Are you going to Australia with us? I wish that I was. How pleasant ’twould be just before Christmas to pop into 219 Macquarie Street and greet my daughters, and to without warning run to Moss Vale to salute my other daughter. What say you? It is hardly possible that such can come about. Had it been possible my fortune to have been badly but not lethally wounded at Anzac I might soon be on my way home. It is better not so.
Enclosed you will find a copy of the

[Page 650]

"Peninsula Press" and "War office Telegrams", which will serve to show to you the manner in which news is conveyed to the troops in the war fighting area. Copies are sent to the headquarters of each unit, and are posted at places where men do congregate, here one sees officers and soldiers reading the news. I am sending some copies to the Girls and to little Hyman.

When I get back to Cairo I should fin waiting for me letters and papers from Australia. It will be pleasant to sea your writing and to read the sentences which you have set out for my delectation.

This letter will be put into the post as soon as I reach Alexandria, that it may leave Egypt at the earliest moment that there is despatch for Australia.

An anecdote that may amuse you & your colleagues.
A priest on his rambles around Galipoli. Well known is he as one of the best. Coming up to a sentry he said:- "Are you an R.C.? No sor. I am a d-d sentry Sor, and if you do’nt hurry away quick them Turks over there will shoot you sure.

"There is not any virtue, the exercise of which, even momentarily, will not impress a new fairness upon the features." So saluted me this morning the quotation from "Modern Painters".

[Page 651]

26-10-15. 8 p.m. More than elven months have passed since the Kyarra left Sydney (24-11-15), here am I in the good ship Demosthenes on the Mediterranean sea approaching the port of Alexandria. All going well we should be safely at the wharf early on the morrow.

If such happy ending comes of the voyaging of an eventful three weeks, this letter will be dropped in the post, that account may in due course be with you of some of my experiences midst the scenes of peace and war.

How little did my mind ever anticipate that my eyes in old age should look upon Egypt the Isles of Greece, mongst them the sacred Island of Lemnos, European Turkey, and be witness to such sights as came within their scope at Lemnos. Let me hope that my words have, in some manner, given to you idea of war as it is waged under modern conditions, and in what degree your countrymen have borne themselves.

Of one thing be sure, you and all those native born to Australia may have just cause for pride in the prowess, as fighting men, of those native to your country. Your prayers should assail high heaven that God may deal leniently with their offences, & grant to them the highest reward that the brave deserve.
To M. M. Dominic & your Sisters my best regards & wishes.
To you tons of love & loads of kisses from
Your loving & affectionate father
John. B. Nash.

Sister. M. Hyacinth
Dominican Conv.
Moss Vales. N. S. Wales.

[Page 652]

[On letterhead of the Majestic Hotel, Alexandria.]

27 October 1915
2-10 p.m.

Dear Girls:/

Arrived & landed here safely.

At luncheon learned of the torpedoeing of a ship in the Gulf of Salonika or thereabouts, and the loss of a number of Australian Nurses. You no doubt have had information by cable of the event.

Jerrom has gone off for a polish up. No room is available for me until 4 p.m. I shall fill up the interval finishing

[Page 653]

a few letters and taking them to the post.

Once more goodbye. Love in abundance & kisses in loads.

Your affct & lvg Father
John. B. Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie St
Sydney
N. S Wales
Australia

[HMTS Marquette was torpedoed on 23 October 1915. Ten of the 36 New Zealand nurses on board drowned.]

[Page 654]

P.S. 27.10-15 – 11 a.m.

Dear Girls:/
Fancy seeing a real newspaper – Egyptian Gazette, after an interval of three weeks One paragraph announces that a mail for Australia will be made up in Alexandria on tomorrow, therefore these & other letters should have early dispatch from Egypt. Good.

The S.S. Demosthenes has been anchored in the harbour not far from many wharfs since 9 a.m. and no sign is made for moving to another place. It will come in due time.

The account of the death of Miss Cavell, by shooting in Belgium at German hands, is the chief cablegram information. Let us hope that some day the Kaiser and his men will be forced to pay heavily for their conduct. When? Oh when?

The situation in France has apparently little changed. Likewise does the news impress one in regard to the fight on the Western front.

A strong man is still wanted in both the political and the military lead ’mongst the people in London. Kitchener as an organiser has been, with his limited powers the correct thing. Oh for an Alexander, a Pyrrhus, a Hannibal, or a Napoleon, to direct and guide our fighting men?

Oh for a million fighting men of the same mental calibre and physical build of our Australians? Were they available a general of proper gifts and suitable education could do all that is required to make our cause victorious.

[Edith Louisa Cavell, 1865-1915, was a British nurse working in Belgium in the early months of the War, known for her efforts to save the lives of soldiers from both sides. She was arrested by the Germans, tried and executed by firing squad on 12 October 1915 for helping Allied soldiers escape.]

[Page 655]

P.S.
No news from Australia in the Egyptian Gazette. A feast no doubt awaits me in letters and papers that are at Cairo If it be not so I shall be disappointed. Not knowing how long I should be away from Egypt, I gave instructions to hold my correspondence here until I sent other advice.

Fancy this day so close to the end of October? Little more than two months and 1915 will have been numbered as amongst those reaped by the scythe of old father Time. In few weeks will behove me to send to you greetings for the Christmas season, & to wish you all happiness for the beginning of another year.

Of late there has been no necessity for me to write to you on business matters, you have all the threads of my affairs in your hands, & under wise guidance, I have every confidence in your judgment and actions.

The temperature of the atmosphere at Alexandria differs widely from that at Galipoli. My underclothing has had to be left off this morning, and I could not stand a blanket during last night.

Probably we shall go on to Cairo tomorrow, and after communicating with General Ford I may be at work again soon.

Love & kisses as of yore
Your loving & affectionate Father
John. B. Nash.

[Page 656]

c/o D. M. S. Cairo
Egypt
2 Novbr 1915

My dear Girls:

All souls day and I am at Heliopolis Palace hotel, the lodgement of the No 1. A. General Hospital, now run by Col Newmarch with his black pipe.

One of you letters that followed me to Lemnos has just come back, it has date The dates are 26 & 29 August 1915

Tabbie dear:/ Yes Macquarie St will be one worth showing to visitors when it is extended to the quay and the Western side well laid out and planted. Good Joey to be so hard working in the garden. Sweet girl to let Joey have share of your water bottle which warmed the sheets for your tootsies! You forgot to finish the letter. Weather too cold. Eh?

Joseph dear:
Did the hot bottle warm your feet too dear? I hope so.
The electric lamp advts. must add to the brightness of the city. Ramsay Smith & Barret will yet get even with the trippers who caused them so much trouble. The time is rapidly approaching for their justice to dealt out to the guilty creatures.
Glad that you wrote to the Keohans. Good girl. I shall write to Mrs K. tonight. Thanks for the address.

[Page 657]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Let us hope that some day after all our losses some real advance will be made by our side in a war theatre. It is disheartening to be stuck up everywhere. Almost makes one swear to think of it. We can but hope.
For some days I have been wondering if you were informed about the torpedoeing of the ship somewhere south of Salonika with a lot of New Zealand nurses on board. Rumour has been busy for ten days and, confirmation appears to be with us. Hard to believe anything, even when one sees it.
Mrs Parsons is good to take you out so often. Please thank her from me.
I posted the letter to Dr Fisher thanking him & Mrs F. for being so kind to my Kitty.

Sorry to learn about Charley Regan. Must write to Mrs R. soon. R.I.P.
Told you about Mrs Bacon in my last. Have not see her since Sunday. Mrs Sawkins has had a bad time with her savage. Wonder how she stands it?
I knew Donald MacLaurin. often met him with his father in the gardens.
You too forgot to end your letter.

A mail is expected Daily from Australia, & letters from you will be of late dates.

This afternoon with two other doctors I went for a trip round old Cairo. We visited the Nilometer where for many centuries on the upper end of Roda Island [Rhoda Island] the height of the flood waters was guaged. Close by is the spot on the bank of the Nile where ’tis believed that Pharoes daughter found Moses.

[Page 658]

We were at a Mosque & some Coptic churches. One of the churches is built over a cave where it is said the Virgin Mary, Jesus, & St Joseph rested during their journey from the land of Herod to Heliopolis. All the buildings are tawdry, ’mongst slums of the worst order, all the decorations and the paintings are of historical value only. I asked the attendants to sell me some of the wood work, but each said that money could not buy them Their value too is historical and not artistic. Neither of the men knows Cairo, each was lost in wonder at the city, the river, the streets, the buildings, the dirt, and the people, and their ways.

Good night. More anon.

3-11-15. Enclosed you will find a cutting from the Egyptian Gazette. The matter was I thought rather well put. What think you.

Another paragraph told narrated how an article intended for publication, was submitted for censorship, it contained the Kipling line, "the captains and the kings depart", as a quotation. The gentleman who cut out the three words "and the kings", has explained that he did so because in the article submitted no mention was made of the presence of any kings therefore the words must be wrong.

Another hero has altered Browning. "The Times tells that in an account of the fighting at Hulluch which it submitted to the Censor were quoted Browning’s lines:-
Twenty-nine distinct damnations
One sure if the other fails"
When the despatch came back the only material alteration was that the words "twenty-nine distinct" were ruled out, and replaced by the one word "different". Wise censors. Bai Jove!!!

[Page 659]

Do not make use of the enclosed article for publication unless until you have a following letter from me. Meanwhile it may add to your information about Anzac.

You will all be sorry to learn that I am sick. A beastly nuisance. For how long to be? How long??? If any serious change, which involves danger, comes into the sickness the authorities will keep you advised of my condition Failing such news you may assume that I am all right. Before this reaches you, if I be recovered you will receive a cable message from me, and all will be well.

Not much good at writing today, the spirit is willing but the muscles of my arm will not keep driving the pen. Pray forgive me.

Tell Mollie please that, as the mail closes here this afternoon, there may be no letter for her dated this week. Say a prayer sometimes for a poor old man, if you please?

Good bye. God bless you all.
May Fortune there be with you now & ever the best gifts at the sweetest smiles of Fortune.
To my friends kind regards. To each of you heaps of love & loads of kisses from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John. B. Nash.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales.
Australia

[At the foot of the page are three four-line blocks of Xs and Os, and the words:]
Caggie Joseph. Kitty.

[Page 660]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the letter "M".]

Mena House
The pyramids
Egypt
6-3-15.

Mollie dear:/

The ides of March approach and we are still at Mena House, close to the great pyramid of Cheops or Kheops.

For the Nurses Journal of Sydney my pen is building an article on a Days Outing in Egypt, it will likely be published, if so the girls can send to you a copy if you so desire, the matter may not be new to you but twill be arranged in different sequence and may be worth perusing.

Must try tomorrow to see some of the places in Cairo.

Enclosed you will find a newspaper cutting on which is printed an interesting & instructive article upon Benedict XV as a probable peace maker. It may even when you receive it be of interest to M. M. Joseph, other of the Sisters & you.

7.3-15. The third Sunday in lent. I missed hearing mass today because a parade of all ranks was held at 9 a.m.; the order for it was not brought to my attention till 8 a.m.

How is that after the preaching of the Epistle and the Gospel as set down for today, all the sins as set written about therein a very prevalent in our time? In this old land of Egypt, daily warning has to be given to the Australian warriors against giving way to temptation & yeilding to the snares of the devil. It is strange, it is passing strange.

Yesterday morning I visited a school in a native village close by. It is called Mena village, & is occupied by some 3000 people. The master presides over a small room, not as large as that which is to the left of the entrance door of the Maitland

[Page 661]

convent. About half of it is roofed over, the other half open to high heaven, except for the intervention of a trellis upon which grows a vine, this when the leaves are on will modify the heat of the suns rays. A seat for the dominie, & his senior assistant. A junior was ’mongst the scholars. Rudley built desks & forms were closely packed Some forty children held each a metal tablet, like a slate, and a brush. With the latter representations of Arabic characters were printed on the former, in sequence from right to left. A portion of one wall was was blackened doing duty for a black board, on it were painted characters & figures.
In response to my request the youngsters were started at a lesson. Off each voice started at its top, rattling out sounds, which to me appeared to be a race without meaning. "What are they saying? "Repeating verses from the Khoran." The Khoran is the book for the Mahomedan, which corresponds to the bible with us. No boy would allow me to look at his tablet till permission had been given by the head teacher.

The conditions, under which the instruction was being given, would be classed by me as most insanitary, and likely to lead to the spread of all sorts of diseases, amongst the children and the people generally. Does it do so here? I do not know. My guide told me that "Mena village is a very healthy place. Not like Cairo which is unhealthy". If it be so then to me, ’tis wonder, ’tis, tis so. But this is Egypt, not Australia. Every inhabitant of today’s Pharoe’s land is afflicted with hydrophobia as much as we may imagine had been their ancestors. The flood waters of Old Nile come from far off Abyssinia to deposit mud and revive the land, not for wetting the mortal parts of the people

[Page 662]

In the Sydney Mail of date Jany 13th 1915, are pictures of the Broken Hill Turks & the shooting, which came here first in your letter which was posted in Moss Vale and reached me just 28 days thereafter. A Lieutenant Resch was head of the party who went to bring in the men who had shot the people in the picknickers train. He is probably a nephew of Edmund Resch, the brewer, of Sydney, a man well known to me. It saved a lot of trouble when the two savages were killed. They were in our own country and had no right to fire on any one let alone a defenceless lot such as would be in an excursion tram on New Years day. They were silly fanatics.

The war drags its terrible length along. When will it end? No prospect of its doing so is in sight, but the great battles of the approaching summer should so weaken one or other side that either termination will be measurable, else will another winter be utilised to accumulate power to be launched into the fray once again during the summer of 1916 A.D. At our table some officers without training or experience in military or other matters talk the most purile of silly nonsense, it almost makes fills me with disgust to have to listen to them. However it cannot be helped. A Dr Springthorpe from Melbourne is the most ignorant and silly of the lot, he is over fifty years of age but has not yet grown up, nor has he ever learned the rudiments of ordinary civility, he is a boor of the highest order. God forgive me for so writing of any one?

7.3-15. 9 p.m. How strange it is to sit in my bedroom, look out at the starlit sky, raising my eyes from the 41st chapter of genesis, and read the history of Joseph as set out therein? The bugles of an Australian army sound the last post, warning all that the hour has come when all must to bed.

["The Battle of Broken Hill". On 1 January 1915 two men, flying the Turkish flag, fired on picknickers, travelling in an open ore train, from the protection of an ice cream vendor’s cart. Several people, including the two men who carried out the attack, were killed.

Lieutenant Colonel John William Springthorpe, physician of Melbourne, aged 59, embarked from Sydney on 28 November 1914 on HMAT A55 Kyarra with the 2nd Australian General Hospital.]

[Page 663]

While listening to the bugle’s notes, my mind is with the people of this country, back thousands and thousands of years ago, as my eyes pick up the words which tell to me the history of Pharoe’s dream, of the anterior dreams of his head butler & head baker, and of the manner in which Joseph, the prisoner, made interpretation of them. – 41-35 – "And let them gather up all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharoe, and let them keep food in the cities".
Here am I in this same land of Egypt wherein Joseph – 41-46. "And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharoe King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharoe, and went throughout all the land of Egypt".
When Col. Springthorpe returned a few days ago from a journey to Luxor, anciently Thebes, he mentioned that he had been shown places which are supposed to be some of the granaries wherein Joseph caused to be stored the grain which was to be a source of food for the people when the East wind had brought a famine upon the land. 41-57. "And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn, for that the famine was so sore in all the lands". The narative has lasted adown the ages. Is it possible that any persons come here and depart without reading the wonderful story?
Corn in Egypt there was then. Corn in Egypt there has been in varying quantity each year since. Corn in Egypt there is today. I saw some of it stored in the house of the Egyptian arab to whom my visit was paid yesterday. The many coloured coat has left its mark upon the page of time. Joseph’s brethern came to Egypt by the same route through the land of the Philistines, as did the Turkish invaders who few weeks ago sought to cross the Suez Canal, in an attempt to become masters of this country. Adown the intervening ages the same road has been used by all and sundry, those who desired to get from Asia Minor to the north of Africa. As did Jacob 46-6. "And they took their cattle and their goods which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him."

[Page 664]

And so the story goes on giving for those who have come after even unto this day instruction for guidance now and evere. Nor further must I go. you know it better than I whose eyes are weary.

Good night! Good night!!! Good night !!!!!
[A line of Xs and Os.]

8.3.15. The history of The Holy Family is connected with these parts, and if chance will favour me I may visit some of the places where members of it were.

Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the other Joseph, and others, who hold high places in the book, upon which our Christian ethics divine & moral, our laws civil and statutary, are based, as much today as ever lived portion or much of their lives in this land of Egypt, this wonder-land, this desert-land, this fertile valley, this land which it may good to visit, but to live out of which is a blessing to man & woman, where barrenness abuts so close on fertility that but a line separates them.

Good bye shall drop this in the post before 10 a.m.

To M. M. Joseph & her Colleagues may all blessings, honours & goodness befall.
To you goes much love & abundance of kisses from
Your lvg & affnt Father
John B. Nash

Sister M. Hyacinth
W. Maitland
N. S. Wales

[Page 665]

[The first page of a letter dated 16 November 1915, with attached newspaper clipping, which is transcribed here, and three pressed eucalyptus leaves. The full letter page appears on the next image and is transcribed on the next page. The gum leaves are explained on page 668.]

[Newspaper clipping:]
He Looked Up
"The spirit of the Navy remains unchanged whatever the dangers which confront it," writes Mr. Ashmead Bartlett. "I do not think I can describe it better than by quoting what was found by the Censor in the letter of a young bluejacket:–
" ‘Mother, it is sometimes very hot out here when the shells are dropping all about you and the submarines are hovering round, and you may strike a mine at any minute. At first I was a bit scared, but I remembered the words of the padre last Sunday, when he said:–
"Men, men, in times of trial and danger look upwards." I did look upwards, mother, and if there wasn’t a blooming aeroplane dropping bombs on us!’ "

[Page 666]

[First page of the letter referred to on the previous page.]

No 1. A. Gen. Hospital
Heliopolis
16 Novbr. 1915.

My dear Girls:/

A telegram has just reached me – 6-15 p.m. 16.11-15 – from you bearing date "5 Novbr. 1915. Sydney, 2-45 p.m.", as well as I can make out from the heirogyphics on the form. Many thanks for it. Much pleased at the words – "Remaining Macquarie St. Well." If living in Sydney & having to struggle for a crust I should hate to be other place than in our present street. You should be able to manage all right until I come back, and no one can tell how soon or how long hence that day may be, especially in view of the uncertainty of my future occupation. However time will tell.
I shall send the cable & envelope to the Director of the Egyptian State telegraphs and ask what has been the cause for delay in the delivery of the telegram. The 5th Novbr was a Friday, and if the cable were a week end one it should have found me on the 9th.

Most of these days I take a run round Cairo in a tram somewhere, to make the impressions of the city and its inhabitants the more lasting, that you shall have the greater benefit from them when we talk to each other again. This afternoon I travelled for more than one hour at the cost of 4 millimes, something less than ½d, & comfortably too. What think you. To one who knows how to live economically here

[Page 667]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

the cost per week must be small, because all things are, as the tram rides, much cheaper than in Sydney. To Australian eyes most eatables are horrid, as also to palates, but the resident has, no doubt, grown used to them, and our viands might be classed by them a coarse & uneatable.
Chaque un a sa gout, is applicable all over the world and in every manner of place.

Fortune smiling letters from you should reach me tomorrow or the next, because it has been said that a P & O liner from your end reached Suez yesterday. The dates should be to the 15th October.

Seven papers reached me just now the latest date is Septbr 6., or more than two months old. S.M.Hs from you amongst them. Many thanks. They all had correct addresses and show no signs of having gone wandering of Europe, England, or elsewhere. Spences circumlocution department has found some way for keeping them on the journey no doubt, just for amusement sake, & to show the independance of the public servant of those from who he derives his pay. Almost might as swear.

7.45 p.m. – A gentleman coming up in the lift from dinner said "I suppose that you are full up to dolly’s wax"?" I replied:– By jove that is what my children used to say. I have not heard the remark for some time". He responded:– "My children, 7 to 3 years old, say it now. :– My answer:– "A letter is on my table being got ready for my daughters, I shall repeat our sentences to them." I do not know the name of the doctor Captain who was talking to me.

9.45 p.m. Two doctor men have been in my room to them I have been showing Xray pictures in the

["I’m full up to dolly’s wax" meant a person had eaten enough and did not want any more, and refers to 19th and early 20th century children’s dolls which had wax heads attached to cloth bodies.]

[Page 668]

One of them a man from Victoria sits next to me at meal time, he is particularly intelligent, very cleanly in his habits and polite on every occasion.

When in the Ezbeheih gardens [Ezbekieh Gardens], in the center of Cairo this afternoon I plucked from a large gum tree a few of the leaves & of the fruit. I do not know the exact variety, Mr Maiden could tell of course at a glance.

Judging from recent information from London one wonders if the Government of Great Britain is about to break down under the stress of the war. A column in La Bourse Egyptienne of this evening is headed "La fausse nouvelle de la demission de Lord Kitchener". The heading and the following paragraphs are followed, after reading, in the brain by the suggestion "Where there is smoke there is sometimes fire". It will be somewhat disconcerting if a change has to come about in the leadership with us.

Good night. Good night. Good night. I shall add some words tomorrow morning and then drop the enclosing envelope in the post that it may be ready for the first outgoing mail. [A group of Xs and Os] Car. [A group of Xs and Os] Joe. [A group of Xs and Os] Kitty.

17-11-15 – 11 A.M. Have just been wondering whether to post this letter or await the chance of a mail bringing letters from you during the day. No notification has been given as to the outgoing of a mail for Australia, and as there has been at least one posted by me in time for any odd steamer I shall wait until the afternoon.

An English or rather Australian is acting as cook for the officers mess here. Yesterday was his first day. He put onions & tomatoes in the soup, and the seasoning in the roast fowl was well supplied with onions, a nasty taste has been left in my mouth, though I have used Charcoal, as also Carbolic to remove it. Notwithstanding these disabilities the meals were a great improvement upon that supplied by the local people, & it is said by those responsible that the cost will be less. Of course all these details depend upon the officer who runs the show, if he knows

[Page 669]

good food, how it should be cooked, & is not too much occupied or too lazy to see that those concerned work & utilise the material to the best advantage, all should be of the best. The mess secretary or the O.C. are the men to make it a success or otherwise. Fancy "The Pug" running any show. Ye gods! It is too ridiculous.

The roof of this Palace Hotel is in itself a spacious area whereon I judge, in good times, a gymnasium exists, races and all sorts of sports might be carried out with comfort and for both contestants and onlookers.

When looking out over the City I noted one tower which appeared to be higher than the dome of this or any other of the buildings. No two domes, or spires, or minarettes are exactly alike, as projecting towards into the atmosphere they cut out pieces of the sky. It is said that the humble architect – "Ernest Jasper. Architect. 1910" – is responsible for all the buildings in Heliopolis. If so he must have given many years to preparing the plans for the builders. There are no slums or other accomodation for poor people in this modern City of the Sun. I must make enquiries as to the rent paid for houses and flats.

The Mother to the present Sultan lives in a splendid building just on the outskirt of the city, next the desert, she must be in residence today, as indicated by the Sultans flag flying above the house. In the days of the Kehdive [Khedive] the present ruler in Egypt occupied the buildings. A guard of soldiers lives nearby on the desert and mounts at the entrance gates day and night, the men are Sudanese each arrayed in a gorgeous uniform. The Egyptian is not a warlike man, so the government has to get soldiers from ’mongst the Sudanese.

[Page 670]

"Big black bounding beggars" they look for the most part. It is like men who fight so well when trained by "Sgt. Whats-is-Name" from the British army, and led by the Empire’s officers. It is said that all the coloured races, of fighting stock, perform best when led by white officers. Do you know why that is so? One might expect them to do best when under the command of educated men of their own race and clan. Experience has taught that they do not so.

An Egyptian fly is bothering me. The whisp lies handy to my hand, if he persists I shall murder the irritating black devil. His forebears have long had a reputation in the Aegean and Mediterranean countries. List how a Chibiabos of some thousand years agone sings of him:
Book XVII
638 "... the blue-ey’d Goddess (Pallas) heard with joy
That, chief of all the gods, her aid he sought.
She gave fresh vigour to his arms and knees,
And to his breast the boldness of the fly,
Which oft repell’d by man, renews th’assault
Incessant, lur’d by taste of human blood;
Such boldness in Atrides’ manly breast
645. Pallas inspir’d; ..."

Homer’s Iliad translated by Derby. In some earlier lines he wrote of the rainbow :–
XVII
615 "As o’er the face of Heav’n when jove extends
His bright-hued bow, a sign to mortal men
Of war, or wintry storms, which bid surcease
618. The rural works of man, and pinch the flocks."

For the present good bye. Dr Hollywood is coming in, after a little, to look at some of the X-ray pictures, I must get them ready for him. If you sea any of his people you can say that he looks first class, and that he is anxious to get back to Australia and Maitland. There are many more like unto him in these parts.

[Page 671]

17-11-15 11 p.m.
Train loads of wounded are again rolling into this part of the world a signal to the fighting along the littoral of the Aegean sea. It has been British so far, but today it was Frenchmen, ’tis said from Servia.
What a nuisance this is? Those who are killed occupy, for the most part, in the foreign lands nameless graves, the most severely wounded die soon thereafter, the deeply injured are dealt with on the hospital ships or sent to England, the minor cases for the most part coming to Egypt, Cairo being at the periphery of the whole system.
Daily is it becoming more apparent that the safety of our Empire lies in our capacity to fight well with strong arms against all foes. There is in this war such factors great as never before confronted powers, and to the best informed there can hardly be a clear outlook to the end.
Should the British government keep on disintegrating and totter to a fall, trouble will truly be ours. From recent reports to hand doubt has arisen in the minds of some as to whether Lord Kitchener has not been shunted, for reasons unknown to all outside the charmed circles of inner officialdom, & following upon the resignation of Churchill, one wonders what next is in the wind, and surprise would not follow upon the wayward purposes, be they what they may, coming upon the horizon of politics and war.
Bonar Law has thought it necessary to tell the people of the Dominions that they must not take too seriously the portraits of disunion mongst the rulers or the people of Britain; this very disclaimer is a warning that all may not be right, oft such denial is but a prelude to the thing denied. Let us hope that precedent may not in this case be but a misleading jade. It were sad indeed, portending much evil for us if at this time of national crisis the Captains and the helmsmen of the ship of state had to be changed. What think you?
Yet out if it might arise the strong man for whom we all have been looking for a twelve month. His

[Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) was First Lord of the Admiralty in the early part of WW1 until the failure of the Dardanelles Campaign resulted in his resignation his post and, in the middle of November 1915, from parliament.

Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923), known as Bonar Law, British Conservative politician, became secretary for the colonies in the wartime coalition government led by Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith on 25 May 1915.]

[Page 672]

star is not yet above the horizon, a vale of cloud keeps him out of sight, yet do I hope that he will ere long step forth and be to us a guide & strength. No matter how man prate in times of peace & plenty about the wisdom of many councillors, in times of great danger all must depend upon the one brain that sees most clearly the true way, and knows how best to act in combating the grave events without waste and delay.
So far in this great contest there has been, on our side, too much waste in men & material, too little seriousness given to the whole affair by the great bulk of the people, too much underestimating of the strength of the enemy, too much blowing about what we have already done, & a general want of tone which is an attribute of greatness now as ever. Let us pray that all may change for the better soon and that we may be given a glimpse of the light. The struggle cannot go on for ever and the solution may be nearer that is thinkable at this moment.

At the post office this afternoon they told me that Australian letters should be delivered to us tomorrow morning. Good, if the promise be but fulfilled. All Australian letters come from Suez pass on to Alexandria & from there are returned to Cairo. This is a way with the Military people. Cannot be helped at present.

This afternoon I partook of afternoon tea with Mrs Bacon. I asked if her daughter was married or single. Reply was to the effect that she is Mrs Pirie, that her husband is alive, presently a soldier in an English regiment, that she has one son living in Sydney. Why does the lady not wear a wedding ring? On the third finger of her left hand she wears a gold circle with three diamonds. About it I spoke to her one day and laughing suggested that it was an engagement ring, she led me to believe that it was not, & it held its place just for amusement sake. A deceiver!

[Page 673]

Shall post this now 18.11-15 10 a.m. Another letter following in due course.

[Three block of Xs and Os.]
Caggie Joey Kittie

J. B. Nash

[Page 674]

No. 1. A. G. Hospital
Heliopolis
Egypt
20 Novbr. 1915.

My dear Girls:/

This a brief sequel to a letter posted earlier in the week but which will not have caught an earlier steamer than the one which will carry this envelope.

We have been told that letters posted up to the 24th of November will be in time for delivery before Christmas. Mayhap! I took time by the forelock & in an earlier letter than this enclosed my greetings for the Holy and festive season.

Still am I attached here waiting for something to do, the while filling in the moments reading writing and making excursions by tram and otherwise.

The day before yesterday with a party of four other medicoes, again visited the pyramids at Mena, Dr Henry promising to climb to the summit of the first or grand pyramid armed with a camera while I scaled to the top of the second or great pyramid that he might have opportunity to take my photograph across the intervening space. The light was growing dim as our arrival was after 4 p.m. I left the other members of the party to do their part and set out to perform mine. When I reached the apex there were some people on the top of the grand pyramid, & in the dim light, the sun had dipped below the horizon, with eyes & glasses it was not possible to tell faces & forms. I shouted that I was ready & with an Australian flag in my right hand posed for the picture.

[Captain Thomas James Henry, 54, medical practitioner of Grafton, NSW, embarked from Sydney on 1 September 1915 on HMAT A33 Ayrshire and served in the Australian Army medical Corps. He returned to Australia in late 1915.]

[Page 675]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

After a time I descended, paid a visit on donkey-back to the Sphynx, & soon afterwards found the other officers seated at the eating house opposite the entrance to Mena Hospital. Just imagine my disgust when told that not one of them had reached more than one third way up the pyramid; but they heard me speak & from the point which they had gained the camera was sited upon me; the plates are being developed. Owing to the dim light and its distance there is but faint hope of securing a picture.

In a former letter I told you details of my first ascent of Kephren. You may remember that one can reach the casing wearing ordinary boots; there one has to leave his hard foot covering and to go bear bare or with socks, this I did again wearing the thick by coloured pair of knitted sox that you Joseph dear made. They were just the thing protecting my feet from the hard and sharp pieces of stone which might have bruised or cut my unprotected skin. If
A picture of a white man on the summit of the pyramid Kephren would be unique, & it could only be taken successfully from the top of Cheops. If I can get another man to do his part I shall make the climb again. I hardly think a photograph of the kind is in existance.

Dr Henry ([f]rom Grafton) is something of a litterary man. He has sent an account of my climbing to the Grafton paper, & and I have written to Mr Varley of Norwich Chambers, Hunter St., Sydney, who owns the paper, to send to you a copy of the issue wherein the notes may be published. Henry writes well. He did not show me the matter before sending it on. Keep it for me or

[Page 676]

have it republished and send to me a copy.
For two or three days we have been expecting correspondence from Australia. A mail was delivered at Suez from a P. & O. steamer on Monday, but the delivery has not been made to us yet. It is a shame. Yet it is to be expected, because the chiefs here are trying to run a great war on the lines of peace, and unless they wake up to the fact soon that great contests are not successfully brought to successfull issue in that way they will wake up to the fact that those playing the parts of laggards are receiving a sound thrashing. The whole affair is becoming too serious for words, and I fear me that the awakening is becoming perilously close. The waste in time men & material here is something appaling, in every department.

Polo golf cricket and the like are of great use in times of peace but shooting drilling riding bayonet exercise and such preparation for fighting are the desiderata in times of war; those men who know best how to use the weapons of destruction placed in their hands and those leaders who know most about the art & science of the game, will be the winners in the end.
There is no royal road to the knowledge in this great game, than there is in other the affairs of life, and it is only by constant work and application that an individual or a nation can be in the first flight. Let us hope that inspiration will soon come and that leaders with the rank & file will give of their best constantly to reach the required result.

This is the 20th Novbr. 1915. Thirty years

[Page 677]

ago today, by the calendar, my dear Father was killed on the Wallsend racecourse by his horse Sattelite falling upon. Friday afternoon, about 4-30 o’clock. Requiescat in pace. Your grandfather, & a parent who worked hard and continuously to help on my Brother – R.I.P. – my Sister – R.I.P. – and myself. None better ever live. Alone am I left now to lament his going. He was then a younger man than I am by some six years. A much abler man too in every way. However sic est vita. My dear Mother died in February of 1885, the same number of years ago. Please remember all those mentioned in your oraisons during the Holy season of Christmas?

Tabbie dear I have often heard you say that ’tis always best if one can manage to buy of the highest class. I agree with you. List to the quotation on my calendar for today:–
"Whatever you can afford to spend for education in art, give to good Masters; and have them do the best they can for you."
(Fors Clavigera).

While writing I still look through my window and a portion of the work of "Ernest Jasper. Architect. 1910".

Good bye my dears. God bless each of you.

Please convey to my friends my best wishes in every way for the Holy & festive season. Reiterating them to you & hoping that Old Father Christmas may once more visit you & find of merry & bright, send you heaps of love & loads of kisses.

Your affection & loving Father
John B Nash

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales.

[Page 678]

Heliopolis
Egypt
21 Novbr. 1915.

My dear Girls:/

This is Sunday morning 10-40 o’clock. Rumour, usually styled a lying lieing lieing jade. – Has she passed her ticket to those who make the war cables? – fills the atmosphere of these parts with much that gives pause to congratulations, from our side, on the progress and prospects of the war.

It is said, on evidence which may be reliable, that Australian troops from about Cairo are being moved West towards Tripoli and East to the Suez Canal. You may learn of these moves from the daily press. For several weeks they have been hinted at and it may be that happenings of the near future may justify the Dame who spreads abroad news, both true & false.

A most important cable in this mornings "Egyptian Mail" is printed:– "London Saturday. The German papers have published articles that the time has come when Greece must intervene in the war despite itself".
The Balkan States are all overawed by the success which, thus far, has attended the fighting of the German armies. Just look at the map of Western Russia and Poland, note the long way into Russia that Hindenburg and Makenson have led their armies – almost to Riga in the North, and Kief in the South, while the gallant Servians are squeeze into the South Western Corner of their Mountain fastnesses, Monastir and Prizrend [Prizren]. This

[Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen (1849-1945), German soldier and Field Marshal, led the successful German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian campaign against Serbia in late 1915.]

[Page 679]

too having happened while, as far as we know the British & French troops are stuck up at Stroumnitza [Strumica, Macedonia] and thereabouts. In the making of calculations in regard to Turkey it is customary to forget that the population, under the rule of the Sultan at Constantinople, in Europe and Asia Minor amounts to forty-five millions, of as many as inhabit the United Kingdom. The best of fighting material in some parts, each of whom can be fed and clothed for a few piasters per week, and who, in such war as the present, can keep going for many years without exhausting requirements in money and food. It is quite possible that an army of 300 000 fighting men may be sent to attack the Suez Canal, and if they be well officered and sufficiently armed the chances of their crossing will not be small.
One must remember too that the advance in Russia has been made while the soldiers of the Kaiser held at bay in Belgium and France, the two powers which as fighting units are today reckoned the 2nd or 3rd strongest in the world. Add to all this that in all probability today trains are running direct from Berlin to Constantinople through territory controlled by German officers. Is it then wonder that each Balkan State is terrorised by the Teuton Monster?

Another very important telegram this morning:–
"Mr. Bonar Law said: (inter alia) ‘The representatives of Labour as well as of Commerce must set their faces against any increased pay in connexion with the war requirements. As a Government we must keep down expenditure; as individuals we must recognise that times might be coming which will require sacrifices from every portion of the community’." A kite political

[Page 680]

issued as a warning by those who know that not for much longer can the golden chain stand the strain which is being put upon, for the simple reason that there is not in the world sufficient of the yellow metal to find links of such size are being presently forged, hence each one will before long have to be content with a less income and be forced to use every effort to make it go further. In the last extremity man woman or child can life upon little and all luxuries may be cut out. If necessity demands this must be done, though all the ideas of the superficial thinkers of the times of peace be shattered to the winds and they become dust with them. Naught is much good in this world that will not stand the best of war, because in a great battle he who can beat the other fellow and hold him down can make him obey any laws and the underneath man has no recourse but to submit unless he is prepared to go the length of being killed; this being submitted to naught matters to the dead while the living rules as he desires.

These remarks are for your own information as to my views upon the general subject. When my uniform comes off I may have much to say which at this stage would be indiscreet to outsiders.

Amongst a few letters from Australia that reached me at 7 o’clock last evening was one from you Kitty dear, it bears date "219 Macquarie St" & on page 5 first line "This is my birthday".

Ah Kitty dear: Glad that you enjoyed the day on the harbour. I must send a few lines to Lady Lyne wishing to her the Compliments for Christmas & New Years

[Page 681]

Glad that you still find my letters "very interesting". It is a pleasure for me to write during my spare moments, it is chatting with those at home. I shall write to Mrs. Frank for the holiday time.

Holman will pull himself together (if?) when the time comes round. The Sabiel yarn must be an invention, it is not like Holman.
My love to Leila when you see her. Wonder they are not in the Concentration camp, but being Australian born they are probably exempt.
My love to Pat and the other Watt family members from Father down. I must write to Pat for the Christmas time.
The conundrum of today:– What has become of Kitchener? Has he been dismissed?
My kind regards to the girl visitors & love to Muriel.
Is "His Delicacy" one of your pals?

We understood here that the Germans had captured Riga from the land side. The information was apparently premature. They were near to the city.

Dr Phipps was all right when I was at Anzac, I lunched with him as you know by now.
Sorry M. M. Imelda and Sister Gabriel are so sick. Not even Dominican nuns are exempt from paying the common penalty attendant upon birth.

I wrote to Mrs O’Connor for the Christmas season. Lady Maitland is very good to call to see you so often, and to be such good friends to you three. Please convey my kind regards & compliments for the season to her and Sir Herbert.

Your letter makes me feel ashamed that you had not a cable message from me on the 19th October, you know long before this that it was not that you were forgotten, but resulted from a stupid error. Have you forgiven me. Tabbie & Geordie are always thoughtful. This amongst you girls has always been to me a subject for much thankfulness & admiration.

[Page 682]

Hope that you will play at the Philharmonic, because the doing so will keep up your music for my return.
I wrote to Dr. Fisher thanking him and his good wife for being so kind to you. Every boy should be made to work, and with an object in view, it brings out what may be latent in him and keeps him progressing; nothing is so bad for young people as want of occupation and direction to some achievement. Both the Fisher boys should be bundled off to the war, it will make men of them if anything can.

Letters from you Tabbie Geordie may reach me tomorrow if so they will be answered for the next mail boat.

Just fancy with a little imagination one might report that there was rain in Heliopolis this morning, a cloud hung around the city moistened the ground & walking through it one felt wet. Mirabile dictu!

Now for Pat Watt & Mrs Franki.
Good bye for the present:– [A line of Xs and Os.] Car. [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit

22-11-15. Another day has dawned in Egypt. Like unto yesterday the early hours were ushered in by a thick mist which some people, who know not better, might designate rain; there must have been something irritating about it this morning because at its falling about 5 to 6 a.m. an epidemic of coughing passed through the patients in the wards but short distance removed from my window.

3 p.m. No further letters have come to me. A bundle of newspapers of date 9th October & thereabout came from Freddie Fletcher of Newcastle. I have written to thank him.

[Page 683]

Yesterday afternoon another train load of sick and wounded arrived at this hospital from Galipoli; only a few of them being stretcher cases.

The enclosed small photograph has been given to me by Captain Henry. He took it when I was at the top of the 2nd pyramid (Kephren), he standing near the Sphynx, you may judge how far away by the intervening stretch of sand, the light was dim, about 5 p.m., hence the result is poor in every way, & I with my flag was too small an object, perched high up, to make impress on the sensitive sheet. Henry said that he heard the words I spoke, saw me pose for the photograph, & levelled the camera at me and chanced it. Note the irregular edge of the lower margin of the casing. Along the side seen in the picture the guide & I ascended. The photo is amusing.

Tata. Shall add more anon.

9 p.m. Some papers and a post card came from Mrs Knowles of Melbourne during the afternoon but your letters, Car Joe dears, have not been delivered.

All has been going quietly during the day. I occupied the morning at post mortems in the Mortuary.

Mrs Knowles sent to me a copy of Cardinal Newman’s "The Dream of Gerontius", adorned with coloured illustrations, rather a gem in its way. I must write to thank her for it.
Mrs Bacon and her daughter called here this evening I was talking to them for a few minutes. Both looked well The old lady has apparently quite recovered from her indisposition.
Good night [A line of Xs and Os.] Car. Good night [A line of Xs and Os.] Joe. Good night [A line of Xs and Os.] Kit.

23-11-15 – 7 A.M.:– Good morning. Hope I that the letters will come today. It is strange that those posted by Car at the same time as she dropped your’s Kitty dear into the box have not arrived. Those post office gentlemen again.

Once again "Aurora rosy daughter of the dawn" has looked in my window

[Page 684]

calling me to rise prepare for the labours of another day, commencing by thanking God for all his mercies and asking Him for a continuance of them for many years to come, that I may once again see you speak with you by word of mouth telling you of strange countries seen, their peoples, the happenings peaceful and savage and much else that has left impress upon my brain.
Now to dress that I may not be late for breakfast.

Yesterday was notice at the post office – "Letters for before Christmas delivery in Australia may be posted here till 24-11-15", a few minutes ago I read a new notice wherein 24 has been changed to 23 and the hour "3 p.m." inserted. Just like the postal people here, all amateurs in this department, bunglers of no uncommon order. Should your letters reach me befor 1 p.m. I shall make brief reply. Meanwhile hereon believe that my greetings to you and my friends are reiterated for the Holy and the festive season. A few lines must be sent to Mollie and some others.

Good bye. Good bye. Good bye.
Heaps of love and loads of kisses for each of you from
Your loving & affectionate Father
John B. Nash

[Three groups of Xs and Os, followed by:]
Car dear.
Joe dear
Kit dear.
Each give a small share to Maria.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia

[Page 685]

No 1. A. Gen. Hosital
Heliopolis
Egypt
25 Novbr. 1915.

My dear girls:/

One year yesterday, by the calendar, I embarked on board the Kyarra at Circular Quay Sydney, as a surgeon bound for the war area. You bade me good bye with your best wishes. Caggies eyes filled with tears as the ship pulled out from the wharf, while those of Joey & Kitty were inclined to bubble over.

Much has happened since then which was not expected, and from which will follow during the next twenty-five years, changes undreamed of by either the highly placed or the lowly. You should all live long enough to see them, I cannot expect to do so, in the ordinary course of natural events. However one has to be contented with his lot & to struggle with honest intent and a desire to do good.

Thirteen letters reached me from Australia yesterday from Australia. Three from you & Mollie, one from Mr Bridge, Nan Johnson, Jim Roach and others. Many thanks

Caggie dear:/
Glad that you liked my letters. The following ones from Anzac, if arrived safely should have been interesting, if my pen set out in proper fashion for your acceptance an account of my wanderings.
The Pleiades, Orion Taurus, & Orion still rise early in the evening out of the Eastern sky I look at them, and think of you, nightly.

[Page 686]

If you were awake early in the morning I fancy that you would see the constelations, they will be with you in the evening soon, because in the Summer time they are before bed time high above Macquarie St, having come from the Eastern sky. Now that the brewery wall is down you may observe them some time during the night out of the back window.

Jerome showed to me photos of his daughter a few days since. She looked very well. His wife son and daughter write to him often, & I should judge them to be very good decent people. I have not seen him since the day before yesterday. Why? He has been to my room but when I was away.

Tell Maria not to be angry with the Germans, we shall be all right in the end. The road is a hard one, a long one, and the end not yet in sight, but those of us who are left will get there in time, battered perhaps and in other ways the worse the wear, but the people of our Empire will hammer a way through bye-and-bye. Be of good cheer Maria, but please do not make the common mistake of shutting both eyes & underating your enemy? Very many years ago Old H. J. Brown of Newcastle said to me,:– "Doctor when entering upon a fight do not underestimate the power of your opponents, better far to give him more than he is entitled to" –, sound was it in every particular, & the remembrance of it has stood me in good stead many a time & oft in battles of life.

All reports indicate the slump in recruiting at your end. The disagreements ’mongst the British political leaders, & the concealment of facts about events, appear to me to be the basic causes. What think you?

[Page 687]

[At the top of this and following pages of this letter is the word "Girls".]

Neither Dr Paton nor you has expressed opinion upon the subject.
A letter came from Ted, Norrie last week. He was up to 10.11-15 all right. I replied and sent to him some materials that he asked for.

When writing some notes recently for the "Australian Journal of Pharmacy" published in Melbourne I put in a paragraph about Ken Garrick. I hope that Mrs Rouse will see it. Ask her to get Mrs Garrick to keep an eye on the paper for it. My regards to the old lady. She is a wonder!

Glad that you liked the beads, they will be uncommon at your end. I hope that you have put strong new thread to keep them together, otherwise they may be scattered at any moment.
What a long time Mrs Franki has been sick. Hope that she is perfectly recovered now. My regards to all of them.
What a wonder my Kafoline is? No letter from her this mail.
Joe Vial had bad luck! R.I.P. What has become of Tim & Dave? No copy of "The Mirror" has yet reached me.

Mrs Travers comes from Cork City, Ireland, & still her voice has much of the brogue in the sounds, though long association with people who speak very different dialects from her native one, has given her syllables that are entire discord with the original notes. Hers is a peculiar mixture. You will find that she still retains the goodness of the Irish heart. Glad that you called to see the family in their home. Travers is amongst the best. I have always liked him.

Hollywood is all right. Anxious to get back home. He has had enough of Egypt and war. Dont blame him! I think that he is wise if he can get home.

It was good to visit Anzac. Sorry Would like to have another opportunity to go again. No date to letter.

Joseph dear:/
Your letter is headed "219 Macquarie St 13.10.15". Many thanks for it my dear I am in the best of mental and physical health waiting for work. Unemployed!

[Major, later Lieutenant Colonel, Edward Creer Norrie DSO, served with the 19th Battalion at Gallipoli and later with the 25th Battalion in France. He was mentioned in despatches in November 1917 and awarded the DSO. He returned to Australia at the end of 1918. He also served in WWII.

Company Sergeant Major Kenneth Hannell Garrick, born in 1889 in Newcastle, NSW, a chemist (pharmacist) from Collingwood, Melbourne, embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A14 Euripides on 10 May 1915 with the 24th Infantry Battalion. He returned to Australia in November 1917. He also served in WWII.]

[Page 688]

Do you think the following quotation to be applicable to the position of the Balkan States at the moment:/
"No man who is truly ready to take part in a noble quarrel will ever stand long in doubt by whom, or in what cause, his aid it needed." – Crown of Wild Olives. –

Greece is between the devil (Kaiser Bill.) and the deep sea (British fleet), afraid of being thrashed on land by the former & sure of being blockaded by on water by the latter.

Bulgaria feared being thrashed on land by the Teuton armies, and could expect but little assistance from the South or East by the allies, therefore to save herself she had to join the German & help him to destroy the Serbians at the same time opening a way to Constantinople. Had they been high minded they should have joined our side, the champions of honest dealing and integrity, and helped us to destroy Prussian Militarism with all its pomps and vanities. Against these high ideals being realised the pomp & circumstance of victories won weigh heavy in the scales, & the man who can thrash you makes you act as if you believed in his honesty & integrity.

You will find a few photographs enclosed The one wherein Kephrin occupies the background is really two exposures for one plate. The houses and other fore-ground are part of Heliopolis. I was on the top of the pyramid, the second, when the plate was exposed, from a place on the Western side of Cheops, the north-western angle, not far up. If you look closely with a magnifying glass you will note how some gallant captain has put me & two guides in position. A strange picture, might be worth reproducing & enlarging for amusement.

["The Crown of Wild Olive: four lectures on work, traffic, war and the future of England", by John Ruskin, published in 1866.]

[Page 689]

On thinking about the announcement that Ramsay Smith had been struck off the strength of the A I. E. Force, it occurred to me that it may mean nothing more than that he has ceased to be a member of the force and that he has returned to his civilian duties. All of us will be dealt with in that way when our services are no longer required. "Struck off" is the term applied to a man when he passes out of any company or other military unit.

26-11-15. 12.50 p.m. A daughter to Sir Joseph Carruthers is a nurse here. She spoke to me in the hall yesterday. When you see Sir Joseph please tell him that I shall help her in any way that is possible

I have been all the morning with old Prof Watson in the post mortem room, where he was make some investigations. He is about 66 years old, an active man, rides a motor bike, and behaves in many ways in a most eratic manner. An odd old dog. Many men deserve such designation at his time of life.

A letter from Cousin Maggie the arrived during the week was enclosed her photograph. A very good representation I thought. Yesterday afternoon I made an excursion into the dessert to find a botanical specimen for her, it was posted last night, with hopes that it is the correct thing. She expects to have her University degree before the end of the year, giving her the right to have B.Sc. placed after her name. She must have great capacity for learning, as the percentages gained in her class examinations, at the advanced subjects have been high.

Herewith is a cutting from a paper sent to me by Hyman, the final paragraph contains the opinion of Ashmead Bartlett on some aspects of the war. He has had opportunities for seeing what is happening, beyond those of most men.

[Staff Nurse, later Sister, Ida Mary Carruthers, 32, of Waverley, NSW, embarked from Sydney on HMAT A63 Karoola on 16 June 1915 with the 1st Australian General Hospital, Special Reinforcements. She returned to Australia in 1919.

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett (1881-1931) was a British War Correspondent during WWI and was the first journalist to describe the ANZAC Gallipoli landing.]

[Page 690]

Jim Roach wrote that he spoke with a man from my hospital, and that the man at once jumped up shook him by the hand & said how pleased he was to meet anyone who knew such a gentleman as Colonel Nash. Good.

Just fancy, twice in one day I saw "The Pug" in his office and the dirty black pipe was not in his mouth. Remarkable! Eh?

6 p.m. "Just fancy meeting you! By jove! Who’d have thought it! Such a long way from home? Where are you living? At Gezeirah. By yourself? No. Miss McPhillamy is with me. What are you doing? Giving some help at Gezeirah. How long have you been here? About one month. How was Mother, Father, and the others when you left? All very well. Heard from them since your arrival? Last week yes. Good."
Conversation between Florrie Delorhey & me on the colonade in front of Shepheards Hotel at 4-30 o’clock this afternoon. She look just about the usual in a white costume.

Have lost Jerom again. He has not called except during my absence from my room for over two days. He gets lost or loses himself now and then. He will come along and report some day. He would get a shock if he found me gone. What becomes of him when he is lost I know not. No need to mention this to his family.

When in Cairo my mission was just a look round. In the car returning I was speaking an Englishman who is an officer in the Egyptian army. He told me that he came to a dance one evening when this Palace Hotel was in full swing. "The place was lighted to its full extent and reminded me and others of the tales from the Arabian nights stories." I can quite believe it. A fortune of a respectable size has been expended in metal lamps, & when the electricity illuminates each one the whole must be magnificent.

[Page 691]

Col Featherstone the P.M.O. for Australia, is in Cairo, on his way back to Australia from England. I want a few minutes chat with him. The reports coming to hand from No 3 Hospital at Lemnos are not good to listen to. One can belive but little here, but the persistant rumours as to disagreements and disorganisation when filtered leave some particle of correctness. Mayhap Harris has kept you informed upon the doings in that part of the world. It has been told to me several times that Col. Fiaschi has gone to England. Lt. Col. Dick is at No. 2 A.G.H. at present. I have not seen him for some time.

A further train load of sick and wounded came along yesterday afternoon. A big batch of invalides left here for Australia this morning I did not learn the name of the transport by which they are to travel. The knowing invalides go to Luxor for a change, then if they can to England, and finally to Australia. A veritable chance perhaps you think.

The panoramic views by means of raised maps, as given in the illustrated journals appear to me to be the most satisfactory of all the representations of the various sites of the fighting areas. What think you? One can from them get an idea of the natural features of the country, the courses of the rivers, the relationship of the railways to the surrounding hills, the valleys along which they pass, the size of the rivers, the positions of the towns, and heaps else which cannot be grasped from the ordinary flat presentation

Recently several times idea has come into my mind that my writing, instead of being less, has become more, legible. What think you upon this subject?

[Page 692]

28.11-15. First Sunday in Advent. 2-15 p.m. Jerome has just brought to me from Gezeirah, a bundle of letters which went to Lemnos and have come back. I must read them.

One from Sir Thomas Hughes. If you see him please ask him to drop Springthorpe as he is on the right wrong track. Ramsay Smith & Barrett, tell him from me, did the best work of any men in Egypt, while Springthorpe and other trippers were wasting precious moments and abusing those who were spending every moment getting ready for the emergency which came, like a thunderclap, on the 25th & 26th of April. I shall write to the gallant knight myself.
A letter is finished to him so no need for you to bother. I am very sorry that he took a hand in the press.

One from Ivy Macdonald too. I will receive reply in due course. Another from Nurse Abel, who if her projects have been carried out is, before this date, in England. Those from Mollie bears heading "Moss Vale 12th Septbr. 1915" and 19th of same month. From "219 Macquarie St." the 11th 15th and 20th Septbr. Last from Pat Watt.
Joseph dear yours was 11th Septbr.:–

Jim Roach told me in his letter about the man he met at Sargeants. I am pleased to think that all the men would do anything for me. I shall answer the letter from Pat Watt at an early date. You have not to pay the rates or other accounts for the Shirley Road property, Walker must do that. Ted wrote to tell me that a brother to Jimmy had arrived. My acknowledgments must have gone forward congratulating them upon the new arrival and wishing him good luck. Mrs. Norrie has written to me. I sent her word about Ted. when I returned from Anzac. Let us pray that old Parsons does the correct thing. Glad that you had quite shaken off your cold. All other matters have been answered in earlier letters to you.

[Sir Thomas Hughes MLC (1863-1930), solicitor, politician, and first Lord Mayor of Sydney. His sons Geoffrey and Roger served in WW1; Roger Hughes was killed in action in 1916.].

[Page 693]

Of 15 Septbr yours Tabbie dear:
The question of Conscription is still in the air. The win of a non-pledged labour man for the seat in the house of Commons by the late Keir Hardie, may, if the published information be correct indicate that the workers in that part of Wales would no object t conscription for the war. The slacker and loafer are the worst foes we have in the Empire in times of peace or war.
You are wonderful people at home in our Commonwealth. Were they have as enthusiastic, all round, in Britain much better results would have been achieved by now.

I hope Bruce MacLachlan [McLachlan] is improved. He had bad luck but played a mans part. What more can the best of us do? The fellow who does not his part is a load upon the coach and should be made to do it. My regards to M. Chayet when you meet him. Adrian Knox and his assistants are running the Red Cross business here. Who pays the Xs. Tony Hordern and others are of the Company. The war census card is somewhat intricate but you appear to have managed it all right. I got all I wanted from the Red Cross when I was in charge of an hospital.
It is pleasing to know that the returned soldier and others thought well of me. I fancy had I been in charge of No 1 or No. 2 A.G.H., either would have gone better than has been the case thus far. Captain Plant is one of the best. Macquarie st, should be nearing completion by the end of the year, it will be an A.1. thoroughfare when finished.

Joe dear:/
I am awfully glad to learn from your last cable that you do not purpose leaving Macquarie St. There will be no difficulty in paying your way till the end of 1916 A.D., whether

[James Keir Hardie (August 1856 – September 1915), Scottish socialist and founder of the Independent Labour Party, was the first Labour politician to be elected to the British parliament, for the Welsh seat of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

Sir Adrian Knox KCG KC (1863-1932), barrister, politician, Chief Justice, High Court Judge, and foundation member of the (British) Red Cross in New South Wales, went to Egypt in August 1915 with Sir Norman Brookes as Australian Red Cross Commissioners.

Anthony Hordern (1889-1970), grandson of the founder of Anthony Hordern & Sons department store in Sydney, went to Egypt in 1915 to assist the Australian Red Cross commissioner Sir Adrian Knox, and later went on to France. He served as a Red Cross Commissioner in WWII.

Captain Harold Frederick Hood Plant, 26, Resident Medical Officer at the Hospital for Sick Children, Brisbane, QLD, embarked from Brisbane on HMAT A55 Kyarra on 21 November 1914 with the 1st Australian General Hospital.]

[Page 694]

I be back or not, all may have improved before then and your income should be not less anyhow.

The third letter is from Maria, and to her I shall send a separate reply.

This afternoon I had 4 o’clock tea with Matron [blank space] at No 4 Auxillary Hospital We were speaking about you and about Sydney. A Major Brown was with us, an officer from Victoria. I walked across the desert & back from here to there and back, it is about one mile.

I enclose you some more photographs, these Jerome brought to me this morning. I told him that I was commencing to think that he had been to Australia for a vo trip.

29-11-15 In the paper this morning there is announcement that the Orient liner Osterly will leave the Canal about 4th Decbr. for Australia she should therefore carry this letter and others to the south and be with you just before this year passes in his cheques & sinks into oblivion.

30-11-15. Today bundles of papers came to me from home, the Sunday Times and The Mirrors of the 3rd and 10th of October. The former is a remarkable publication of its class. I[t] pays all right as one can judge from the advertisements, while its issue price keeps at 2d. The supply of news & pictures for the two pence is what must draw. In many cases the litterary matter is of high class.

The Mirror has made a good start, copying in style the London 1d illustrated papers. Myers has managed to collect around him a large number of advertisements and if they keep up he will make it a paying venture. He is a pushing member of the Chosen people, with litterary, and perhaps commercial, instincts which will help him on to fame and well. He is already

[Page 695]

a writer of high merit, having, besides his newspaper work, published several books on "The Jewish Rabbis" I read with much pleasure some years ago. The anti-German crusade will be popular just now. Many thanks for your thoughtfulness in sending the papers, I shall pass them on to other men from N. S. Wales, who doubtless will peruse them from begining to end.

Two other photographs you will find enclosed. One, the exterior of & Western side of the Basilica at Heliopolis, wherein I usually hear mass on Sunday. It is an example of the Byzantine style of architecture, and a miniature of the world renowned mosque of Saint Sophia at Constantinople, aforetime used after its construction as a place for Christian worship, but since the taking of the city by the Bosphorous near to eight hundred years ago it has been the chief edifice on the earth for Mahomedan worship. You as critics will note that no cross surmounts the building. Some one looking at it with me the other day said:– "Why is there no cross to the apex of the domes". I replied:– "suppose Probably the architect thought them to be out of harmony with the rest of his work, & as a true copy of the original of today a cross was not appropriate. But an R.C. church should be under the Cross of its Founder".
Taking a walk past the church for observation soon thereafter I saw that each great, arch over the main entrance and the Western window, has rising from its topmost point a large white cross, suited well, in my opinion, to the other lines of the building. The remarks above noted were made as we stood on the roof of the Palace Hotel, from whence the crosses stood not out as prominent features. When I am

[Page 696]

next sur le toit [on the roof] they will be visible because I know where to look for them. Human eyesight, of the best, has much to be informed about before it can note the presence of the majority of objects which are not of the grossest kind. Many persons imagine that they can see everything. There is no grosser piece of deception.

This is the coldest day that I have felt in Egypt. An officer told me at lunch time that word had been received at head-quarters that snow was falling on the Galipoli peninsula. If so the men there will be frozen indeed, and when the thaw comes the conditions will be disagreeable in the extreme. However you may depend upon them to stick it out if they can any men can; though their position, now that Kaiser Bill has a railway road through from Berlin to Constantinople, must be increasingly perilous and only large reinforcements from outside sources will give them the forces necessary to defend much less advance towards the city capital of the Turkish empire. To great workers & fighters much is prowess on the other side is required to stop them.
Questions in the British House of Commons, recently asked and answered, are throwing light upon the failure of the troops from England who at the beginning of August landed at Suvla Bay. It was well known to every one at Anzac, that, had the British generals and soldiers, then landed, been equal to the tasks set them, in backing up the left flank of the Australian New Zealand soldiers, who had pushed on and were waiting for them, the peninsula would have been crossed and held, a new complexion to the whole campaign following. Instead of fighting and advancing the Englishmen began to dig, & while doing so the opportunity for pushing on was lost.

[Page 697]

Is my handwriting more legible than it used to be some years back? I sometimes fancy that it is. The letters to my mind are more carefully formed and the ends of the words more perfectly attended to. Do you find difficulty in the reading of the letters? The spelling is sometimes faulty as ever, a failing which always pertained to my correspondence, though, you would hardly believe it, I once gained second prize in a spelling bee when I was a lad. Rheum and phlegm pulled up the class, short but difficult yet not unfamiliar words.

Some time ago I sent a copy of the poem by Mrs Knowles on "The Sorrows of the Queen of Belgium to Her Majesty. This afternoon I had acknowledgment in the following words:–

"La Panne, le 13 Novembre 1915.

"Secretariat
du Roi et de la Reine.

Mon Colonel.

C’est une aimable attention que vous avey eue d’envoyer a la Reine les vers dans lesquels Mme Knowls exprime, avec tant de delicatesse des sentiments qui ont touche Sa Majeste.
Je remplis l’agreabe mission de vous remercier vivement, au nom de notre Souveraine, pour ce gracieux temoignage de Sympathie et je vous prie de croire, mon Colonel, a ma consideration tres distinguee.

Pour le Secretaire
L’officier d’ordonnance de service
Major. Edey Coutrefont".

Hon Lieut Col. Nash
Sydney.

[La Panne was the WW1 HQ of the King and Queen of Belgium.]

[Page 698]

The original is going forward by this mail to Mrs Knowles with the hope that she may be pleased with it by it.

1-12-15. Just think the first day of the last month of 1915, and here am I still in Egypt. How much longer? List how Ruskin greeted me:/
"The path of a good woman is indeed strewn with flowers, but they rise behind her steps, not before them." – Sesame & Lilies. –

I gave my Shakespearian calendar to Colonel Howse when at Anzac. He is in Egypt just now. Prof Watson told me that Pierot Fiaschi is also in Egypt. I have not seen him.

But 62 years – note at foot of calendar page – since the railway line from Charing Cross to Greenwich was opened. What marvels have been achieved in steam traction and petrol motors since then. The march of the latter around the world has been much more rapid than even the former.

Notice at post office:– "Mail for Australia closes here today at 5 p.m." Therefore shall I close this letter here and now.

Good bye my dears. To my friends, Maria and the others, please offer my greetings. For you may the New Year open with happiness & joy while each day of it, right to the end, shall flow over with good health, high fortune, and all other the blessings of God. Love in abundance with heaps of kisses for each of you from
Your affectionate Father
John B. Nash

[Three blocks of Xs and Os with, underneath:]
Car. Joe. Kit.

The Misses Nash
219 Macquarie Street
Sydney
N. S. Wales

[Transcribed by Rosemary Cox, Judy Gimbert, Gail Gormley and Barbara Manchester for the State Library of New South Wales. Biographical notes by Barbara Manchester.]