Item 01: Frank Hurley war diary, 21 August-28 October 1917 - Page 51
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[Page 51]
Bombardment. The straffed trees were coming back to life & budding, & there beside a great shell crater blossomed a single rose. How out of place it seemed amidst all this ravage. I took compassion on it & plucked it -The last rose of Ypres.
The Bosh increased their shelling at dusk, so that we gladly evacuated Ypres, awed and wiser men. Dust! Why Australian storms are not in it. The roads clawed up by the heavy traffic were like passing through a smoke barrage & delayed our speed so that we did not get back to camp till 9.30 p.m. & as tired as dogs.
4th Sept:
I'm afraid that I'm becoming callous to many of the extraordinary sights and sounds that take place around me, and things which astounded me when I landed, now seem quite commonplace. We again left for Ypres this morning and passed the house which