Item 01: Walter Lawry Waterhouse diary, 15 January-27 March 1916 - Page 67

[Page 67]

the officers in the landing at Anzac. The inspection lasted for sometime & then came a medical examination running on to lunch time. The officers were then allotted to tents, large square ones about 22' X 16' in which 6 are quartered.

In the afternoon the time was spent in fitting & rearranging the men's equipment & in shaking down into our quarters. A number of things are very different to what we had been led to expect: for instance at Liverpool we were told that here only a private's jacket would be worn, whereas at Aerodrome Camp at least it is almost frowned upon. Officers are expected to wear a distinctive uniform to the privates, & while there may be something in it in a smart place like Egypt I certainly do not intend to wear anything but a private's uniform into action.

In the evening after mess the adjutant gave a lecture on some points in the battalion routine, & after it I was glad to turn in early.

Tuesday 15 February 1916

Slept better than the previous night, altho' the bed seemed much harder than the shipboard bunk. My orderly had managed to annex from somewhere a native bed on which my bunk was made up: these are made of what look like split midribs of palm leaves, the longitudinal ones being bored & having uprights inserted in them every 3 inches or so, making merely a skeleton box