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[Page 2]
I said good bye at home on Thursday 16th December 1915 catching the 11.50 p.m. train to Tempe and arrived in camp after midnight. I had very little sleep for squads kept forming up and playing marches and popular tunes on tin plates, buckets, tins etc. and later the mob set alight to the latrines which had previously been condemned. Colonel Pearce witnessed the scene but was powerless to stop it. We fell in about 5 a.m. next morning and marched to the tram which took us right to the wharf, where a large crowd met us, many of the women crying and the men looking very miserable. Uncle Harold and Vic met me and also Terry with a Christmas billy from home. Only a short time was given for saying good-bye and then we were formed up alongside the ship and the nominal roll called. It was some time after we embarked before civilians were allowed on the wharf and in the meantime I was very much amused at the way some ladies defied the police and rushed passed the barrier, whilst the troops cheered and encouraged them and hooted the police calling out cold feet and any other epithets that came to their mind. At last the cordon was withdrawn and there was a tremendous rush whilst ladies even climbed the iron railings and uprights in order to get points of vantage. Then the streamers began to appear and soon those on shore were connected with their loved ones on board by hundreds of bright paper ribbons which reminded me of the old maypoles, except that the bright faces were replaced by strained and anxious ones, many of them tear stained and many with a smile so forced that it looked like the sun trying to shine on a rainy day. Soon we started to move and then the babel of voices was indescribable with hurried words of final advice and more cheerful words of encouragement, whilst some could only trust themselves to say good-bye. We lay in the harbour till four o'clock that afternoon whilst launches circled round and round packed with relations and friends all calling for someone they knew, whilst some endeavoured to throw fruit on board. The police boat, however, kept them at a distance. At last the anchor was weighed and I was called down from my position on the top look out where I had a splendid view. The launches followed us to the