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[Page 43]
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Friday 18th : Today Bowen (who is now convalescent), Dr Skeat, Embleton (Asst. Paymaster) & myself went aboard the "Grantala". We were very well treated by Revd. Hudson (chaplain), Dr James, whom I had the pleasure of meeting some years ago in Melbourne, & the rest of the Medical fraternity, and inspected the ship which we found very comfortable & admirably suited for use as a hospital ship. There are seven nurses on board with whom, however, we were not invited to converse, much to our disappointment. We returned to the "Berrima" for lunch after which Lt. Monro, Dr Skeat & myself drove up to Government House. Monro is in charge of the party engaged in erecting the Wireless Station there & is very proud of his staff, which consists of PO Briggs & 6 men from my own company, a number of Chinese carpenters & their mates, & a varying number of niggers. It is a very pleasant drive and the view from the grounds & spacious verandahs of the mountain residence is magnificent. On one side is the harbour with its warships, colliers & smaller vessels, on the other the blue waters of the Pacific. We drove up in fine style, our fiery steed galloping fiercely, outdoing Wendell Holmes famous "One horse shay". It was profoundly interesting to watch the Chinese carpenters at their work, and the shouts of their assistants added to the shrieks and howls of the niggers in their efforts to raise the immense lower mast were extremely diverting.
Government House is a quaintly built though comfortable dwelling surrounded on all sides by broad balconies, the whole raised about 8 feet from the ground. Our troops had shown little respect for the fine furniture in the drawing and bedrooms and it was enough to make the heart bleed to see the exquisite carvings of the cabinets, bookcases, sideboards, etc. ruthlessly destroyed by the bayonets & clubbed rifles of the