Item 02: N. G. Linton diary, 31 October 1916- 4 August 1918 - Page 5

Broke Camp at Moore Park Engineers Depot and marched through a dark and "dead" city to Woolloomooloo Bay wharf.   A few friends of the departing boys joined up at the camp and marched along with the company to the wharf to take their long, last farewell; to some, forever.   Anxious heads peered through lighted curtains in houses along the route to say Good-Bye to some they may know.   The quiet and darkness of the route at this hour, which was in the vicinity of 4 a.m. was quite in keeping to the thoughts   and feelings of the men as they trudged the streets of their beloved city, many for the last time, though none of them knew it, on their way to some foreign strand where they were to come face to face with their destiny, many with their creator, while undergoing the acid test of war.   None of us knew exactly to what we were going, none cared for the consequences.   All we knew, as we marched through the Gates of the docks at Woolloomooloo, was that we were badly wanted over "somewhere", that our cause was right and that, come what may, our country and those that it held that were very dear to us at the moment, were worth any sacrifice or price that we might be asked to pay.

We embarked on one of the Sydney Ferries and left the wharf for H.M.T. "Marathon" which was lying off Clark Island, in the stream.   There were a good number of Queensland men on the ship when we reached here but we were detailed to our troop decks and were soon at home on the ship that was to be our home for the next month or so.   At 4.30 pm., the ship weighed anchor and made for Sydney heads.   At last we all felt that we were indeed going to war, for the atmosphere and discipline on board the transport left you with no other impression than that you were soldiers and had to do as you were commanded, from this day forth.   On the whole, the transport was a good ship and our quarters were clean and there was nothing objectionable, even to a critical mind.   We cleared the heads at about 5 pm.,   Easy sea.   Developed a sick headache from want of something to eat.   Got better as night came on.   Turned into bed after a sleep on deck, through the mess, of about an hour.