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[Page 70]
and posted as deserters. At Fremantle we took on the balance of one of the A.M.C. units, 30 men and a number of nurses belonging to Colonel Flashman's Convalescent Home, bound for England. I forgot to add that at Melbourne we added to our complement about 200 Tasmanian Infantry, reinforcements to the 26th Bat. And 500 Artillery, 50 nurses and about 100 A.M.C. men.
The Indian Ocean was very calm. Every night concerts were held. These concerts are grand, but it needs someone specially endowed to portray the Bohemian atmosphere of one of them. The "Australian Night" concert was easily the best of the lot, and we had programmes specially printed and sold, realising £180 for our wounded. The officers shelled out like sports. The concert was held on the well deck, so that the galleries were formed by the ends of the promenade and the boat decks, a real amphitheatre. One of the Colonels conducted it. The nurses and officers turned out in evening and mess-dress, and the whole was brilliantly lit by electric light. I think every man must have been present with the exception of those on guard. They lined the boat-deck, hung in most awkward and cramping positions from all spars, and lined the two derricks like flies. The fact that they were looking straight down on the performers below didn't matter a bit, in fact it was most useful in the case of a few who were "not wanted". We had an orchestra, a string and reed on too, and a brass band, as well as a good piano. The performers were very good, quite up to good concert standard. But the impression was not created by the entertainers; it was the atmosphere of glorious revelry which prevailed. It was a fresh night and everyone seemed to be the same. The boat rolled lazily from side to side, and the breeze now hushed, now strengthened, the voice of the person doing his or her "little bit". All the time there was good-natured chaff in abundance, and the humour amongst the men is wonderful. They have the knack common to this class of chap, of saying the correct thing at the correct time, in the most picturesque type of interjection. An imitator of Harry Lauder (and a very good one too) was greeted by loud Scotch wows. Wow! Wow!