Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 74
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[Page 74]
Saturday. At Sea.
My Dear Parents/.
We are still on the briny and a days sail from our last Port of call where we spent two days.
We arrived at lunch time of Wednesday and left again on Friday morning. We were given half a day's leave on shore and I enjoyed myself immensely. The town is very pretty indeed - in fact I don't think our beautiful Sydney comes anywhere near it for picturesqueness although it is only half the size of Sydney. The most amusing sight to me was the natives. The town is overflowing with natives of all kinds, and dressed in the most fantastic costumes.
The vessel was coaled by blacks. They were clothed in draperies made of old bags. It was hard to tell what they had on but they were certainly well covered from head to foot in old bags and scraps of rubbish. Two planks are laid from the ship to the shore and they run up one of these and down the other, each carrying a basket of coal on his head which they dump down a chute on the vessel. Their head and shoulders are protected with bags. They swarm up and down these planks in a constant stream making the most weird noises all