Edinburgh; January 23rd, 1919

King George and Queen Mary Victoria League Clubs
Edinburgh
Ramsay Lodge
The Mound.

 My Dear People

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well.

As you will see from my address, I am in Scotland on 14 day's leave. I only stayed one day in London when I was coming through but I will probably have a day or two there as I go back. London is much better now that it is lit up at night. I will very likely go on to Glasgow for a few days. I saw Bert Lilley as I was coming through Charleroi, he will be going home very soon & I think Frank & Aleck will be going too.

I received the parcel you sent me on 2/8/18 safely and was very pleased to get it, the tin of pudding went Al coming down through France on the train. I sent a note to Miss Kelly thanking her for the socks that were in the parcel. We also received a xmas parcel from the Queensland soldiers fund, this was from two land girls & had among other things a tin of butter, cocoa & milk, sweets etc. & was a very good parcel. The boys in France are very short of smokes, but I am quite independent of that. The French civvies will buy anything in the shape of tobacco at all & pay a big price for it.

It is very foggy here this morning & I am afraid it is not a very good time of the year to be in Scotland. I only arrived here this morning so have not seen anything of the place yet.

Well I will close now hoping you are all well.

I remain Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom.

France; December 17th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well. We have been in this place about 10 days & expect to be moving into Belgium in a few days. The weather has been very wet, but it is not cold. I went over & saw some of the Mt. Bryan boys yesterday, they were 5-miles away & are moving on to-day. I saw Mat, Bert, Frank & Aleck Burton, it is the first time I have seen Bert since I was hit. They are all quite well & hope to be home soon. Noel Tiver has been to Paris on leave & is not back yet, they kept him for some work down at the Base. Ernest Ray is in the 27th. I did not see him but I believe he is as hard a case as ever. I got a letter from Mick last night, he was sailing for Aussie in a few days, so I suppose he will be home by the time you get this.

Well I will close now, hoping you are all well.

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom.

France; November 19th, 1918

My Dear People

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well & doing alright.  Since last writing to you I have received three letters one from Nell (Sept 10th) one from Kath (Sept. 2nd) & one from Mum (Sep. 1st). I was very pleased to hear you were all well & I hope the top paddock turns out well so that Will can get his motor-bike. I suppose he is pretty sure to want a side-car as well, I have heard over here that machinery is very dear in Aussie, a chap was telling me that a 20 hoe Sun drill cost nearly £100 now & a six foot harvester about £140, of course I do not know if that is correct or not.

I am enclosing a little calender that was given to me at a little concert that some Aussies gave, with the assistance of some French people, in aid of the Red Cross at a village not far away. We had some very severe frosts the last few days & it was very cold, (our first taste of winter) but it is fairly warm again now. There is some probability of us being sent in to Germany to occupy some of the territory Fritz has to hand over, but, that may be cancelled.

Well I will close now, hoping you are all well.

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom.

France; November 13th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well & doing alright.

Since last writing to you we have heard very good news indeed & everybody is delighted to know the Germans have thrown in the towel & the armistice terms are so severe that it is not likely they will want to box-on again.

Yesterday every house & vehicle was flying the flags of the Allies & I believe in Paris the people went fairly wild with delight, it is a big thing for the French people. The chief topic of conversation among the troops of the A.I.F. is how soon are we to get home, but I do not expect to get home much before the end of 1919. I sent Henry Tralaggan £3.0.0 (three pounds) the other day which his people will pay to you. We had our first frost this morning & there was plenty of ice about but it is a lovely sunshiny day now. We had our Brigade sports the other day, our Batt is 12 points to the good for the Brigade cup, you see they give a cup to the Batt that gets the largest number of firsts & seconds in all contests.


Well I will close now hoping you are all well.

I remain Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom.

France; November 5th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well.

I received five letters yesterday - one from Mum (August 5th) one from Nell (Aug 15; one from Siss (Aug 16th); two from Annie (Aug 5th & 12th) was glad to hear you were all doing alright & had been having such lovely rains, it is raining heavily here today.

I went to a small village about 2 miles away yesterday & had a look over a glass factory & a sugar mill. It was the first time I have ever seen glass blown & I tell you they are pretty slippery about it.

In the sugar mill they take the Beet, wash it with Machinery, crush it & extract the juice & then the farmers take away the crushed Beet & feed it to their cows & sheep. The Y.M.C.A. run a cinema show in a big Marquee about a mile away, they are very good pictures & I often go over to them.

Annie seems to be having a tremendously good time at her school, dancing, tennis & so forth.

I am enclosing one of our Batt Xmas cards, I expect it will be a bit late unless the Mediterranean is opened as I expect it will be on account of the armistice with Austria. Things are promising pretty well for a big victory for the Allies & I do not think peace is so very far off now, although I daresay the Germans will want a bit more hammering to convince them that we are the winners.

Well I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain Your Loving Son & Brother,

Tom

France; October 29th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well.

Things are going fairly well over here now. We won the Brigade drilling competition yesterday & will now represent the Brigade in the Divisional competition. The weather has been very nice lately & we have not had any cold weather to speak of yet. The French people are as busy as bees digging up their root crops, potatoes, marigolds, turnips etc. The women here work dreadful hard, they are at it first thing in the morning & last thing at night, young & old just the same.

I had a letter from Mick Griffen the other day, he is doing alright in Hurdcott. I also heard from Henry Tralaggan, he is on a Base job now & will very likely not be sent to the line again on account of his shoulder, which is quite right, as it has been out ten times now.

We are to be reviewed by General Hobbs, commanding officer of our division to-morrow so I suppose their will be some fussing. When we are out spelling we have to keep our equipment scrubbed & the brass-work polished; especially on those drilling stunts & I can tell you the Aussies look very smart indeed.

Major General Talbot Hobbs inspecting troops

Well I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain
Your Loving Son & Brother
Tom

France; October 21st, 1918

France October 21st 1913

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well.

Since, last writing to you I have received 8 letters - one from Mum (July 18th) one from Hilda Taylor one from Hilda Pohlner one from Siss (July 17th) one from Kath (July 18th) two from Annie (July 21st & August 21st) & an immensely good letter from John (July 31st), in it he refers to old "needle" whom I do not recognise, but assume it was someone who was working for you, as the boys do not generally "hit" it with anyone working home. I am sorry the wheel of his bike went "bung". I suppose he is not able to go & see the girl now.

(A bit of advice for Ann) Keep, wide of the "boys", particularly returned soldiers. I guess there will be some "fussing" in certain families who have been blessed with the arrival of sons & daughters.

I was very pleased to hear Georgie Siegert has been reported prisoner of war, I did not think there was much hope for him, his mother will be so pleased.

Annie O'Connor must have had some wedding by the account Kath sent me. I sent home a batch of Xmas cards the other day, hope they get home alright. It has been very, very wet here lately. I went to a French picture show the other night, much fun trying to read the writing on the screen. We are having anther special drill competition shortly & are practising for it now. We have not been doing much parade since we came back here & this spot would do me for the "duration" but some of the lads reckon it is too quiet, they want to be near some big town where they can have plenty of fun, but I don't worry after that sort of fun.

Well, I will close now.

Wishing you all a Merry Xmas & a Happy New Year.

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom

France; October 19th, 1918

Christmas and New Year Greetings

Christmas 1918

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS

From the scent of the gum and the wattle, 

From the mountains of blue far away, 

And where Wallabies range, I guess is a change, 

To fighting the Huns here to-day;

In place of the homestead, this station

In a Clearing our bayonets have won, 

While in trenches of sand long hours we stand

Mid the Coo-ee of rifle and gun;

But we're doing our "bit" you will gather,

And it isn't a small "bit" at that, 

For the name of "Anzacs" will forever remain

As a record fame scored with our bat. 

And when all of this flurry is over, 

And battles and fighting are done, 

by George there will be, for Australia to see

A Corroboree - "Somewhere at Home."

From

TJ Quinn

32nd Battalion 

AIF, France

To Father, 

Wishing you a Merry Xmas ans a Bright & Happy New Year

From Your Soldier Son, 

Tom

19/10/18

France; October 13th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well. We are all back well away from the line now & having a well-earned rest. We are in a small French village & things are very quiet here, except when the boys get hold of some “Vin Blanc” which is a cheap wine & carries boxing gloves & a very strong desire to break everything up, when a man gets too much of it. This of course causes a certain amount of noise & provides amusement for the onlookers; it is always very much in evidence on pay-night when we are near any place it can be bought at. I went into Abbeville on Friday, it is a fairly big place, but is pretty quiet now. I tried my weight there & I hit the scales at 12 st & 2lb which is not too bad.

The first day we landed in this village the French people rushed out & gathered in their Apples & what few grapes they had growing here, as our reputation amongst fruit gardens is bad (very bad).

They are breaking up a battalion in every brigade of the A.I.F. & in our Brigade they are breaking up the 29th & sending them to us, what is left of us will form two Coys (C & D) of the 32nd & the 29th will form (A & B) Coys. It is causing a good deal of friction, as a man naturally does not like to see his Batt broken up, but there are not nearly enough men about to keep the existing Batts up to anything like full strength, especially as we have been doing a lot of line work this year.

Well I will close now hoping you are all well.

I remain

Yours Tom.

France; October 4, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well & doing alright. Things are going fairly well over here & there is every prospect of us giving Fritz a real good licking before another year is out. I saw Mat Griffen when I was coming back from the line yesterday, he was quite well. I got a letter from Mick a day or two ago he had just come back from leave in Ireland & is in No. 4 Command Depot at Hurdcott.

Wally Arnolds was killed by a machine gun bullet the last trip we done in the line. It struck him in the chest & I think he died almost immediately. I was very sorry to hear it, as he was a fine cheerful fellow & very popular with the boys.

Wally Arnolds - A close friend of TJQ

Henry Tralaggan injured his shoulder and again & I suppose is away in hospital somewhere. Frank Richards is still away.

Well I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain your Loving Son & Brother

Tom

France; September 10th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well. 

I am still at the Sniping School & have been having a really good time. We get a good deal of time to ourselves & I immensely enjoy going for walks to the little villages around here. It is a real pleasure walking about here at this time of the year, when you haven't got to carry your pack. 

You know the photo I said I put in my last letter well I guess you were terrible lucky if you found it. It slipped out when they were censoring the letter & the Adjutant gave it back to me next day, so I am enclosing it in this one. I'm also sending you a bit of M.M. ribbon.

You can get a leave from here to some fairly big towns, but I did not bother to get it as they are a fair distance away and you can only go on Sunday. The school finish on Saturday, so I expect I will be back with the Batt early next week. 

Well I'll close now as there is not much news here, hoping you are all quite well.

I remain your loving Son & Brother

Tom

France; September 2nd,1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know that I am quite well. I did not go to the war this time, but was sent to a sniping school which will last a little over a fortnight, it is a long long way behind the line in a very pretty, quiet place & and the work is light & interesting. I am having a real good easy time. 

The French people here are just getting their harvest in, most of it is cut and stooked in the fields, and they are carting it into little stacks, later they will come round with their threshers & thresh it. They will have a splendid return this year.

The news from the front continues to be good & we are evidently making very good progress. I do not suppose I will get any mail while I am at this school, they will keep it for me at the Batt.

I am enclosing a rough snap I had taken in a little village not far away the other day.  My "dial" looks a bit "harder" than it really is, but, it is a fairly true photo.

The weather continues fine which is a great help to the push that is going on.

Well, I will close now as there is not much news here. Hoping you are all quite well.

I remain,

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom

France; August 25th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know how I am getting on, I was a bit off colour yesterday, but I am quite well again to-day. I went to see Bert yesterday that he is on Blighty Leave. Lorrie Bell has been wounded. I saw Frank Cahill & Aleck Burton they are both quite well.

The war is going on nicely & we are having lovely fine weather for the advances the Allies are making.

I was awarded the Military Medal the other day over a little stunt we done on the night of 28th of July. I did not do anything special to earn it. I do not want any decorations at all, but I want to be satisfied in my own mind that I have done my job to the best of my ability, more than that I cannot do. I will send you a piece of ribbon when I get some. Wally Arnolds got one too but he earned his as he done some real good work. I say! Who said Bill Oulman was sleepy? Just about bangs Banniger doesn't it.

Well, I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain your loving Son & Brother

Tom

France; August 20, 1918

My Dear People, 

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well. Since last writing to you I have received 5 letters to from Mum (May 12th and June 2nd) two from Annie (May 13th and 27th) and one from Siss (May 12th). I was very pleased to hear from you and hope you are still going on alright. The P.C. of Siss & George was very good indeed. I was rather surprised to hear that Jack & Maude were married. I saw Mat Griffin a few days ago, he is was quite well then.

It will be a bit of a handicap to poor old Ralph Thomas to have lost his leg, but I suppose he will have to make the best of it. Charlie Pohlner is lucky getting home, as I supposed to shoulder does not affect him very much.

(August 22) I received 3 more letters yesterday dated June 16th, one from Dad, one from Siss & one from Essie Bryce. I was glad to hear you had received my little parcel of souvenirs from Ireland. I sent a parcel of books of views as well I do not know if that if you got them or not. Petrol & oil is certainly very dear, but they use immense quantities of it over here in lorries, tractors, tanks & planes. I do not know how they keep up the supply at all. At any rate I suppose the demand will ease off a bit after the war. I hope Mum had a nice trip to Mildura & found the folks fairly well over there. 

Essie tells me Roy Beckwith is married (good going Eh). John Best must be having a real good time now he has got a housekeeper, I thought he was married.

It was a real hot day here today & we had a nice swim this morning in some lovely cool water. I just got a letter from Mick Griffin, he is still being treated for his ears. He tells me Pat has bought a new house, things must be looking up over that way.

Well I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain

You're loving Son and Brother

Tom

France; August 11th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well. Since last writing to you I have taken part in one of the biggest advances the British have made in this war. We advanced 8 miles in a few hours & captured an enormous number of prisoners.

Our organisation was magnificent & our losses were very small.  I had the pleasure of rooting some of them Fritzs out of their humpies, they do not give you any excuse to kill them & are very eager to be good "kamerads" with you when you have the business end of a bayonet pointed at their ribs. I did not go in for much souvenring but got an automatic pistol & a pair of field glasses. I sold the pistol for 50 Francs & the field glasses are not a good pair.

I was not in the best of trim for the stunt as I got a bit of gas in my eyes & they were so bad that if I had reported sick I would have been sent out, but I would not have missed the stunt for anything as you do not often get the chance of going for a route march in Fritz's lines. My eyes are improving now & I expect they will be alright in a few days. It was splendid to see the way our transport & artillery followed us up, we had beautiful weather and it was easy going. I think we have got old Fritz thinking now although it will probably take another 12 months to beat him down to the terms that our people will accept. There is another Aussie mail in and I suppose I will get some letters in that. I suppose you will be hard at it shearing when you get this, hope your backs do not ache too much.

Some of the Froggies will be able to come back and harvest their crops here now, some of them are nearly ripe now. Well I think I will close now hoping you are all quite well.

I remain

You're loving son & brother

Tom

France; August 2nd, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well.

We are having a quiet spell for a few days now & I suppose we will be on the 'spit and polish' stunt and do a little drill. We are camped in a nice place with plenty of trees about. It is raining heavily today. Frank Richards was shell-shocked by a big Minenwerfer during our last trip. W. Arnolds told me it affected his eyes but I suppose only temporarily or I hope so anyway. I hope he does not come back to the line as it was a Minnie that injured him the last time. These Minenwerfers are a big trench mortar shell & have a terrific explosion. One of them killed Bert Dew, practically blew him to pieces I believe.

German infantrymen towing the Minenwerfer

Harry Tralaggen has gone on blighty leave, he is going at a nice time of year. Mick Griffen is pretty right now but they are treating his ear as he has gone pretty hard of hearing. I will close now hoping you are all well & tell Nell not to worry about Frank as I expect he will be alright.

I remain

Your loving Son and Brother

Tom

German Minenwerfer

France; July 21, 1918

My Dear People

Just a few lines to let you know that I am quite alright. Things are fairly quiet here now and we are having a fairly easy time. I am enclosing a drawing of an Aussie Battalion leaving a French village. The fellow who drew it knew a thing or two and had evidently been in certain parts of France shortly after Fritz started his big push.

We were received by a French General (General Pau) who is going to Australia to stimulate recruiting, there is a commercial party going with him whose object is to increase trade between us and France. You will probably hear of them in Australia. The General is a very old soldier who lost his arm in the war of 1870, but he cannot speak English much.

Well I will close now as there is not much news about.

Hoping you are all quite well.

I remain

Your Loving Son and Brother
Tom

France; July 13 1918

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well. Since my last writing I have received five letters, one from Mrs Taylor, one from Mary Anges, one from Mum (April 28), one from Nell (April 22) & one from Anne (April 29). I was pleased to hear you were doing all right but sorry that grandfather has died, poor grandmother will be very lonely now.

The weather is still very nice and there are some nice crops about the country we are fighting in. I have seen some crops in no man's land that I would like to try a binder in, but it would be rather unhealthy just there at the present. I gave Henry Tralaggan 30 shillings the other day which he will pay to you. Henry is a Lance-Corporal now and away at a school at present. Well I will close now as there is not much news about. Hoping you are all well.

I remain

Your loving son and brother

Tom

France; July 7, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know that I am quite well and doing all right. Things are not too bad now, the weather is good, there has been a bit of fighting going on, but everyone is waiting for Fritz's next big push which will happen any time now. If he does not hurry up you'll not be able to force the Allies to terms as the Americans are becoming a very serious item in our armies and they are getting over here at an enormous rate, so I don't think that there will be any peace for a long time yet.

I have been promoted to Corporal and I am altering my allotment from 26th of July to 6/6 per day. 1/6 is deferred. I'm still drawing 2/- per day and from that 26/7/18 you will draw home 6/6 instead of 3/-. Of course it will be some months before it is paid to you, as it takes a long time to go through from here, but the pay will probably be sent to you in a lump sum, when the alteration goes through. I have been drawing 5/6 per day as a temporary Cpl for nearly 3 months and by the end of July my Pay Book will have a credit of £45.0.0 which is a very nice sum to have available over here, besides that I have a fair bit of cash on hand, as I have spent practically nothing since I came to France this time. There is an Australian mail in and we will probably get it in a day or so. Hoping you all well.

I remain

Your loving son and brother,

Tom.

France; April, 28th, 1918

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know, I am quite well. We are still on our good job & having a Bonza time.

We have been living on roast & fried meats & plenty of potatoes, jam tarts, (I am pretty good on pastry cooking) but I am getting short of flour now as these Froggies buy bakers bread & unless
I souvenir some more flour, our tarts will come to an end. We had some nice fresh fish which we caught too. One of my lads got possession of a fowl to-night so the troops will likely have poultry for dinner one of these days.

Most of our lads are collecting little souvenirs to send horse '& you can get plenty of nice little ornaments too, but I do not bother anything like that. (I believe the leaning figure of the
Virgin I sent home has fallen at last).

You can get anything you want here, from a frying pan, to a grand Piano, & my word these Frenchies have some lovely furniture. To look at most of the houses from the outside they do not seem very flash, but inside the furniture and decorations are beautiful. There must have been some wealthy people here, & it seems such a pity that they should have to leave such nice homes. It is also quite possible that if there was any heavy fighting about here the houses would be levelled to the ground by shells.

We have a fair amount of sport when we are looking for food owing to the language on the labels but, we can generally pick out what they are by the look or taste. One of my men reported a large find of flour but, on examination I pronounced it plaster of paris (what a sell). The best of the joke was that he gave a sand bag of it to some other chaps & they carried it about a mile, but I found out & told them about it before they tried to use it.

The war seems to be going on with a good swing & though we have lost a bit of ground I do not think Fritz can stand the pace he has been going for long. He has had a little go or two at the Aussies but does not get on too well with them.

I hear that poor old Tom Dearlove was killed. He was one of the best soldiers in our Battalion, He never growled or grumbled no matter what happened & had been with the Battalion right through everything. These sort of men do not get much in the way of decoration but I think they are real "dinkum" heroes.

I expect by the time you get this you will be pretty near finished tilling. I see the Governmentis guaranteeing 4/- a bushel for last seasons wheat so that is not so bad, as you have had pretty good returns.

I suppose Annie will be nearly finished her course at T.T.C. by the time you get this. And Kathie's leave will be up. Of course she will find that keeping house is not all sugar & honey & I
suppose she will be glad to get back to her teaching again.

I have not seen or heard anything of the other Mt. B. boys since I came to France this time as I have not been near their Batts. I guess those chaps who have returned home are doing some swank, but I am sorry for those who have lost a limb.

Well I must close now hoping you are all well.

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom