Literal transcription of diary Contents 51
6 a.m to 9 P.M with spells in
between for meals. The natives
slept on board the collier on the
hard cold iron decks without
any blankets, or covering of any
sort. While the coaling was
going on the troops paraded as
usual and the 6.30 bathing
parade was altered to one for physical
exercise. During the next day or two
the ships crew cleaned up the
ship. Thursday and Friday nights
concerts were held. The sailors
from the Warrego assisting
and a very good program was
given. During the week the
Latrine Leader a very amusing
and widely read journal
made its appearance and was
published and when convenient.
and Friday August 28th.
A boat crew of men from each
section of the different companies
had been practising boat drill for a day or
to previous to this and today a
test of disembarking the troops
by means of the ships boats were
made and was fairly successful.
Sunday Aug 30th. The Ch Anglican
minister and an RC priest came
aboard and service was held at
10 A.M. Boat racing in the
afternoon. Each section of each
crew company furnished a crew but
the time would not permit of
all the sections rowing off.
No.3 section A Company won was
leading the crew consisting of 4
I.Bankers and. Just after tea
news came along of something
possibly doing and everything
on board was all activity
Orders were given for every man
to pack his kit and be ready
to move at a minutes notice
150 rounds of ammunition was
also served out to each man.
The Warrego which had been
lying alongside of us steamed
out and the men everyone was
told to sleep fully dressed ready
for the alarm. Nothing however
came of it and the rumour next
morning said that 3 German
cruisers had been seen close
to Moresby.
Saturday Aug 29th.
We had a sham fight today
A Coy was landed and were
supposed to occupy a position
of at not further than 4 miles
and not less than 2 miles and
(B) and (D) Companies were
landed 1½ hours later and
were to find A Company and
wrest the position from them if
possible. A Company however
did not play the game and
instead of going the 2 miles
went only 200 yards and took
cover. The result was the
capture of all of D Companies
scouts exceptine 2 or 3.
The whole thing was a complete
failure and I lost all confidence
in O.Cs. the officers.
Monday August 31st
Parades as usual
The food was bad and a considerable
amount of grumbling was heard
about both the quality and quantity
Whenever a complaint was made
it was impressed upon us that
we were on active service both
by our OCs and the ships stewards
though the officers fared
extremely well.
Tuesday Au Sept 1st
Troops again embarked for sham
fight but I was on picket
duty pumping water from the
Parramatta to Kanowna. I dont
know how things went though
the other chaps say that
things were carried out better
on this occasion than formerly.
Condensed water was supplied
to the Kanowna by any of the
destroyers which happened to be
in the harbour but only in
small quantities. The
destroyers were seldom in the
harbour during the night it
being their duty to to patrol
the coast and sometimes they
would be away for a day or 2
at a time. Water is now very
scarce and the men are dealt
out ? 2 pints twice per day. This has
to do for drinking and washing.
Though we get a pint of tea
at each meal. We have not
been allowed to wear our civilian
clothes on parade and as we
have only one uniform it is
very dirty. Washing clothes
in salt water being unsatisfactory.
Tuesday Sept night the Oil
boat Murix came into port and
dropped her anchor a stones throw
from the Kanowna. There was great
rejoicing when we learned that
there was mail aboard for us.
This being the first mail since
leaving Cairns. We received our
mail about 10 PM and I was
lucky enough to get 2 letters.
I envied some of the chaps who
got 10 letters besides newspapers.
Wednesday Sept 2nd.
The parades tod this morning
have been called off to allow
the men to read their mail
and an to write and answer
same. The dinner to day was
the worst we have yet had.
The tea has been cancelled at
dinnertime owing to shortage of
water. The haricot beans were
not well cooked and the
sago was nearly raw. and
the bread stodgy and sour.
Several men from D company
paraded with their meal to the
O.C. and the result was a
rousing on for the cook.
Thursday Sept 3rd
Sixteen men were told off from No 3
section D company to wash
dirty clothes of that section
at Fairfax plantation. Left
Kanowna and arrived at
landing at 11 oclock. We loaded
all the clothes on a a and
3 breakers from the ships
boats which on a truck and
pushed it along the tramway
which runs to within a mile
of the plantation. The tramline
has a very is nearly all uphill
and we had hard work
pushing the truck. We met
a good many natives when
The we got to the end of the line. and
They seemed very frightened of us.
They could not speak English
at all. We could see the plantation
about a mile away. and we were not
sorry when we got there as we had to
carry the breakers to t from the end
of the line. The plantation is a
fairly large one there being 1000
acres under sisal hemp. It is
worked by native boys with white
bosses. There is plenty of water there
and we soon got busy on the
washing and while the clothes
were drying had a walk round
and a beautiful shower bath.
the first we had had for a month.
When we were ready to return a
boy from the overseers house brought
us a big billy of tea and some buns
which reminded me of home.
On our return we took three trucks
back with us an we selected trucks
with ball bearings and as the
grade was pretty steep going back
we were able to ride on the trucks
We reached the beach at about 5.30 PM
and the tide was running in
strongly and a stiff wind blowing
against us. The sea was very
rough and the first time we
pushed off were immediately swept
back. We could see that we
were in for a pretty rough time
but we pushed off again and
then the fun started. One good
thing though the moon was
shining brightly so we could
see what we were doing.
We had hard work rowing each
man taking his turn at the
oars. We hat 2 Lieutenants
an the 5
th
officer from the
boat was in charge but he
could not command men
owing to an impediment in
his speech. The result was
every man in the boat wanted
to be boss and whenever the
boat got side on Everyone would
give orders as to how to write
right it. This was no good
and all was confusion.
We got out about 400 yards
and though we rowed all we
could we not get any further
After two hours of this a motor
boat that had been sent out
in search of us picked us up
and towed us back to the
Kanowna. Needless to say we were
very thankful to be back again
and after a meal retired and
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