‘DEPARTURES’ (Blog post 2)
23 September 2022 has been a long time coming! After planning this tour in mid to late 2019 and making bookings, arrangements and then facing Covid where all the plans were put on hold, our tiny group is finally departing for Europe in two week’s time. Despite undertaking nearly 20 commemorative tours since 2001, this one feels like the first. The adrenaline kicks in with the anticipation and excitement of finally leaving but within the context of some unknowns that international travel post Covid presents. So, when we look back to the journeys of over 330,000 Australian military personnel in the Great War, reading letters and diaries from departing soldiers, in many cases the sense of adventure and excitement seeps through their writing. As we follow the letters of Lieutenant Reginald Harrington DCM, they give an extraordinary insight to one man’s wartime journey as he wrote to his wife Edith over the 4 plus years he was overseas. This is his story:
16 November 1914 (Colombo, CEYLON)
From what I can gather it is intended to remove the embargo on letters, sealed after leaving this post, so now I am going to make an attempt to write a long letter and tell you my own darling wife all the little incidents that have happened on our voyage so far. It is now a month since we steamed away from Melbourne, and it will be nearly another month before we reach England. From the day we knew we were to leave I have kept a little diary and I will write this letter as a copy of it as you may see, darling girlie, that every night when writing it up I have had you in my mind and have longed to post you a decent letter, but as the instructions given us were definite, I could not let you know a single thing as regards our movements. I have not had a letter from you, darling since the day before we sailed, so it is now over a month since I last heard from you and I am actually awfully anxious to know that my darlings are well.
(Further on in the letter, Reg describes his feelings at the point of departure in the previous month from the docks at Melbourne bound for the war.)
18 October 1914 (Melbourne)
Reveille sounded at 11.30 pm on the 17th …coffee at 12.30 am. Cleaned up the horse lines, and tidied the tents, withdrew lead ropes and heel pegs, and put our kits on a motor lorry, saddled up our horses and in full marching order…left Broadmeadows camp at 3 o’clock on Monday morning. We rode through Melbourne down to Port Melbourne and reached the pier at 6 o’clock. On reaching the pier we took off the saddle and bridle and put on the ship halter with which we were provided and led our horses on board our transport. The horses went on splendidly. And gave no trouble at all : fancy my darling wifey, the whole of our squadron had its horses, over 150 in all, on board in 40 minutes. Nobody was allowed up the front but on the deck we could hear them cheering as we got away from the pier. It is strange the emotions one feels at times like this and felt glad indeed my darling girl that you were far away. and so spared the pain of a parting before going on board and then again I felt I would give dearly to be able to say one last fond goodbye before leaving our coast, we came to anchor in bay that that might dear, and as I managed to get some postcards of the ship, I sent you one and also one to dear little Gwen.
'The 2nd LH Regiment leaves Brisbane's Pinkenba Wharf. The scene was the same at other ports of embarkation in Australia and New Zealand.'
Photo and text from 'The Anzacs', Pedersen. P ( 2007) page 21.
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