DomValente
Established Member
Life in the Australian Army...
>
> Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For Those
> of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town, west of Quilpie in
> the far south west of Queensland )
>
>
>
>
> Dear Mum & Dad,
>
> I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil
> that the Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in
> bloody quick smart before the jobs are allgone!
>
> I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get
> outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all yagotta do
> before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform.
> No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack -
> nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz
> there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!
>
> At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks
> or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon
> and by
> that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been on a
> 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the
> back paddock!!
>
> This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep
> getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a
> bloody possum's bum and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya
> like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize
> cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself
> comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of water!! You don't
> even load your own cartridges they comes in little boxes and ya don't
> have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck
> when you reload!
>
> Sometimes yagotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real
> careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and
> Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at
> home after the muster.
>
> Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best
> the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from
> the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles
> across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone
> wringin' wet,but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to
> the boozer.
>
> I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before
> word gets around how bloody good it is.
>
> Your loving daughter,
>
> Sheila
>
> Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For Those
> of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town, west of Quilpie in
> the far south west of Queensland )
>
>
>
>
> Dear Mum & Dad,
>
> I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil
> that the Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in
> bloody quick smart before the jobs are allgone!
>
> I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get
> outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all yagotta do
> before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform.
> No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack -
> nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz
> there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!
>
> At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks
> or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon
> and by
> that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been on a
> 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the
> back paddock!!
>
> This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep
> getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a
> bloody possum's bum and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya
> like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize
> cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself
> comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of water!! You don't
> even load your own cartridges they comes in little boxes and ya don't
> have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck
> when you reload!
>
> Sometimes yagotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real
> careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and
> Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at
> home after the muster.
>
> Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best
> the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from
> the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles
> across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone
> wringin' wet,but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to
> the boozer.
>
> I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before
> word gets around how bloody good it is.
>
> Your loving daughter,
>
> Sheila
