Camp 28
Lark Hill
Salsbury Plains
18th April
Dear Everybody,
Well I believe we are in England. Someone said so, so we probably are. This is really the very end of civilisation. If ever I get out of this country nothing on earth will induce me to come back. Why they dont give the whole place to the Germans I dont know. I would call Lake Eyre home after this.
I sent you some letters which I hope were posted at Plymouth & got there were sent as soon as we landed. They may go with this letter. We got up the channel all right although I believe we had a run for our money, but fortunately it was we very rough & raining all the way up. We came up a absolutely full speed & even blistered the paint off the funnels. We were very glad when we saw the tremendous light of the Lizzard Sweeping round in large circles about 8 oclock. We passed Eddinstone at 12P.M. & were safe in harbour about 2. I believe ships have been torpedoed right within reach of the forts. We anchored in the stream & landed about 11. We were the last off, and it by the time we were formed up & checked on the quay it was 2 oclock. It was snowing hard the whole time. We landed right in a goods yard & were packed straight into a train without even seeing a street. The passengers didnt land till evening. There were 4500 Australians landed at various parts of Plymouth & Devonport that day.
We left about 3 oclock & went straight to E(illegible) where I wired. We had about ½ an hours stop & some ladies dished out some ref very light refreshments. It was very cold & snowing all the time. We seemed to pass endless successions of filthy little “villages”, pretty “perhaps”. We got to Salsbury about 11P.M. & went straight on to a little branch line to Amesbury about 10 miles further north. Arriving about 12 midnight. Then more checking in a raging storm and packing kits etc, a terrible job. We got on the move about 1, & had a march of 3 miles right into the wind. Our guide got us into a plowed ploughed field & a bog & we eventually arrived a what we were told were our quarters 200 short. The rest having followed a party of infantry to another camp. However they arrived about an hour later. We had nothing to eat & had only biscuits & beef since breakfast. Next morning it was white. About a foot of it, & cold. We didnt form a very favourable opinion of the place. There are huts at Lark Hill for miles, enough to hold 40,000 men, although they are not all inhabited.
The whole is divided into camps to whole (hold) 100 men. There all two lines of huts. Smaller than those at Claremont. To sleep 25 men, & a Segt or Corpl, to each with a small room in it to himself. There are roads as good as any in Hobart, every where. The men mess in ‘dining’ rooms. The food is scanty but I cant say anything about that or the letter is just destroyed, but 6 blankets are issued. All available ground is being dug for food. I have been put in the R.B.A.A. Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery which occupies Camps 21, 22, 26 & 28.
It is Commanded by Col. Mailer who took Col. Smiths brigade away when the latter was turned down. He is a real brute & believes in making life a misery for everyone. He is running all the men here, they are simply loathing military work, England & everything on account of him. If Australia knew a quarter of what he does he would be recalled at once. He is a disgrace to Australia. The Adjutant is worse. The officers are not atall a decent crowd, mostly men over from the front, but there are a few I knew. All who left Maribyrnong since last August are still here & of course I know them. Capt Kemp of Hobart is in charge of Camp 28, he is very decent & easy going, suffering from shell shock. He hates the place. Turner is here too, broke his ankle at the front & is goi just waiting to go back. He has had 3 months in hospital. Watchorn is at a school about a mile away, Camp 14. Irwin of course is here. I w Turner & I got quite a shock when we met. Neither of us had any idea we were here & I went in a little late to breakfast the first morning and sat down. And after quite a little time, we real I realised I was sitting next to Turner. He was surprised. So was Bruce. He didnt expect me for 3 months I w Turner told me where he was or I should never have found him. I went & looked him up in the dark the other night & met him in the dark. He absolutely didnt know me. We are all being split up. It is rotten. Even brothers are split up. Col. Mailer does it, he It is his idea of discipline. No friends will keep long together here. We are to get no leave atall till for a month, & then only 4 days. After that Saturday & Sunday when not on duty between 2 & 8P.M. only. The Col. again. So between the bitter cold, no food, no leave & the Colonel everyone is feeling very down & very bitter against England but I suppose we will get used to it, but it is a contrast to everything on the “Osterley”.
I wrote to the Agent General, & Gran the first day & got a dozzen letters back & I have had letters ever since by the dozen. Aunt. Jane sent two lovely cakes which were very acceptable. I had letters from you but posted only a week after I left, one from Aunt Jane, Donoyhmore, & Col. Frank Lewis which were duly answered. I have been kept busy fixing up after the voyage but the work seems pretty slight here. There is a tremendous block of Artillery Officers & we expect to be here 6 months. They send you when they want you & dont worry about scho training. I dont know anything about my movements. We split up tomorrow. I go to Camp 21. Camp 28 is a sort of receiving depot. It has snowed & rained every day we have been here, & it is a contrast to the Serra Leone, of a fortnight ago. Mails are most erratic here. I have been advised to stamp letters although they can go free. I will Excuse this writing but it is cold & I have no chair. I will write again. (sometime)
Goodnight
Arndell.
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