The 2nd Light Horse Brigade, where Billy's brother Jim was stationed,
striking camp in place of the 1st Light Horse, Maadi.
[Courtesy of Australian War Memorial - G01686]
Mena Camp
Sunday February
7 1915
Had leave from
2 pm till 11 pm, a cobber and I went over to the Light Horse camp at Heliopolis
and I happened to strike Jim in camp but my mate wasn’t so lucky, his brother
who come over in the 2nd contig. had just gone to Cairo so he went
to Cairo on the chance of meeting him and was going to meet me at the Grand
Continental at 7.30. Jim’s horse had
trod in a hole the day before and was lame.
He is a fine beast. I think their
horses are much better than ours. Jim
and I had a bit of supper at Canteen and came into Cairo; he lent me his camera
and I am going to take some photos of the Pyramids for him. We hunted round the kodaks for some films but
could not get the right size. They will
have some in less than a week. We met my
mate at 7.30 and he hadn’t struck his brother but after a while his brother
came slap bang into him. We met a chap
from the 2nd Contig. at Nardi and he said he knew Currie. After a squiz round, the mate and I came home
by tramcar. We went in by motor, 2/-
each.
Sunday 7th February
Visited Cairo, Maadi Camp and Heliopolis. Maadi
camp which is a few miles from Cairo along the Banks of the Nile is certainly a
miserable spot, not nearly as nice as Mena, but alongside are numerous fine
residences and the owners have been very good to our Light
Horse officers, practically giving them entrée to their homes at any time for
use of hot baths. At Heliopolis I saw some magnificent residences, including
one of the Sultan’s palaces.
Incidentally, on the way to Heliopolis (where reinforcements are camped) I saw
the Turkish prisoners from the Canal. When I got to camp at 5.30 PM I found
Harry waiting to see me. He has come out with the Second Contingent. He told me
of the trouble at Gordon. I gave him dinner. He left about 8PM.
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