The Autograph Book
© Glenda Bone-Gault[cont....]
Once dry they would be taken into the tent where the trestles were set up and the folding and ironing would begin. The clothes to be ironed would be dampened and rolled up to keep in the moisture as this made the uniforms easier to iron. Edith used two different types of irons. One type was called Mrs Potts irons. Essentially it was a set of two or three irons, which were heated by putting them on the stove. One iron would be used until the heat went out of it, the handle unclipped, transferred to the next hot iron, and so the irons were cycled through so she always had a hot iron. The other type of iron used was a petrol iron, which once up and working would give an hour or so of heat per tank of petrol. When the uniforms were ready to be ironed Edith would starch them by spraying them with cornflour which was dissolved in water. Each type of iron when cooled down would have its bottom rubbed with beeswax to stop it rusting and to keep it clean.
The laundry idea took off so well that Edith enlisted her sister, Emily Walker, into helping. This entailed Emily travelling 20 miles on a bus to Edith's. My mother, Thelma Gault (nee Walker), would accompany her mother out to her aunt's on these working bees.
So well did the whole enterprise succeed that Edith decided that with the profits she'd buy a car, and so the saving started. Not wanting to bank the money she got Emily's husband to make her a weatherproof container that she could put the money in and bury for safekeeping, which she did, under her mango tree. At War's end she had enough saved to buy a new Morris Minor which she drove right up to her death in 1963.
On the occasions when my Mother went to her Aunt's she took her Autograph Book along with her and as the soldiers came to drop off or pick up their laundry, she would ask them to sign her book, which they did, including their Service Numbers and battalions. The American soldiers also signed the book and there are numerous pages where they thank Edith, Emily and Thelma for making their time spent in Australia more pleasant due to the hospitality shown to them.
On the Australian War Memorial website I read the Unit Diaries for the 2/33, in particular for the period of time that they were stationed at Pine Rivers. The Routine Orders by Lieut-Col A W Buttrose warns the men to respect private property and he pointed out that stealing of fruit, notably pineapples, must stop. In another Routine Order he warned the soldiers not to go onto the grounds of the Marsden Boys Home but if they did they would be most severely dealt with. Edith's home was the only house near the Camp where fruit, and in particular pineapples, could be found and she would not have hesitated in notifying those in charge if she was missing produce from her garden. The Boys Home mentioned was not 500 meters from her home. I'm not sure what the soldiers would have been doing going onto the property but it brings home the point that everyday life was affected in many ways during the War years, in ways that we would never even begin to imagine. With regards to Edith's pineapples, she used to grow the small variety and I can remember cutting them in half and being given a teaspoon to scrape out the flesh. It was like taking a bite of golden sunshine and that they may have gone missing does not surprise me as they were so delicious.
One thing Mum recalled about the uniforms was the difference in the condition of the Australians compared to the Americans. Ours were in a much poorer state which is hardly surprising I now realise as the Australian troops had already seen action overseas. In fact they were in Pine Rivers as a rest over before being shipped out again. The other thing Mum recalled was when the Americans first arrived they had corks hanging from their hats, (just like a swaggie's hat) but when they saw "our boys" and their slouch hats, they quickly rid themselves of the corks.
It's only recently that I have seen the autograph book, and after reading it I realise that it contains a deeply touching piece of history that incorporates the soldiers, both Australian and American, my great Aunt and grandmother's hard work ethic. My mother's unwitting recording of it gives us a glimpse into my family and our nation's history.
In the autograph book along side many of the signatures Mum has pencilled in, obviously at a later date, "safe" or "killed". I have asked her how she found out what happened to the men but she can't recall. However on every one that she has written "safe" or "killed" it is 100% correct, as I was to learn. On many occasions Mum had said to me that the soldiers were mainly in the 2/33 Battalion and she recalled a patch on their uniform that the soldiers referred to as "mud over blood". When I asked her what they meant by that she said it was the color of it, a brown on top of a red.
The "mud over blood" patch was awarded to the 2/33 for their participation in various conflicts. When they left Australia they went to New Guinea to reinforce the battered units on the Kokoda Trail. In fact it was the 2/33 who found the bodies of at least 75 to 80 soldiers who had died nearly a month prior. The burial of these soldiers forms the basis of "The Myth of Brigade Hill", which basically is a disagreement over where the remains of these men lie. The Australian Government maintains the soldiers' remains were relocated to a War Cemetery after the war ended, whilst on the other hand it is argued by a group of people, some being local villagers, that the remains were not relocated.
War is a terrible thing, yet out of adversity people dug deep and found themselves doing things that under normal circumstances they would not have contemplated. Just maintaining a normal lifestyle was something that not only had to be worked hard at but also required having an imagination and an industrious nature. Something that Edith Williams and her family came up trumps with.
The men who signed Thelma Walker's autograph book
Here follows a list of the men who signed Thelma Walker's Autograph Book. If anyone is related to one of these men and would like a scan of the page their relation wrote on, please email Glenda.
J SX500267 John Arthur Wilson (Butch)(SX1165) 2/33 Btn [Mention in Dispatches ... London Gazette 30 Dec 1941;
London Gazette 27 April 1944;
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 27 April 1944]
NX52597 Thomas William Rutter 2/33 [died 27 Nov1942 - Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery]
TX1387 Arthur Hampton. Deloraine, Tassie 2/33.
NX37094, John Charles Thompson. 2/33 [died 18 Sep 1943 - Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery]
QX8255 P R Harrison. 2nd Anti Tank 6 Bty AIF.
NX60512 Pte H.A. Seidel 2/33.
NX72249 Donald Cleaver 2/33.
NX27879 James Lawrence Jack 2/33.
VX2045 Cpl J H Dwyer 2/33.
DX53 Pte Harold George Hyde B Coy 2/33.
NX79829 William John Smith 2/109.
NX68321 William John Arnold Smith.
NX37315 Harold James Edwards 2/33.
NX36495 Thomas Bowen Alderson 2/33.
NX2752 Kenneth William Golsby 2/33 [KIA 19 Oct 1942 - Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery]
NX35516 Thomas William Budd
QX3836 Sgt Edward Fahey HQ Coy 2/33 Btn.
NX28825 William Gordon Jones No 3 Platoon HQ Coy 2/33. [19 Oct 1942 - Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery]
NX25147 Robert Charles Williams 2/33.
QX70655 John Stanley Johnnson.
SX17333 John Patrick Forde. NX48603 Raymond Williams 2/33.
VX70742 Thomas Charles Butcher 21 Anti Tank Bty. 106 Anti Tank Rgt.
VX71765 Bdr Terrence Richard Jones 21 Battery 106 Aust Anti Tank Rft.
VX71769 Gunner Ernest Henry Daw 21 Battery 106 Aust Anti Tank Rgt.
VX70801 Waler George Kellett 21 Anti Tank Bat. 106 Aust Anti Tank.
VX70783 Charles Andrew Field Hayes 21 Anti Tank Battery 106 Aust Anti Tank Rft.
V316382 Thomas Henry Skipper Home Forces.
SX1128 Sgt Harold Joseph Atkins 2/33 Battalion HQ Coy.
VX1235612 T H Pollard 21 Aust Anti tank Bty 106 anti Tank Reg 3rd Aust Division, could be Thomas Herbert Pollard Q151768 106 Tank Attack Regt, there is no VX1235612.
NX23953 Harry Brown 2/1 Aust Pioneer Btn HQCoy.
QX3150 Darcy Joseph O'Brien 2/33.
NX153191 William Charles Ford 7th Aust M.G. Batt.
NX154058 Allen Arthur Watton 7th Aust M.G. Batt.
QX4329 Robert William Ubank 2/7 Aust AAS W/Shop.
VX30297 Francis Clarence Schultz 2/2 Aust HY AA Regt W/Shops.
NX6485 Braund Leigh Grenville AACS FLD DET
