Card to diggers sends a coo-ee at Christmas
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 20
10 December - 4 February 2008 ] By Tracey Caulfield
During Christmas 1915 the troops of the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces fighting in Gallipoli were sent a Christmas card by their Commander General Sir William R Birdwood. Some of the cards sent to the troops survived and one of them (right) is now held in Special Collections in the University of Melbourne’s Baillieu Library.
By 20 December 1915, 90 000 troops had been evacuated from ANZAC Cove and Suvla. Christmas was celebrated by the troops on the island of Lemnos and on the many ships returning to Egypt.
For those sick and wounded soldiers on Lemnos, the nurses attending to them in the hospital tents tried to create a Christmas atmosphere. In Marianne Barker’s Nightingales in the Mud, Sister Evelyn Davies paints a picture of Christmas for the Forces: “Christmas time on the island was happy. The boys hung up their socks, and I had to sneak round at 3am and fill them with toys and sweets. Two men saw me and said Father Christmas had a white cap and gown on. There was great excitement in the morning.”
To those who had survived the landing and fighting at Gallipoli the card was a small pat on the back and morale booster. It contains messages from General Sir William Birdwood; Senator, the Hon George Foster Pearce, the Australian Minister for Defence; and the British General Sir Ian Hamilton, the Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces.
Hamilton’s message showed great foresight: “Happen what may, the Australians who have fought at Gallipoli will bequeath a heritage of honour to their children’s children.”
The provenance of the card is not known. However, research into the two signatures it contains may eventually shed some light on the soldier to whom this card was sent. The card is in remarkably good condition and has no doubt been treasured by its receiver and subsequent generations.
Tracey Caulfield is Deputy Curator, Special Collections, at the University of Melbourne.
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