25/04/2025
Inspired by Anzac Day memories of friend Joy Christine Marie Dickson
describing her poignant Great Uncles war experience, I thought I would share a couple of pages of my Grandfathers beautiful diary. I recorded my voice reading it to Dad. His diary begins on 2nd May 1916 as he sets sail through Sydney heads, around to Perth, onto Columbo, Port Suez, Port Said. Leaving Port Said he writes 'we are armed and all hands to wear life belts'. They arrived safely in Alexandria where they were transferred and left for England, passing the South African coast and arriving at Gibralter. They were then chased by a German submarine for two hours before arriving in Plymouth. The diary is an absolute treasure. Although he only writes how they were shelled in the trenches and he was transferred from France to England, many years later Mum recorded him speaking in detail about the ordeal in the trenches during the battle of Bullicort. His brother was killed and the bomb smashed my Grandfathers shin. He lay in mud for three days. Help came but wasn't able to take him straight away so he left saying "I'll be back for you mate!" And true to his word, he returned days later and Grandfather was transferred to hospital and then to England for surgery. Eventually he returned home and had another surgery at Randwick hospital. He went on to run a bakery in North Sydney where he and my Grandma adopted my Mum and two brothers after their mother died the day after giving birth to Mum. Their father made them 'wards of the court' which is a term my Mum and Uncle often referred to with a sense of sadness but always adored their Grandfather Francis Neville Cummins and Grandmother Eileen Berlie who took them in and raised the three kids with much love. Anzac Day is a sad day and reading the diary I experienced a mix of emotions. And not to forget the gum leaf which he must have taken from Old Bar on the Manning River and journeyed with it safely between the diary pages only to return to its homeland with its owner. He was one of the lucky ones. The diary ends on the 8th March 1918. He was away for two years. 💕❤️💕❤️
