Writing to his relatives in Harcourt from Mena Hospital, on April 30th Private E. H. Ely says As you will see by this I am back in Egypt again. I will give you a few of our experiences since we left. We left Mena on Easter Sunday and arrived on board the —– at 10.30 on Monday morning. We did not leave Alexandria till the Thursday night at 5.30. We arrived in the harbor of the Island of Lemnos o Sunday morning, April 11th, at 7 a.m. Our mail was delivered on board that afternoon. I got 11 letters altogether also socks from Ida, which I loot later on, but…

“It was just like having at tooth drawn,” writes Private E. H. Ely, of Harcourt, from Mena Hospital, describing the extraction of a bullet from the top of his head. I am keeping the bullet as a memento. Bert Biggs got a bullet in the shoulder, but it is not serious. We have not heard how the other boys got on. The officers were nearly all wounded, and some killed. I was wounded about 10 o’clock, and Bert about half-past 1. We came on board the hospital ship Gascon about 3 o’clock, and, after staying at the island of Lemnos for a day, sailed for Alexandria. We are now back…

In letters to his relatives at Harcourt Private Ely says February 9th.- We have not had a turn in the trenches yet. Tomorrow we go for a swim. It is not too bad sleeping out. It is nearly a fortnight since we had any letters. They will be very irregular coming through if we get much shifting about. We are having it easy now, 4 1/2 hours drilling. We get to bed at 6 or 7 o’clock, and up 6. I can’t tell you much about Ismailia, but it is one of the prettiest I have been in: lovely gardens. We saw a couple of palms with ivy clinging to…

Writing from Mena Camp to his relatives at Harcourt, Private E. H. ELY says :_ January 24th – We are waiting to have our kits checked, so I have a little time to spare while waiting our turn, so i will write a few lines. It is Sunday morning and we have just come in from church parade. We have had I pretty solid last fortnight. Some mornings when we had to go our shooting we had no time for a wash. We have a shortage of water on account of our reservoir bursting. It is fixed up now, and we are getting on better again. They were giving us…

In letters to his relatives at Harcourt Private E. H. Ely says December 17th. We have had an easy day, and we have just come back from having a swim. There is a good bath down at the end of camp, at the tourists resort. The resort is a fine big place, once a hotel, now used as a hospital. I should think there are about 100 rooms in it. It is situated about a quarter of a mile from the pyramids. Round about the resort are planted a good many blue gums, and they seem to do well. Also acacias something like wattle. We had this afternoon off, and…

Private E. H. Ely says : — December 13th. It is Sunday afternoon, so am taking the opportunity of writing some letters. I have only received one letter since coming here, and that was from England. I am writing this in the Y.M.C.A. tent. It is built of wood framework, with matting on the sides and roof. We got this paper and envelopes in Cairo. The manager of the hotel gave us a couple each. We have got our tents up now, so it is not too bad, although we have 15 in each, it is better than sleeping out in the open. It is warm enough to sleep out…

Private E.H. Ely in letters to his relatives at Harcourt thus describes his journey from Malta to London: Well I am on board ship at time of writing on route for England. We have been lying in this harbor for 5 days. I don’t know what the delay is, but I think we move on tomorrow. You will wonder why I am going to London. Well, I told you I had broken my teeth, and as the dentist at Malta could not get us new plates, a lot of us were put on this boat to go to England to be fixed up. I did not know we were going…

Private E. H. Ely, of Harcourt, has forwarded a number of letters to his relatives, from which we extract tho following:— We have just had a chance of getting some more letters away today, as another mail goes off at 5 o’clock. We awoke this morning to find we were anchored in the harbor at Aden. A lovely sight met our gaze. On one side were high hills, composed of sand and stone. On the other side a big sandy desert. It puts one in mind of what I should think Jerusalem would be like with its walls around about. We got in pretty close, and could see the camels…

Private E. H. Ely, of Harcourt, a member of the First. Australian Contingent has forwarded a number of post cards to his relatives as Harcourt, from which we have extracted the following:— Just a card or two to let you know 1 am in splendid health. We left Suez to come through the Canal at half past eight o’clock, and arrived at Port Said about 12 o’clock. It took 15 hours to come through. It is worth all we have gone through to see what we have seen. Coming from Suez we entered the Canal, sailing almost north. Coming along, we passed several stretches of trees like wild cherry trees,…

A compilation of letters that were sent by Lance Sergeant Ernest Harcourt Ely, to his relatives in Harcourt Victoria detailing his experiences from the front lines of World War 1. Ernest Harcourt Ely was born into the small rural farming community of Harcourt, Victoria, and along with his father and family grew apples. When the war broke out in 1914 he was among the first round of volunteers to join up on the 17th August 1914 and head off to the war. He was a prolific writer and sent many letters home detailing his experiences of life on the front line, his impressions of the country and the people he…