Euroa Advertiser (Vic. : 1884 - 1920), Friday 14 May 1915, page 2


DEPARTURE OF A TROOP-SHIP. By One Who Witnessed It. A SKETCH WITH A TOUCH OF HEART IN IT. At six o'clock in the morning my little daughter and myself ar-rived at the Port Melbourne Town pier. It was a cold, raw, foggy morning, and was scarcely day-light at that hour. We proved be the advance guard of thousands upon thousands of people who as-sembled there later in the day We knew the troops were coming but did not know the exact time so we got there early. Well, at about eight o'clock, the advance guard of the 21st battalion ar-rived (the other, advance guard came in on Friday.) The crowds commenced to gather, and ever train that arrived at the station brought full loads of passengers, came in previously. The crowds At ten o'clock the first troop train arrived. It was taken down onto the railway pier and unloaded. Two troopers, on magnificent white horses, tried to keep away clear. They succeeded for awhile, and the soldiers came on four abreast, but when anyone in the waiting crowd caught sight of their own particular soldiers they just rushed in and clung to thm, mar-ching along with them to the bar-riers at the end of the pier. They could get no farther, and had to let their loved ones go, mid tears and sobs. As each train arrived the crowd closed in again until the soldiers could only get three abreast. This kept on till 12 o'clock, when a kindly policeman (who had noticed my girl and my-self there since early morning), came to me and told me that there would be no more troop trains in until 2 o'clock. I was very thank-ful to that policeman, as I then felt at liberty to go and have some dinner (we had had no break-fast.) At 2 o'clock the train ar-rived bringing the 21st battalion (in which were the Euroa boys, or most of them). My boy was in B Company, and after waiting eight, hours I missed seeing him, and was terribly disappointed. The only Euroa boys I saw were: Arthur Morgan, Bert Bradford & Leo Leonard. Of course I had a farewell word or two with them The people by this time pressed in so close that the soldiers were coming in only in couples, and later on they could only get along in single file, as the police were powerless to keep the crowd back. I saw a policeman's horse lash out and a man and two women were kicked. I heard that the man and one of the women were killed, but I cannot vouch for the truth of it. They were taken in an ambulance. The last 200 or 300 soldiers had to run to get in before the gates closed on the crowd who rushed the pier. The mounted police and armed guard with fixed bayonets were alike powerless to keep them back but they were stopped at the gates. We went on to the sand and watched the boats. We waited till we could scarcely see; then, at about 6 o'clock, the gates were opened, and we were allowed on the pier. We called out the name of the Euroa boys and called out "Euroa," but could not hear for the noise. The boys were singing 'Good-bye Melbourne Town,' 'Aus-tralia will be There,' 'Soldiers of the King,' and the world-famed 'Tipperary.' As the boat moved out from the pier the big paper streamers snapped, and it seemed as if the last links were broken. Then it was that we felt the pangs of parting, and many if not all of us, prayed that God would protect our dear brave lads on the water and those at the front, and bring them safely to the hearts and homes of those who love and are proud of them. One poor mother, who had a catar-act in one eye, was eagerly watch ing for her son. She just caught sight of him, when she went quite blind. It is to be hoped that the blindness will not be permanent. The scenes all along from the sta-tion to the pier. were heartrend-ing. Mothers, sisters, sweethearts, and even fathers and brothers, were sobbing (and no shame in them for it.) Girls and women were fainting everywhere. Nearly every soldier had some loved one clinging to them (sometimes three or four), and it was pitiful to see the soldier fathers, with tears in their own eyes, carrying their babies, as well as their already heavy loads. It is such scenes as these that bring this awful war close to our homes, when we have to let our loved ones go, but we are proud of the name our boys have made, which no one can take from them-one that will go down through history - the honored name of Australia's sons. God bless them all!