Pte Felix Hargrave (Lilydale), 7^th Battalion:  At St David’s Hospital on Malta. In a letter to his sister in Lilydale – ‘Since I last wrote I have been moved to this hospital. There are about 100 big marquee tents, all lined with yellow calico; there are 12 beds in each tent, with good horsehair mattresses. I expect I will be going to the convalescent camp in a few days, and after a week or two there I will he sent back to the base at Alexandria for a few weeks’ training, to fit me for the front again. It is grand climate here; the days are bright and warm with cold nights, and as I gaze out I look over the blue waters of the Mediterranean.

Valetta is the capital of this island. It is a rummy old place; a lot of the roads are cut underground and it is very hilly, the streets being mostly steps. It would tire a man going out for his daily pound of steak. Of course, there are some very nice streets. The people are all very religious; out of a population of about 200,000 there are some 5000 priests or monks, who wear little skull caps and a brown robe, with a rope girdle and bare feet thrust into sandals.

There are a lot of troops here, wounded or garrisoned. There are a lot of wounded coming in lately from the Dardanelles. You will see, we have made a big advance at Anzac, which is our name for Sari Bahr. Once the Turks lose Achi Baba, it won’t be long before ‘Turkey finish’, as the Indians say. There are a lot of Gurkhas fighting on the Peninsulaalso Sikhs and Punjabies. They are a fine lot of men, and very brave. The Gurkhas are very like the Japanese. They sneak out of the trenches at night and cut off the Turks heads. There are only a few of the 7^th left; they are out of the firing line and are on the beach as a working party, I am very lucky to be here alive and well, but I am not out of the wood yet. I may go back at any time now: I would not care to come away without finishing my little bit’.