Gnr Alfred Niblett, (Lilydale), Royal Field Artillery: Arrives in England and is assigned to the 19th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery that is attached to the Indian Contingent. In a letter to a friend in Lilydale – ‘All the Australian and New Zealand troops got off at Alexandria and went to Cairo and we came to England. When we were a day out from England news came through by wireless that the Germans had bombarded Scarborough – an unprotected town – killing over 100 and wounding a great many. That was a narrow thing for England.
You have no idea what the Germans have been doing to the Belgians. There are hundreds of wounded in our town (Leicester) and some Belgian people are living in a house opposite our place. Honestly speaking you have to pay nearly twice the price you do in Australia at present. Although mind you most of the town are prosperous making war material which will no doubt last for months.
As soon as my leave is up I am going to Woolwich and will wait there to go to the front any time so probably I shall be in the thick of the war within three weeks from now and I will do my best to express my feelings towards the Germans if I am able. It seems hardly true that I am sitting at home thousands of miles away from Lilydale writing to you all, where my thoughts often wander, and I wonder how you are all getting on. I am looking forward to renewing old times in the near future, if God spares me, with many others through this cruel war’.