Trp Bert Hutchinson (Lilydale), 4th Light Horse Regiment: In camp in Palestine. In a letter to his future wife, Jessie Mackenzie of Yalca, Vic – ‘Recently I had the pleasure of visiting Bethlehem and seeing the Church of Nativity. There is a large Church and Monastery with a small church inside. The other buildings are used for schools and accommodation for (visitors) pilgrims. The church is divided between the Greeks, Italians and Armenians and each has a beautiful Altar but I liked the Italian Altar best.
We went into the cave which was used for a stable in the time of our Lord. The walls of the cave are covered with marble and tapestry. If you move the tapestry aside you see the natural wall of the cave. The pilgrims who visited the cave used to chip pieces of rock off the wall before it was covered. The floor of the cave is very smooth and it is hard to walk in the cave without coming to grief. The monk showed us where Jesus was born and the manger where he was laid. There is a passage from the stable to another cave where the scriptures were translated in the fourth century. In this passage many beautiful and valuable lamps hang from the roof. A silver lamp decorated with many jewels was presented by King Leopold.
From this cave there is another passage to another cave where several of the early Christians were buried but their bodies were taken to Italy. The Catholics have several churches and schools around Bethlehem and many of the Arabs are Christians. Solomon’s Pools – There are three large reservoirs built of rock in a valley just beyond Bethlehem on the Hebron Road. These pools are very ancient. In the centre pool there is a fair supply of water. There is an aqueduct about forty feet below the ground and cut out of rock (it may be deeper in places). We used to get our drinking water from this aqueduct. This aqueduct used to supply Jerusalem with water but I have not read the history of this aqueduct.
I also visited the Holy City and visited all the places of interest. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built by Queen Helena of Greece, is a very wonderful building. It is built on the ground where Christ was crucified and buried. The bust of the Virgin Mary is in a glass case and is just covered with precious stones. It is a wonderful collection of gold, diamonds, rubies etc. A heart of gold presented by the King of Spain is about six inches at its greatest height and over four inches at its greatest width and about one and a half inches thick. It is a beautiful piece of workmanship.
I went into the sepulchre which was beautiful. Where Christ was buried is covered with marble. At the entrance into the sepulchre there is a wonderful piece of hand carved marble. (Well I am afraid I cannot do these places justice so I shall tell you more about them later on.) We visited the Mosque of Omar which is built on Mt Moriah on the site of Solomon’s Temple. Two marble pillars which were in Solomon’s temples are used in the mosque, the Mosque of Asha, which is also in the Temple area.
The Jews’ Wailing Place, where the Jews put a nail in the old city wall when they visit this place. The Russian excavations where portion of the ancient Roman wall has been excavated. The pool of Bethesda where the Jews used to sit on the bank of the pool and wait until the waters were troubled. The Tower of David which is just inside the Jaffa Gate. We visited many other churches in the City and all of them are worth visiting. We inspected the Roman pavement where the Roman soldiers used to play marbles and other games. The Garden of Gethsemane is outside the wall and I saw this garden when we rode through the first time.
We had dinner at the Central Hotel and as I was tired we had a very quiet afternoon. Lately we have been able to go swimming in the Jordan River which is a very pleasant pastime while the weather is so hot. The current is very strong but the river is not very deep. The horses enjoy a swim in the river and it saves a little grooming.
Yesterday we had a very exciting day out on patrol. We arrived at our positions and all was well. A patrol frightened two wild pigs and they came near our post. Naturally we had a few shots and we succeeded in killing a nice young pig. It was not long before he was dressed and hanging from the stand. We made ourselves comfortable when the man who was observing shouted ‘pig’ so we went up for another shot. These pigs were running along a waadi so three of us ran to cut off their retreat. The pigs saw us and came between the two parties through our horses (our horses broke away) and straight for the river. We fired a few rounds but these pigs escaped. In this mob of pigs half of them were suckers and we made them gallop. There was about twelve pigs altogether. We carried our pig home and had him for dinner and he was very tender so we hope to get another pig shortly. These pigs were all in good condition but are not like the pigs at home. Their legs are much longer and their heads are shorter. I expect our pig would weigh about 130 lbs.
Game is very plentiful in the Valley and we often see a few hares, also grouse, pheasants, quail and pigeons etc. We often saw gazelles when we were camped in Egypt but I have not seen many about here. Perhaps we shall see plenty of them as we move further along the Jordan Valley. Fish are plentiful in the river and some of the boys go fishing in the evening but meet with very little success. The weather is very hot but this is the hottest month so it will soon be cooler’.
Adolphus Black (Lilydale): Leaves his job with the Victorian Railways and enlists in the AIF, he is 21 years old.