Pte. Wotherspoon D.J.                                  (on ship)            June – July 41

 Q.X. 11656        4 Reinf. 2/15 Bn. 7 Div.                                            30/6/1941

                                         A.I.F. Abroad.                                            Shark Street                

                                                                                                             Water Valley .

My Dear Mother, & all at home & away,

                                                                 Well old Pal, I guess you are thinking of me these days, & wondering how I am faring, & I tell you this if you and the family are as fit and as comfortable as I am at the moment, then everything is in order & as it should be... I am writing these few lines to the roll of a ship, & if my pencil roams off the dotted line, you will understand I am not drunk, but the same symptoms, on my head one second & reverse the next. If I was horse mustering in this country Mother I would never find the camp, no land marks whatever & no gleaming fire at night to guide one home, - Nothing but angry blue sea all shades of blue, white & creamy tops, shade like we used to get when we were mixing paint that year Mum, only not so streaked. I love standing on deck watching the big waves racing and surging down below us & the spray rising, like the old Artesian bore at Richmond used to do years ago when it was young & vigorous. Before I forget Mum I received the wallet from Rhmd OK & it is very handy, you can tell G Stewart for me. Bill Mathers arrived back in Camp before I left, don’t know about Bobby M, I guess he was back also. Ever so many Westerners on board that I have worked with, - Droving etc. round Boulia – Birdsville – Bedourie – Camooweal & the ‘Dangie, so you can see I am not without cobbers.

Ivor Paine is not with us, I have no idea what happened to him, he may have gone to an Officers School , but it is fully three weeks since I have set eyes on him.

(The next line circled on top of a new page)

(Kind regards to all in Richmond who inquire about me, and those who don’t also,)

Mumsie, should this scribble reach you before the Photos, don’t send that one to Beryl Paine, as I posted one to her from Camp, and as much as she likes me she doesn’t want two. Mother O’Mine, the Love Bug bite does not last long when one is over a thousand miles apart, & in the glitter of the bright lights of Brisbane I grew to like another girl very much.

Her name is Adeline Stone, she lives ten mls from the City at a place ‘Sunnybank’. She is quite nice & respectable, her Dad is a retired Police Inspector & he has a large poultry run now for a hobby. Adeline works in the Corset Dept in McWhirters, quite a few other Brothers and Sisters, never met them all I was out at the place only once. I am telling you this old Dear in case she should drop you a

Line some day, & you will understand who she is. She is going to send me a fruit cake sometime, so Mother Mine don’t let the young ones put it over you, send me along one of your own specials one day & it will be very welcome. Now Darling Mother of mine, this is only a short letter to cheer you up & set your mind at rest about me. I can give you no information about my journey yet so with fondest love to all the family & Violet & tell my sister that runs the Tea Stall that I think of her ever so much these days, so cheerio & Au revoir old Sweetheart for this time & a thousand kisses & a hundred tons of Love to your own Dear Sweet Self,

                                                I remain always        your Soldier Son                                                                               David John         xxxx