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<\/p>\nC\/O DPR Unit,
\nArmy Post Office,
\nDarwin,<\/p>\n
Saturday night
\n[24 Jul 1943]<\/p>\n
Darling,<\/p>\n
I was enormously pleased to get your letter, sweetheart \u2013 it did me a lot of good –\u00a0 picked the old soul up no end.\u00a0 Forgive me if my last letter sounded somewhat morbid.\u00a0 \u201cTroppo\u201d madness sets in early and I was too tired & weak to attempt good cheer.\u00a0 However you will overlook it \u2013 yes?<\/p>\n
Letters do help \u2013 one has to be away to realize that.\u00a0 Poor Ivan \u2013 he must eat his heart out waiting for them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sitting down to work \u2013 have been fairly busy although my painting is not of any class as yet, it being overwhelmingly amateurish.\u00a0 Obviously I need much more practice.\u00a0 It\u2019s mostly rough notes that I am compiling for a more or less free use when I come home to my cuddly snugglepot.\u00a0 Judging from the material I have gathered in less than two weeks it will take me at least 2 months back in Sydney working flat out to cover the space necessary for any sort of decent display.\u00a0 That\u2019s good news, heh?<\/p>\n
They\u2019re still discussing this & that.\u00a0 It\u2019s U.S. and Jap strategy now & I cannot help but listen.\u00a0 Destroys my thoughts.<\/p>\n
A great call comes through for us to eat supper sandwiches.\u00a0 And at present that\u2019s nothing to look forward to.\u00a0 We are on \u201ctropical spread\u201d a bloody margarine substitute \u2013 tastes like blasted coconut oil.\u00a0 Should be butter any time now.\u00a0 We have only had to bear the burden for a couple of days.<\/p>\n The poor old pate is sight to behold, huge shivers of burnt up skin float slowly off its tarnished dome.\u00a0 My face is a dried apricot with pimples on it.\u00a0 The bank roll is still well \u2013 I\u2019ve only spent a tenner so far.\u00a0 You must apologise to the boys for me and explain that to date it is next door to impossible to buy anything up here.\u00a0 My only expenses are household \u2013 you can\u2019t spend any on grog at other camps as each officer only gets so much ration & none is really left over for visitors to buy for them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve just bought 18 large packets of Capstans.\u00a0 They seem to be all you can get.\u00a0 Also I let the office buy me a real kangaroo skin tobacco pouch for 10\/-.\u00a0 Incidently (sic) I haven\u2019t heard from them yet \u2013 touch wood.<\/p>\n You\u2019d better go in and price that casserole doings as it\u2019s a moral I won\u2019t be home to consummate our tenth anniversary.\u00a0 Get it if you like & give a dinner to the Watso\u2019s1<\/a><\/sup>King and Eleanor Watson<\/span> & O\u2019Deas2<\/a><\/sup>Tommy O’Dea<\/span> out of it.\u00a0 Do me in style and don\u2019t forget to leave an empty setting at table for me \u2013 don\u2019t neglect my drinks either.\u00a0 Telepath me lots of lurv.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no secret about McNulty3<\/a><\/sup>Clarence Sydney McNulty<\/a> was Editor in Chief at the Telegraph. He was arrested in early 1943 in an embarrassing situation and gave Police a false name<\/span>.\u00a0 I knew in Brisbane.\u00a0 No doubt King4<\/a><\/sup>King Watson<\/a><\/span> & Cyril5<\/a><\/sup>Cyril Pearl<\/a><\/span> resented his queer behaviour.\u00a0 Perhaps he didn\u2019t like to let Cyril know that the estimable Brian6<\/a><\/sup>Brian Penton<\/a><\/span> was to be his superior.\u00a0 The set-up has violent possibilities.\u00a0 Cyril will object to Penton\u2019s policies & the daily night work.\u00a0 Pretty \u2018orrid what!<\/p>\n We don\u2019t do our own washing.\u00a0 Every day we change and one of the poor unfortunates chores for us all.\u00a0 Ironing is done as well.\u00a0 We do nothing but eat.\u00a0 None of these blokes are what you could call drinking men.\u00a0 Although there is at least 5 bottles Corio \u2013 3 gin & 5 port, 1 hock, 1 advocat & 2 beer no one wants a drink.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be glad to get out again.\u00a0 Am going down the road tomorrow \u2013 shall be away about 4 days finishing up at the last camp I stayed at.\u00a0 They\u2019re having a do on Thursday 29th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Ray Stehr<\/a> & Tom Izzard, prominent Sydney footballers, also 4 other leading Sydney Rugby players are in the unit.\u00a0 To my great despair I won\u2019t see any of your letters until I come back, my pet.\u00a0 I\u2019ll forward you letters from where ever I am.<\/p>\n All the gang have been on the beach this afternoon.\u00a0 It seems incredible that the water should be so warm and the weather so glorious.\u00a0 Dozens of soldiers turn out for a dip it\u2019s all very gay and nude \u2013 the probeing & squealing is reminiscent of a schoolboys water carnival.\u00a0 An amazing assortment of Freds strike the eye.\u00a0 I retire with modesty \u2013 grander and stouter are encountered with every flick of the eye.7<\/a><\/sup>The scene at Mindil Beach provided an influence for several paintings by Pidgeon throughout the 1950s including The Sun Bathers<\/em><\/a>, which was a finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize in 1956 and again with The Bathers<\/em><\/a> in 1957. Other versions<\/a> in the later 1950s introducing the female form based on new wife, Dorothy following Jess’s death in 1953 of a brain tumour), adorned the walls of Wep’s home <\/span><\/p>\n W.E. Pidgeon (WEP) at work<\/p>\n Yesterday I spent some time painting the delightful freshwater pool I wrote you of some time back.\u00a0 To my great satisfaction I had the spot alone for close on 1\u00bd hours when 20 or there about soldiers came roaring down like wolves on the fold.\u00a0 I fled soon after.\u00a0 On the way back saw dozens of wallabies.\u00a0 The poor creatures suffer the fate of rabbits down south \u2013 dazzled by car lights they are struck & killed.<\/p>\n The blarsted typing has started again. So farewell for the nonce my love.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be a great thrill when we meet.<\/p>\n Lot & lots<\/p>\n Bill<\/p>\n All the gang have been on the beach this afternoon. It seems incredible that the water should be so warm and the weather so glorious. Dozens of soldiers turn out for a dip it\u2019s all very gay and nude \u2013 the probeing & squealing is reminiscent of a schoolboys water carnival. An amazing assortment of Freds strike the eye. I retire with modesty \u2013 grander and stouter are encountered with every flick of the eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,62],"tags":[2198,2201,2199,2200,3,1028,109,24,123,82,634,125,126,128,127,122,98,65,1984],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-darwin-jul-sep-1943","category-war-letters","tag-80yearsago","tag-northernterritory","tag-otd","tag-topend","tag-australian-womens-weekly","tag-clarence-sydney-mcnulty","tag-cyril-pearl","tag-food","tag-ivan-gaskin","tag-king-watson","tag-mindil-beach","tag-penton","tag-ray-stehr","tag-sydney-rugby-football","tag-tom-izzard","tag-tommy-odea","tag-typewriters","tag-war-correspondent","tag-war-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"25\"](\"http:\/\/wepidgeon.com\/pidgeonpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/25.jpg\")
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<\/a>Notes:<\/h3>
King and Eleanor Watson<\/div><\/li>Tommy O’Dea<\/div><\/li>Clarence Sydney McNulty<\/a> was Editor in Chief at the Telegraph. He was arrested in early 1943 in an embarrassing situation and gave Police a false name<\/div><\/li>King Watson<\/a><\/div><\/li>Cyril Pearl<\/a><\/div><\/li>Brian Penton<\/a><\/div><\/li>The scene at Mindil Beach provided an influence for several paintings by Pidgeon throughout the 1950s including The Sun Bathers<\/em><\/a>, which was a finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize in 1956 and again with The Bathers<\/em><\/a> in 1957. Other versions<\/a> in the later 1950s introducing the female form based on new wife, Dorothy following Jess’s death in 1953 of a brain tumour), adorned the walls of Wep’s home <\/div><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"