Nambour & District Historical Museum Inc.
18 Mitchell Street
Nambour Qld 4560
In September 1915, Australian women campaigned to send billy cans to soldiers serving overseas. Billy cans were an essential utensil for boiling water and heating food and were a useful addition to a soldier's kit. The contents were to be something to eat, something to smoke and something to use. Small plum puddings, cakes, biscuits, sweets, candied and dried fruits and tinned articles, such as sardines, were typical food items. Tins of tobacco, tins of cigarettes, pipes, toothbrushes and paste, pencils, tin openers and pen-knives were useful inclusions. A letter or greeting card was added by the donor. Within 6 days, more than 1000 cans had been sold. In all, some 21,000 billies were distributed to Australian troops for Christmas in 1915.
Private Charlie Ward of the 25th Battalion wrote to Mrs Tyrell, who had packed his billy:
I was on Lemnos Island and received your billy on Xmas Eve and I must thank you and all kind friends who helped fill it. I can tell you that it caused quite a lot of excitement amongst us opening them to see what each had received. I might say that with a pudding between every two men what was in the billies was all that we had for Xmas so you can tell that they were very much appreciated.
Rockhampton-born Charlie Ward had enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in March 1915. He embarked for Egypt and further training in late June. His unit arrived at Anzac Cove on 4 September and remained there until the night of 19 to 20 December 1915, when the Anzacs were evacuated to Lemnos, a Greek island that served as a base for Australian troops close to Gallipoli. In March 1916, Charlie's unit joined the British Expeditionary Force in France. Charlie suffered a gunshot wound to his arm at Pozières in August and was evacuated to England to recuperate. He returned to the front in March 1917 and was attached to the Officers Cadet Battalion at Oxford, then transferred to the 26th Battalion as a Lieutenant. He and his wife Bertha, whom he had married the previous year, returned to Australia in 1919.
References
- Service Records for Lieutenant Charles Herbert Ward, NAA: B2455, WARD CHARLES HERBERT.
- Adopt a Digger Project, Charles Herbert Ward. http://www.adoptadigger.org/search-for-a-ww1-digger/search-for-a-ww1-digger/item/3-diggers-database/1315-ward-charles
- 1915 'CHRISTMAS "BILLIES."', Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947), 24 September, p. 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150952455