Vol. XIX. -I W't/rnnir llnmc Diinur In A.I.h'. Mcnihn's. JcJQ 



1919 J ^^ 



wc arc lui-c. Or. as om- sinipK' and -^NiiipatlK'ticallx- said of luT 

 latluT hen. 



■■ I caiiiiol say, 1 will not say, 



("hat he is dead — he is just away ; 

 Think of him still as the same, and say, 

 lie is not (lead — lie is just away." 



'V\\v company stood in rcvrriMici' wiiilc the lollowini; names of 

 departed members were announct'd alphabetically : - R. H. 

 Eltis, 1). 11 l''r\-, R. Hutchinson, A. M'Ken/ie Kirkwood, G. P. 

 M'Kay, Maurice C. Thompson, H. Thonemann, General Sir \\. 

 Williams, and (r. A. \'oun^^ 



Sir Charles R\an, who feelinf^ly returned thanks, lias had a unique 

 and remarkable career. He was the oldest Surgeon-Cieneral in 

 the field of the A.I.F. — probably in the whole of the Imperial 

 Army. Sir Charles first saw service in the Russo-Turkish \\'ar 

 (1877), in which he was a surgeon with the rank of major, and 

 was through the strenuous times of the siege of Plevna. He told 

 many truths which are " stranger than any fiction." He was at 

 the awful but famous first landing, at dawn on the 25th April, 

 1915, at GalHpoli, with the AustraUans, and went through many 

 bloody days and nights of experience there, succouring the 

 wounded. During an armistice, at which 5,000 Turks were 

 l>uried (he took many gruesome photographs of the field), Sir 

 Charles strolled into " No Man's Land." Here an enemy offi.cer 

 detected the Australian surgeon wearing a Turkish decoration, 

 and asked " Why ? " When it was ascertained that the wearer 

 was " Plevna Ryan " the Turkish officer (who was personally not 

 very clean at the time) warmly embraced Sir Charles, and ordered 

 the company of Turks to file past and salute Sir Charles. Sir 

 Charles related several other interesting incidents which would 

 lose poignancy if seen merely in cold type, but to be appreciated 

 must be heard in breezy fashion from the Surgeon-General's own 

 lips, as he only can tell the stories. Some of " the boys " became 

 very homesick, and invented any excuse in order to return. Sir 

 Charles had to examine 47 such. Seven were rejected as " unfit," 

 and rejoiced accordingly, in marked contrast to the high-heaped 

 abuse upon the good surgeon's pate of the 40 wlio had to return 

 to duty. 



Mr. (Sergeant) Charles Barrett said that lie had served witli 

 the Australian Camel Field Ambulance in Egypt and Palestine. 

 He was put out of action by malaria, and subsequently was 

 appointed editor of the official journal and news bulletin of the 

 A.I.F. and New Z(\aland I'orces in Egypt, Palestine, and Meso- 

 potamia. He had seen much of the country. Bird-Ufe was 

 abundant in many localities. Wagtails — the white and the 

 yellow species — Blue-throated \\'arblers, and other small birds 

 w(>re visitors to his '' bivvy " in Palestine. Crested Larks, Wheat- 

 ears, Hawks, Egyptian Vultures, &c., were noted further afield. 

 In spring the Larks were singing everywhere. Before embarking 

 for Australia he was granted leave for several weeks, and made 

 a trip through the Nile Valley to the borders of Nubia. Later on 



