Flemington-Kensington Church News, January 1920

61595—Driver E. H. Clarke, 1st Motor Transport Service Coy., left Melbourne on 31/8/18, as a Corporal in the 12th General Service Group. The "Barambah" went via the Cape, calling at Durban, where the boys had a pleasant time of it. At  Cape Town no leave was given owing to  influenza, so there was a good deal of disappointment. Soon after influenza broke out on the ship, and 25 men fell victims to the scourge. The "Barambah" called at Sierra Leone on the West coast of Africa, the capital of which is Freetown, at the month of the Rokel. The harbour is the best on the whole West Coast. Owing to influenza on board no leave was granted and the soldiers had to put in 800 tons of coal.

The armistice was declared before the convoy reached the Channel, and it was, perhaps the first to sail with all lights burning. The landing was made in Tilbury Docks, London. After being in several camps Eddie - with Stewart R. Dunn, who was an inseparable comrade - crossed the Channel for Le Havre on 18th February last. From thence there was a railway journey- 40 hours to Beaumont, the  journey taking in the now familiar places, such as Arras, Amiens, Albert,  Douai, Mons and Charleroi. Here the comrades volunteered for the Motor Transport Service and were accepted.

The devastation of war was painfully apparent. Tribute is paid to a French family where the comrades put up together, and there was genuine grief on both sides when the hour of parting came.  After four months, Eddie returned to England and had three months non-military  employment in a woollen mill at Bradford.  He saw the great review in London, and has visited Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Eddie is now on the water and we cordially wish him welcome home.

CLARKE–DOWNIE. –On the 30th August, at the          

Presbyterian Church, Flemington, by the Rev.  H. C. Matthew, M.A., Edward Hislop, eldest  son of Mrs. Clarke and the late Edward James Clarke (Flemington), to Janet Easton, only  daughter of Mrs. Downie (Moonee Ponds) and  the late Alexander Downie (Kircaldy, Scotland).   

Family Notices. (1924, September 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 13. Retrieved January 5, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2040910