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Late of Yass NSW September 1914/

Henty, June, Gundagai and again Yass NSW from May to October 1939/ 

Enlisted WW2 Served as V9363 Private 12th Garrison Battalion, 1940-42. Discharged medically unfit dislocation right elbow.

Friday 14June 1915: Felix Sister publishes his letters in the local paper ( Lilydale Ringwood Chronicle):

The following extracts are taken from letters sent by Private Felix Hargrave, of the 2nd Reinforcements, who is a brother of Mrs. A. Gray.
of Lilydale:
There are a lot of French and Greeks here (Cairo), which is a big place, about twice as big as Melbourne, but not half as well laid out; most of the streets are narrow, choked and "smell somewhat."
There are teeming thousands of black faces thronging the streets, the men and women dressing alike in long flowing robes, except the Mohammedan women, who wear a veil over their faces. They have good electric trams and trains, which are the only up-to-date things noticeable. One is reminded much of the Bible here, by the markets and the people riding about on asses; men carting water on their backs in goatskins, and camels and hump back oxen doing all the heavy work.
There are some great sights to be seen—temples, tombs, mosques, etc., some of them hundreds of years old; also some great modern build ings. I am not in the camp near the Pyramids, which is about ten miles from here. This is a remount depot for the Light Horse. There are about 5000 horses here, so you may imagine the work they make.
That is what we have been doing since we landed—trucking and shifting them about, up all night unloading chaff and fodder and stacking it, and doing 36 hours at a stretch sometimes, with "catch as catch can" for tucker. There are a lot of English soldiers here but they don't compare with our chaps, some of them being mere schoolboys.
Cairo is about 110 miles inland from Alexandria, from which place we came in the train, passing through swampy country which is irrigated from the Nile, and grows rice, corn and oranges, as far as the eye can see. The land is worked very close, not an inch going to waste. There are no fences for hundreds of miles —just little narrow drains between the blocks of land. At the cross
roads there are little shrines and places of worship.
We have just received word that all our company except 50 have to move on to Mena. I am one of the 50 left—just my "rotten luck," if there is any fighting; I am just longing to have a cut in at some
of them. The canal is protected by a lot of English Tommies and Indian troops. The Indians (Gurhas) are a fine lot of men. They knock about with our lads, and we take to them well. They are well-
built men and very straightforward —if they don't like you they don't hesitate to tell you so. There is a big tree near some rocks about four miles from our camp—the only tree or rocks for miles. They tell us that it is tree where Mary and Joseph stopped the first night during their flight through Egypt.
I often think of the quiet little town of Lilydale. You ought to be thankful it is so peaceful over there.
By the time you receive these letters I hope to be nearer the fight ing, and get a crack at some of those big ugly Germans.

FELIX HARGRAVE,
2nd Reinforcements.

And again on the 6th of November 1915...

Fate of the 7th Battalion at Gallipoli; post the August Offensive: Quote from the Healesville  Guardian:

THE 7th BATTALION..
"ONLY A FEW LEFT."
Private F. Hargrave. brother of Mrs A. Grey. Lilydale. writes from St. David's Hospital. Malta as follows, under date 22nd August:
Since I last wrote I have been moved to this hospital. There are about 100 big marquee tents, all lined with yellow calico: there are 12 beds in each tent with good horsehair mattresses. I expect I
will be going to the convalescent camp in a few days and after a week or two there I will be sent back to the base at Alexandria for a few weeks' training to fit me for the front again. It is a grand
climate here; the days are bright and warm with cold nights and as I gaze out I look over the blue waters of the Mediterranean. There are a lot of wounded coming in lately from the Dardanelles. You
will see we have made a big advance at Anzac which is our name for Sari Bahr. Once the Turks lose Achi Baba it won't be long before 'Turkey finish' as the Indians say. There are a lot of Gurkhas fighting on the Peninsula also Sikhs and Punjabies. They are a fine lot of men. and very brave. The Gurkhas are very like the Japanese. They sneak out of the trenches at night and cut off the Turks' heads. There are only a few of the 7th left; they are out of the firing line. and are on the beach as a working party. I am very lucky to be here alive and well, but I am not out of the wood yet. I may go back at any time now; I would not care to come away without finishing my little bit. There is a lovely fruit here and so cheap, only we have no money. Valetta is the capital of this island. It is a rummy old place; a lot of the roads are cut underground, and it is very hilly, the streets being mostly steps. It would tire a man out going for his daily pound of steak. Of course there are some very nice streets.
The people are all very religious out of a population of about 200,000 there are some 5000 priests or monks who wear little skull caps and brown robe with a rope girdle, and bare feet thrust into san
dals. There are a lot of troops here wounded or garrisoned. I don't think the Turks can last long now as they are just about full up of the fighting. They have had very heavy losses as our navy and
field guns have played havoc among them, to say nothing of machine guns, bombs, rifles and bayonets, `Turkish rib ticklers.' we call the latter. The slopes and gullies are full of dead Turks : it is something awful. We have had to endure some hardships days and nights of digging trenches without sleep or water, only bully beef and biscuit we used to boil the biscuits for half an hour before we could eat them. FELIX HARGRAVE.