Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

On Board the Troopship Southern Cross. LETTER FBOM PRIVATE G. U. P. ALLEY.
Mr. George Alley, well known in Orange, left with the second contingent per Southern Cross, and writes from the coast of Africa as follows: "Sunday, February 11, 1900. My Dearest Mother, — There is nothing very interesting to tell you about the voyage. I presume you received my letter from Melbourne. I will just give you a short account of the voyage, noting any particular incidents as they occurred. On Sunday, 21st January, all the members of the contingent of the Roman Catholic persuasion were privileged to attend a service under the ministrations of the Rev. Father Patrick Caleb, who is going to the front as R.O. chaplain to the contingent. The sea came up very rough towards evening and many of our fellows were victims to that terrible affliction, mal de mer, but fortunately I escaped, and not only on this occasion but through the whole trip did not give the sharks any of my rations. Poor George Paul was not so fortunate, for he suffered terribly from sea sickness, in fact he had to go to the hospital, but we hope he will soon get better. I must say the Southern Cross is a good sea boat, for in the bad weather she was very steady. Of course, we had many wettings from sprays and occasional seas lapping over the rails, but the ship herself was always steady. During the passage we had various kinds of drill, such as firing at a cask towed about 800 yard astern, at which we had ten shots each for practice in the loading motions. Then we had semaphore drill, i.e., signalling by flags, which, though rather tedious to learn, is very interesting and instructive and affords plenty of physical exercise. We have already learned the advantage of the drill and are able to despatch and receive messages fairly well. We passed a school of whales one evening pretty close, so that we had a good look at them, and as they were the first sea monsters some of us ever saw we were much amused. Some of them were over 80ft long, but those who had seen many before said they were only young ones. "Anniversary Day, Jan. 26th, was not much of a holiday for us, but we kept it up by a concert at night in our company's Quarters, and it proved a success. My contribution, ' Nancy Lee,' was rendered to the accompaniment of an accordion — the luxury of a piano being, of course, beyond us. We have some good musical talent on board and manage to beguile a few hours occasionally very well with popular airs. "I regret to say that the provisions served out to us are a source of complaint. If any of us happened to muster late at meal times we had to go without for a change. I will quote one or two instances of the dissatis of our rations cause. The morning I am writing of 18 chops were served out for one mess of 15 men. A few days ago our bread rations were cut down; we only received one 1lb loaf each every second day, and ship's biscuit the alternate day; but now we get a half-loaf and biscuits each day, so that we get l½lb of bread for two days. We get about 21b of butter and 81b of jam as a two days' rations for 15 men, and I must say the quality is not Al. On one occasion we had bad tripe and onions served out to us, which caused a great deal of complaint. "We passed the island of Amsterdam, about 12 miles distant, on Feb. 4th, and three days later we sighted a large steamer, and all hands were looking anxiously at her, wondering if she would come close enough to communicate; but our captain stood away, not knowing who she was. About mid-passage I was put on clerical work, which I liked very well. "The saddlery was served out on February 10th. Linn is the storeman. I got a pretty good turn-out myself, but I must say some of the saddles are very poor ones, and they will be useless. Each company takes a turn at keeping watch over the horses, and they are well
looked after. I was (and you will be too) surprised to meet Percy Priestly on board among the Army Medical Corps, and he was equally surprised to see me. Feb. 16th we are expecting to sight the African coast to-day, and the captain expects to anchor to-morrow. On the whole we have not had a bad trip, and I, in common with my comrades, have endeavoured to make the best of the situation always, and if our food was not always relishable we have managed to buy a "brownie" or a loaf of "sweet bread" from the cook, and so we have got over the difficulty. I hope father has received the money I arranged for him to draw on account of my pay when I left. To-day is pay day, so you see we are not overlooked in this respect. I cannot say when I can write again or where from, nor can I say what our orders will be on landing, and as our letters must be handed in 24 hours before landing, I must close, asking you to note the style of my address so that you may be able to tell anyone in Orange who may be asking you how to ensure letters being properly directed so as to come within the Queen's regulations and privilege of a penny stamp. I have endeavoured to give you a sketch of our passage as far as the incidents appeared to me as likely to interest you without the monotonous routine of everyday duty on board ship, and hope they will prove acceptable. I remain, ever your loving son, George Alley. Address:— To 468 Private G. U. F. Alley, New South Wales Mounted Infantry Regt., South Africa." P.S.— February 17th, (Saturday). — Every-thing is excited to-day as we are running along the African coast. The country ap pears very mountainous. The "Moravian" caught up to and passed us to-day about 10 a.m. She signalled "All well" and "Good voyage." During our passage we lost 10 horses, and we left one man behind in Melbourne sick. We expect to get into Cape town about 10.30 to-night and shall probably start disembarking at break of day. I am sorry I cannot say where we are going nor what work we are likely to take up first now but will let you know all I can as soon as possible. The "Moravian" is just getting out of sight, so she will be in first. I will only just say that as I am closing this we are surrounded by an immense shoal of por poise, which create great fun, I never saw such a sight before. G.U.F.A.

George lived at ‘Underwood’ East Orange. Enlisted for Service in the 2nd Contingent and was a prolific letter writer of which most were mildly entertaining, many of his letters were published in the Western Advocate.
Embarked on the ‘Southern Cross’ on 17 January 1900.
Arrived Cape Town and went to Maitland Army Camp 19 February 1900. From here he went to Modder River, Klip Drift and on to Osfontein where he and his unit were involved in a day long battle with the Boers. George and his unit were then part of the operation and batttle at Driefontein before being on the move for two days arriving at Bloemfontein, at which point George was admitted to hospital (Dawes Institute) suffering from enteric fever (Typhoid).
After recovoring, he temporarily joined the 6th Division of the Royal Horse Artillery, during this time C Sqn., of the NSW Mounted Rifles had been sent to to a Railway Siding known as Glen Station where they saw heavy fighting.
At some point after rejoing his unit the NSW Mounted Rifles, C Sqn., George was captured and held as a Prisoner of War. This was for a period of 5 days prior to being released with his
horse. He then walked to Kroonstad where he re-joined the 1st New South Wales Mounted Rifles, C Squadron.
George volunteered for the Johannesburg Criminal Investigation Department and was based in Johannesburg in late 1900. George Returned to Australia from Cape Town on the 30th March, 1901, he arrived Sydney and disembarked 29 April 1901. He then re-enlisted on the 27th September 1901 with the 2nd Scottish Horse and returned to South Africa where he served a second tour of duty and was discharged on the 26th March 1902. George remained in South Africa after the Boer War.
He saw further Military Service in South Africa as a Sergeant with the Natal Service Corps and fought in the 1906 Zulu Rebellion.
Award: Natal Native Rebellion Medal & 1906 Bar.
George returned to Australia and enlisted at Perth, Western Australia for service in WW1 with the 11th Battalion. He was sent to the Middle East and saw action at Gallipoli. He was then sent to the Western Front and saw furtehr action in France and Belgium.
George was wounded in action in July 1916 during major allied attacks at Pozieres, when a shell exploded and tore through his thigh, shoulder and chest. George was evacuated to hospital at Norfolk in England in critical condition. After multiple surgeries and month in hospital he contracted tetanus and was then invalided back to Australia in January 1917.
After arriving in Australia in 1917, George received ongoing treatment. He eventually died at the Randwick Military Hospital on the 8th April 1918 having contracted pneumonic influenza.

The death is reported from No. 4 Military Hospital, Randwick, on April 8th, of Sergeant George Fraser Underwood Alley, aged 42, son of Mrs. Alley, of Cromarty, Miller-street, North Sydney, and formerly well known old residents of Orange, the late A. U. Alley having been manager of Wright Heaton and Co. for many years and was later in business with Mr. James Bonnor in Summer-street. The cause of death was pnuemonic influenza. The deceased soldier saw much service in France, where he was badly wounded in the leg, and was invalided home. Last Christmas he returned to Orange, where he was warmly welcomed by many old schoolmates and friends of the family. His visit here extended over some weeks. Deceased was educated at the public school, and on his return from the South African war he held several important positions in the west. The late Sergeant Alley was a fine type of man, and his death from the prevailing epidemic is deeply regretted.