With thanks to Angela Burt for this brilliant letter and description:
Letter from my grandfather Donald (Diva) Burt when he was 11 to his older brother Tom Burt in 1918. Mentioned in the letter are his sister Hazel Burt, his father Charles Burt, Mr Ferris (school teacher), George Mount, Harry Marzell, Mr Luther (?), Mr Watt, Mrs Watt, and Dr Brown.
Thanks to ‘The Helper’ on Reddit for doing a transcription:
Dear Tom,
Just a few lines to let you know I am still here. I am eleven now [?] years is rolling by. Thankyou very much for the geography book, also the postcard. We are having the very same geography as in that book.
I am beating [?] in everything, but he beats me occasionally in dictation. The sums are very easy which Mr. Ferris gives us. Don’t fret [?] there is a surprise for me at Christmas. I had a sum right which only four had right out of [?] and [?] two boys in my class. They were George Mount and I; Hazel never had them right so that equals one feather in my cap. I am battling, so don’t think I will come last.
Jack [… unintelligible… ] next year. We have [?] up so that I can ride [?] whenever I want to. I get a basket of fruit every afternoon. Harry Marzell is looking after it because Mr. Luther has gone away to Sydney for two weeks’ holiday.
Dad and I are going fishing on Saturday. Somewhere, but not in Germany. Mrs. Watt is still sick, but Mr. Watt painted(?) her back with poison. Dr Brown came up and tore that pad off which she had on her side. Paper is very scarce in this joint, or I would not be writing on the back.
I would daresay you would like to know what I got for my birthday. I got half a dozen handkerchiefs [?] 2 oranges, 8 peaches, 3 shillings, [?] chocolate and a beaut sugar basin.
So Tom, no more news just at present.
So I remain your fond brother,
Don.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Angela,
At the end of a strange and tumultuous year, my family and I were recalling friends now departed, and one favourite sprang to mind, who I had known for over forty years and spent a few months with in Oz during 1997.
We were at the races in Gundagai and stayed in Tumut as a result of a girl I worked with in London, named Angela Burt !!! (AB)
We noticed a sign for Tumut and headed for it.
Tumut was a cool place to visit, although, the Angela I knew was happy to stretch her wings and see the world.
My friend and I spent few days in Tumut and I made a half arsed attempt to see if we could contact her, basically looking in the phone book to find that she seemed to have quite a lot of relatives in and around Tumut, so I carried on the research in various pubs instead (Angela, as I remember was not particularly a pub person).
The other thing that brought Angela Burt to mind was the fact that one of the presents I bought for my wife (also called Angela) this Christmas was some handmade Lavender soap. AB loved Lavender and people knew she was coming several minutes before her arrival, as the aroma of Lavender preceded her.
She lent me her dictaphone once and the people at the college I was studying at were commenting on the lovely smell as soon as I walked in the room, and that was from a dictaphone !
When we last knew each other I believe Angela was heading for the US and I know I was heading for the pub.
I was actually looking up the Snake Gully Cup, as I seem too remember a horse called Dark Destroyer from New Zealand winning us quite a few dollars, but I couldn’t find a history of the previous race winners, and that is how I came across the Lost Tumut site
So, on Christmas night I am writing this, as so many people in the world cannot be with loved ones and friends, and I thought it an oddly opportune moment to see if the Angela who published a thankful note on the 22nd of February 2015, on the Lost Tumut site, is the same person I knew almost almost 30 years ago ?
If you’re not the Angela Ii knew, apologies for this odd memory lane ramble, but I know that the AB I met was a good daughter of Tumut. She was also an avid photographer, and may have had a relation who went home from the pub dropped a cigarette and burned the house down. I believe he perished..
If anyone knows Angela please forward this to her.
One World
One Love
Pat Barrett