AustLit

A collection of four short anecdotes about Birdwood during World War 1.

Relates the events that led to the word 'digger' being coined.

On a still night in the trenches, the smell of cigars and beer wafts over from the German trenches to the Australian trenches, followed by the singing of romantic love songs. The Australian soldiers respond with a parody of the song, and the Germans, entering into the spirit of the occasion, reward them by lobbing a 'Stink Bomb' into their trench.

On leave, a soldier seeks advice as to what his role as Best Man at a relative's wedding will entail. He receives some surprising advice.

An English Officer passing by an Australian soldier is caught offguard by the Australian's humorous lack of respect.

The army's introduction of pigeons to carry messages entailed some detailed instructions, which rather confused one officer.

Having discovered a cellar of champagne, an Aussie digger drinks his fill then leaves with a bottle in each hand. He is just in time to see a German soldier also leaving, and the bottles become his weapon of apprehension.

Describes how a Chinese labour battalion was caught between the German and Australian trenches when the Germans began shelling.

A Commanding Officer allows a soldier leave to sort out marriage difficulties back home. Upon the soldier's return, the Officer receives word that the soldier's wife and another man have been murdered. The Officer takes advantage of incoming fatalities to allow the soldier to change identity.

A soldier billeted on a farm in France finds his affair with the farmer's niece ends when a German bomb explodes inconveniently.

A soldier finds a novel way of siphoning off a little extra rum for himself while apportioning soldiers' rations.

An Australian soldier describes to an American soldier how the Aussies judged whether they were winning or losing by the number of German weapons they could collect after a battle.

A French farmer agrees that an Australian soldier can have all the windfall pears from his tree in exchange for some small jobs around the farm. The soldier finds a sneaky way of increasing the amount of windfalls.

An Australian soldier driving a truck along a slippery road in fog at night is impatient with a silent woman standing in the middle of the road refusing to move. It is not until he goes up to speak to her that he realises someone has placed a stone angel statue in the middle of the road.

Awoken by a Padre, a fatigued soldier is reluctant to attend a church service and suggests a coin-toss to decide the matter. The Padre, aware of the soldier's sleight of hand, tosses and wins. The soldier is glad he lost the toss though when, during the service, a German bomb destroys the area where he had been sleeping.

A tall story about a man who is never happy about where he is or what he is doing, even when he reaches Heaven.

A tall story about 400 Brisbane Diggers on Shore Leave who all return to their ship well past their 10pm curfew. The next morning, 399 men give their commanding officer the same excuse. When it comes to the 400th, the officer thinks he knows what is coming, but, to his chagrin, he is wrong.

A Digger from Brisbane is in conversation with a German soldier across the wastes of No Man's Land. It transpires that the German spent time in Brisbane before the war, and had an affair with a married woman whom he wishes to contact again. The Aussie soldier is unimpressed when he reads his own address on the note tossed across.

Reassigned to the Camel Corps after being wounded, a mechanic uses the vocabulary of his old job to describe the condition of the camels.

An Irish farmer serving as a soldier in France receives a letter from his wife bemoaning that she will have to dig the land on her own to plant their potatoes. He devises a way to have the military unwittingly do the job for her.