• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Greetings from Australia [postcard, WW1 era (1914-1918)]

30 March 2023 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This postcard, sent with birthday greetings, is from the era of the First World War (1914-1918). The postcard is undated.]

A patriotic postcard, sent with birthday greetings (during World War One)
Front of postcard



A patriotic postcard, sent with birthday greetings (during World War One)
Reverse of postcard

[Front of postcard]

Greetings from Australia

Australian wild flowers, with wattle and heath,
Around this great country appear as a wreath.
But a stronger sentiment adds to its beauty,
The sons of her soil are aye ready for duty.
I’m sending this card conveying to you
Love and best wishes fervent and true.

[Description: A map of mainland Australia, with the words “Greetings from Australia” inside it, surrounded by a wreath consisting of wattle blossom and wild flowers, along with a poem underneath.]

[Reverse of postcard]

Post Card

[Handwritten text, in italics]

What cheer.

Dear Mac,

Just to wish you many happy returns of your birthday, but please God you will spend the rest of them in Australia.

How we all wish that this terrible war would end. I suppose it will some day.

Frank has recovered from his wound, but is not back in the firing line yet, as far as we know. In Frank’s letter he says Eric has just left for the firing line, poor kid.

Love from Edna xx

[Manufacturer’s information:]

Marlborough Series

Printed in Australia



Source:
Original document

Editor’s notes:
Dimensions (approximate): 90 mm. (width), 143 mm. (height).

The poem on this card has been separated into its constituent lines, so as to make the lines of poetry obvious.

aye = always, forever

x = a symbol for a kiss (depending on the circumstances, it may indicate a loving kiss, a familial kiss, or a friendly kiss)

[Editor: For ease of reading, punctuation has been inserted as deemed appropriate.]

Filed Under: ephemera, poetry, postcards Tagged With: 500x500, HTML tables (side) div style, IAC Ephemera Collection, patriotic postcards, poem, postcards, postcards WW1, SourceIACLibrary, wattle, wattle poetry, YearEraWW1 (1914-1918)

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Obituary: Dr. James Edwards [31 December 1879]
  • Mothers’ Day [10 May 1909]
  • Mother’s Day [20 May 1909]
  • Mother’s Day [by Rev. Father J. M. Cusack, 25 May 1944]
  • Mothers’ Day [13 May 1921]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Dollars or rum: Early Australian currency [by J. H. M. Abbott, 1 April 1931]
  • Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • FLC on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • fynn's_haircut on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Denise on Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Richard Bennett on Waterloo: French Memorial [WW1-era postcard from an Australian soldier, 25 December 1918]
  • Allan Lowe on The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in