100 years of the Murray Cods: Murray Bridge’s rowers visit Westminster
Follow the Murray Bridge rowing crew’s journey to the 1924 Paris Olympics through the diary and photos of cox Bob Cummings.
From the notes and diary of R.A. Cummings, lightly edited for clarity, courtesy of the State Library of South Australia and the Cummings family.
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July 25, 1924
We went to Westminster Abbey and the unknown soldier’s grave – wonderful.
Went through Parliament House, the Houses of Lords and Commons.
Our trunk luggage is not yet to hand from France; several lots are missing from our party, and customs has been a big nuisance.
July 24, 1924
Still looking around London.
It’s a wonderful city, no doubt.
July 23, 1924
We’ve been looking around London.
Went to an exhibition, a wonderful show.
Have been to operas, wonderful shows.
July 22, 1924
Today we packed up, had lunch in Paris and left for the aerodrome in Paris at 2pm.
We waited at the aerodrome till 5pm for our plane.
The big plane carried 14 with luggage.
We had a wonderful trip over: 5000 feet high at times and 100 miles an hour.
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It was in the air two and a half hours.
Coming over the channel was wonderful; large boats looked like toys.
We arrived at the Croydon Aerodrome in England about 7.30pm, a lovely trip, and were taken by bus to the Hotel Anderson’s on Fleet Street, right on the Strand.
I’m glad to leave France and get to England.
July 21, 1924
We’ve been motoring around the battle fronts for two days, Monday and Tuesday, through Amiens to Albert – we stayed there the night.
The Aussie graves are kept most wonderfully.
We could not get to Storch’s grave, situated up at Bruay, near Béthune in the north of France.
Went to Bapaume cemetery, which was wonderfully kept, and Pozières – lots of Aussies are buried at these.
Warlencourt was all in wonderful order.
Motored through Corbie and saw the cemetery there.
Then Delville Wood, a South African memorial.
There were 8500 buried here, heavy fighting was done here.
Then we went down to Villiers-Bretonneux cemetery.
Took snaps of Dearlove’s and Lovick’s grave; these are wonderfully kept, as are all the Aussies – 4900 of them.
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Saw one German cemetery on our travel.
Arrived back via Amiens at 8pm on Monday.
It was a wonderful trip.
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We went to Hamel and the trenches and dug-outs and one place, a German headquarters underground, were just as it was in the war time, rifles and helmets lying everywhere, rusted.
It was wonderfully interesting and brings back memories of the terrible war that was fought between the nations.
It is a credit to the British Legion, the way the graves are kept.
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July 20, 1924
It was Rene’s birthday yesterday.
We started out to the battlefields today; I’m writing this up at Albert, the heart of the big war.
Saw Richard Nelson’s grave at Dernancourt.
Saw lots of cemeteries and the country is still-war scarred around here: Albert, Amiens, Pozières.
July 19, 1924
We had an all day trip to Versailles today.
Saw the hall of mirrors where the peace treaty was signed in 1919 and the table it was signed on – a wonderful castle.
Learnt all about Napoleon’s place and the old French kings before the republic.
There are some very historic and interesting buildings, carriages and relics.
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July 18, 1924
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