In the trenches at Gallipoli, 1915. Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
- ANZACs at Gallipoli had a wide repertoire of songs, poems and ditties that helped to pass the time and boost morale. One of the earliest of these was My Little Wet Home in the Trench. Penned by Victorian signaller, Tom Skeyhill, the song is a parody of a popular pre-war tune My Little Grey Home in the West.
I have a little wet home in the trench
Which the rainstorms continually drench
There is a dead Turk close by with his feet to the sky
And he gives off a beautiful stenchUnderneath in the place of a floor
There is a mass of wet mud and some straw
And the Jack Johnsons tear through the rain–sodden air
O’er my little wet home in the trenchThere are snipers who keep on the go
So you must keep your nappers down low
And the star shells at night make a deuce of a light
Which causes the language to flowThen bully and biscuits we’ll chew
For ‘tis days since we tasted a stew
But with shells dropping there, there’s no place to compare
With my little wet home in the trench* Jack Johnston: artillery shell that emits dense black smoke; named after the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion, John Arthur “Jack” Johnson
* Napper: head
* Bully: tinned meat
