Just before the Australian divisions were sent from Egypt to France in 1916, General Archibald Murray, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, sent this letter to Wully Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff. In it Murray is pretty scathing about the Australians, criticising their discipline, leadership, morals, and egotism.
To me it demonstrates the clear disdain British regulars had for the Australians as soldiers who may have been brave, but were ultimately unsoldierly. It also shows that this wasn't a universal view of all "colonial" troops, and in particular didn't apply to the other half of Anzac, the New Zealanders.
"In order to prevent any possible disappointment regarding the military value of the Australians when they arrive in France, I think I ought to write and tell you privately what my opinion of them, as a fighting force, is. You are of course, at liberty to communicate this to Haig for his personal information should you so desire it.
They are unquestionably from a physical point of view a magnificent body of men, and hard and fit as they can possibly be. The finest by far that I have ever seen. As regards discipline, I wish to make it clear that I have never seen any body of men in uniform with less idea of discipline. Drunkenness is extraordinarily prevalent, and many of the men seem to have no idea of ordinary decency or self control. The streets of Cairo, Ismailia, Alexandria and Port Said are difficult to keep free from drunken Australians. Of a total 8858 Venereal Disease cases treated in Egypt since the beginning of military operations, 5924 were Australians, 955 New Zealanders and 1979 British Troops. On the 21st February there were 1286 Australians being treated for Venereal Disease at the Dermatological Hospital. 1344 soldiers have been returned to Australia suffering from the same disease.
