Summary

Celebration of the 21st birthday of Sergeant Dudley Townley, with officers Laurie Cadell and Burke, on 21 February 1916. They are seated at a table at the 'Cafe Au Borde du Nil' (cafe by the Nile River) in Maadi, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt. Townley was then serving with the 5th Australian Light Horse Regiment. Light Horse Regiments were then camped at Maadi.

Duplicate of photograph ST 041174, which is incorrectly labelled (incorrectly) 'Christmas Dinner at the Cafe au borde du nil. Egypt 1916.' Townley was at the Somme in France for Christmas 1916.

Another solider, Maurice Cann Evans (service no.37), described the same cafe in his diary of August 1914-29 October 1915 (held at the State Library of NSW):

'On Xmas night 1914 we Yates Yeats T. Rutherford, Threlfall, Stanger Lealties, & Torrens & of course myself, went up to the café Au bord du Nil & had a very excellent Xmas dinner there & generally made as merry as possible. On my birthday I also gave a jovial little dinner at the same place. It was quite a good place, the cooking was good, the drinks were good, & the situation was excellent. It was right on the bank of the Nile & gave one a most perfect view of the pyramids & palms silhouetted against some of the most gorgeous Sunsets I have ever seen in my life & just at ones feet lay the river dotted with Dahabiyas with their picturesque high triangular sails, leisurely gliding up & down.' (page 15, MLMSS 1576/Item 1, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales)

Description of Content

Three men in uniform sitting at a table with a white table cloth. One man is wearing shorts and has sergeant stripes on his uniform jacket.

Physical Description

Black and white photograph on paper.

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