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Western Mail, Thursday 13 July 1933, page 2
JUST LIKE A BABBLING BROOK.
Cooks in the A.I.F. were, as a rule, exempt from parades. The officers' cook in a light horse camp on the burning plains of Egypt took it for granted that he was exempt too. At stand-to he, was always missing and the O.C. at long last decided to have him brought out on parade. It was a particularly cold morning when the foul deed was perpetrated.
Now the Old Man, I am told, had a rather flash pair of top-boots and saw to it that the batman kept the gloss on them. At stand-to on the morning following the up-ending of the Babbling Brook, a very purple, fuming, and dishevelled O.C. appeared and the boys noticed that the glossy boots were replaced by a rather shabby issue pair. Conjecture was rife amongst the diggers as to what had become of the flash boots, and, as the Old Boy looked like exploding any minute, they wondered who was for it.
However, nobody toed the carpet, so several Holmes and Watsons got to work and unearthed the mystery. It seems the outraged cook had pinched the boots, half filled them with hot fat, and replaced them. Of course, the fat, when cold, became solid, hence the purple, fuming, and dishevelled appearance of the Head at stand to.
"Omrah”, Mullalyup.