Nixon, Francis A (Civilian, b.?)

Collection of autograph books relating to the First World War and post-war experience of Francis A Nixon. The collection consists of two autograph books which belonged to Nixon, a sailor aboard passenger and transport ships, and are filled with well wishes, poems, songs, comical drawings, and even some postage stamps, all from passengers who sailed aboard the SS Karroo, SS Chindwara, SS Mongaria, or SS Santhia between 1912 and 1926.

The first autograph book includes material collected between 1912 and 1917. The Karroo was requisitioned as a troop transport by the Australian government following the outbreak of the First World War. As HMAT Karroo, the passenger ship was used to transport soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force from Australia to Egypt and was part of the first convoy that departed from Albany, Western Australia, in November 1914. The autograph book includes messages, autographs and drawings made by Australian soldiers during this period. Some of the drawings are comical and depict stereotypes of certain sailors. Others are vivid renderings of the Australian landscape.

Nixon's second autograph book was compiled between 1917 and 1926. Early authors and artists who left their mark on the book include soldiers and military nurses from Australia and Britain who were en route to the war fronts or, from 1919, on their way home after the First World War had ended. Later inscriptions were made by civilian passengers. Three inscriptions in the book, dated between 1917 and 1918, include references to the Karroo evading German submarines while crossing the Atlantic.