McFarlane, Peter (Lieutenant, b.? - d.1918)

Collection relating to the service of Lieutenant Peter McFarlane, 34 Battalion, AIF, at sea, France, England, 1916-1918. Collection consists of photostat copies of 64 letters written by Lieutenant McFarlane to his wife Marie (nee Larkins). Collection also includes a photostat copy of one letter written by 2148 Private John Joseph Larkins to his sister Marie, and a photostat copy of Red Cross Society reports regarding the death and burial of Lieutenant Peter McFarlane in June 1918, near Villers-Bretonneux. The location of the original letters is unknown.

Lieutenant Peter McFarlane and his wife Marie (nee Larkins) were married only a few weeks before he enlisted in January 1916. His letters are full of endearments and expressions of his love for his wife, and of his longing to return to her and start their life together. It is clear from the letters that McFarlane had expected to be away from Australia for only a short period, and his increasing loneliness and homesickness, as the war dragged on, are apparent in his writings. He tells his wife that he deeply regrets enlisting and often expresses a wish to be wounded seriously enough to be sent home to Australia. McFarlane was killed in action on 2 June 1918, at Villers-Bretonneux.