During the First World War, the troopships carrying Australian and New Zealand infantrymen to Egypt assembled off the port of Albany. Many of these troops were to die at Gallipoli, and this remote spot was the last they saw of Australia. The same process was repeated a quarter of a century later when the Anzacs (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps – the photo shows its memorial centre at Albany) set off to fight against Rommel in the North African desert. According to an aged Aussie war veteran I met at a friend’s home in Adelaide, the Anzacs used to sing a long song about the amazing exploits of ‘Albany Aggie’, whose physical properties rivalled those of the legendary Eskimo Nell.