A number of people in my family have witnessed the great war for civilisation in West Asia. Coming from settler colonial countries, their descriptions are often biased and distainful of indigenous people in the Levant and do not mention the Palestinian people at all.
After 175 years of the Curr’s going to Palestine, this great silence has ended, at last. I include here descriptions of journeys to Palestine by my great-grandfather, E M Curr, my grandfather, Fred Curr, and my brother and sister, John and Pamela Curr.
Great Grandfather, Edward Micklethwaite Curr, describes his travels in 1852:
“On leaving Geneva, I passed over the Simplon into Italy, reaching Venice by way of Milan. From Venice, I went to Florence, Rome and Naples, and finally to Brindisi from where I sailed to Corfu in an eight ton boat laden with garlic.
“From Corfu I proceeded by steamer to Patras, and rode along the Gulf of Lepanto in company with my guide to Corinth and thence to Athens.
I spent some time at Athens and the sailed to Constantinople, where, after seeing the sights, I went to Beirut. There, I engaged a dragoman and proceeded into the Leban on visiting Zahle, Damascus, the Cedars, and Tripoli, amo g others.
Having had a misunderstanding with my dragoman, I discharged him on my return to Beirut, where I passed some weeks. Having picked up a little Arabic, I continued my travels alone by Sidon, Tyre, Acre, and Jaffa to Jerusalem, at which city I arrived about the 16th October 1852.
I remained three weeks , in Jerusalem at the Casa Nova, visiting the Dead Sea, San Saba, and Bethlehem. Then I proceeded to Gaza, and after a few days’ delay to Cairo, which I left for Alexandria on the 20th November. From Alexandria, I proceeded via Malta to Gibraltar, which I reached on the 24th December 1852.” – E. M. Curr.
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My grandfather Fred Curr had this to say after his visit to Palestine immediately before the commencement of the first world war in 1914.
“I then visited Bethlehem and passed by the tomb of Rachel. Jacob erected the tomb three thousand five hundred years ago. The Church of the Nativity is a noble building dating back to the fourth century. Down a stone staircase into a large cave, a silver star marks the spot where he stood the manger where Christ was born. A mysterious silence hangs around this cave.
I returned to Jaffa and boarded a Russian ship to Port Said and then went aboard a French troopship bound for Madagascar. Just as we went out of the Red Sea, the captain picked up a wireless signal from the German cruiser “Colensberg” and put out all lights. It was a very dark and stormy night, and luckily, the Germans did not find us. At daylight, we were safe under the guns at Aden. I was delayed at Aden for about ten days owing to the Great War being declared on the 4th of August 1914.
I was shown the beach where Napoleon, copying Richard the Lionheart of England, shot two thousand of his captives. I passed many historical places travelling from Jaffa to Jerusalem including Modein where the Machabes were buried, and Ramleh, the village of Nicodemus, Timmath or “Jawbone” where Samson killed a thousand of the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, and Beth-Shemash to where the Philistines carried the Ark of the Covenant and where it remained for twenty years. This was a lidless box exactly the same size as the coffer in the King’s Chamber of the great pyramids.
↑
(Coast / Mediterranean Sea)
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⚓ JAFFA (Yafo)
[Fortified Port]
│
│ Coastal road (Crusader-controlled at times)
│
──────────┼────────────────────
│
Arsuf
(Battle site, 1191 settler colonial Richard the Lionheart defeated Salladin)
│
│
Caesarea
│
│
──────────┼────────────────────
│
Inland hills
│
│
RAMLA / LYDDA
│
│
→→→ Road to
│
AL QUDS / JERUSALEM
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I entered the city of Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate close by the Tower of David on the 21st of July 1914. Next morning I climbed up the tower of the Grand Hotel from which I had a splendid view of the historical places of the city – the great dome of the Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the site of the Temple of Solomon, the Mount of Olives, Gethsamene, the Valley of Death covered with countless tombstones, and away in the background the rugged barren ranges of Moab like the billows of a frozen sea. There could be no more fitting background for the drama at Calvary and it all recalled to mind those words “seeing the city he wept.”
I noticed the rocks all about Jerusalem are all split. The earthquake at the time of the Crucifixion had something to do with this. My guide pointed out to me a walled up gateway in the wall called the “Golden Gate.”
Christ entered there on Palm Sunday, and pointing to a gate on the opposite wall of the city said “that is the Jaffa Gate and we believe that some day a Christian soldier, leading a Christian army, will enter by that gate and take Jerusalem peacefullly, leaving all his firearms outside the gate.”
On the 10th of December 1917, General Allenby entered Jerusalem through that gate in a peaceful manner, without firing a shot through the city. The word Allenby is a combination of three Hebrew words with extraordinary significance. “Al” means “god”, “len” means “lodges or dwells”, and “by” means “me.” Thus the word Allenby signifies “God lodges with me.” Truly this is significant of the release of Jerusalem by the god of Israel.
Combined Arms Research Library, Digital Library
Editors Note: Though a good reader, Fred was poorly educated, not having gone to school when he grew up in North Queensland. For example, Fred has misread the etymology of the name of General Allenby who invaded and occupied Al Quds (Jerusalem). Also, like many before him, Fred has misconstrued the bible for historical fact.
Prior to the First World War, roughly 90% of the total population in the region (Palestine) were Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians. In the markets and streets of Jerusalem, Arabic served as the essential language for business and daily survival for all groups, including the minority Jewish people, many of whom had lived there for centuries. In 1917, roughly 40% of the Jewish population in Palestine used Hebrew as a daily spoken language.) – In Curr, 18 April 2026.
Fred Curr: I then visited Bethlehem and passed by the tomb of Rachel. Jacob erected the tomb three thousand five hundred years ago. The Church of the Nativity is a noble building dating back to the fourth century. Down a stone staircase into a large cave, a silver star marks the spot where stood the manger where Christ was born. A mysterious silence hangs around this cave. I returned to Jaffa and boarded a Russian ship to Port Said and then went aboard a French troopship bound for Madagascar. Just as we went out of the Red Sea the captain picked up a wireless signal from the German cruiser “Colensberg” and put out all lights. It was a very dark and stormy night and luckily the Germans did not find us. At daylight we were safe under the guns at Aden. I was delayed at Aden for about ten days owing to the Great War being declared on the 4th of August 1914.
Palestine 1979
The grandchildren of Fred Curr, John and Pamela Curr visited Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 1979.
Description provided by John Curr:
“On 13 April 1979 Pam and I stood on a terrace above the Via Dolorosa and watched the procession (bodies pressed on bodies) pass by through the narrow ancient street with someone carrying a cross. I think there was singing or chanting. “
“We had just returned from a week at Sharm-El-Sheik living on a relatively deserted beach and swimming and diving on the reefs 50 to 100 metres off shore. We were with Yvonne and some other volunteers from the Kibbutz. Pam and I went to Jerusalem and the rest , including Yvonne went off to climb a mountain. I think it was Mount Sinai.”
Bob Fisk, who wrote The Great War for Civilization had this to say: “… I wonder if when I finally leave this vast chamber of Horrors I will try to emulate the advice of the only poem that always moves me to tears Christina Rosetti’s birthday:
Better by far you should forget and smile
than that you should remember and be sad.
“I think in the end we have to accept that our great tragedy lies always in our past, that we have to live with our ancestors folly, and suffer for it, just as they, in their turn, suffered, and through our vanity and arrogance, ensure the pain and suffering of our children.
How to correct history, that’s the thing.”
From the
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, Palestine 🇵🇸 will be free!Ian Curr
18 April 2026
Reference:
P H O T O G R A P H I C R E C O R D of T H E B R I T I S H OCCUPATION of PALESTINE in November and December, 1917. Photograph* taken by Lieut.Colonel Edward Davis, U.S. Army} Military Attache and Observer* except 8 by Lieut.Lyons*
(N.Z.M.R.) A.t).C.; 7 by Mr, Massey of the London Times, and a few large pictures by a professional photographer).