During his war service, Woods corresponded with fellow Anglican priest David John Garland in Brisbane. Woods wrote from various locations: Gallipoli, Lemnos, Cairo, Ma'adi, Port Said, and other Australian Light Horse camp sites in Egypt, Palestine and on the Sinai Peninsula around the Suez Canal. In the letters he described daily life and conditions in the trenches, the dust, heat and illness, and often expressed admiration for the immense bravery, physical strength and unflappably positive attitude of the Australian soldiers in his care. Many of his letters remarked on his everyday duties as chaplain, as he held services, ministered to the men and performed the unhappy task of burying the fallen. He also described the harshness and the beauty of the desert landscape, and the quiet progress of the long columns of troops as they wound through the sand seeking water or encampment. Several of the letters from 1915 and 1916 discussed a flag from Gallipoli – the first Australian flag hoisted on the Gallipoli Peninsula after the landing, carried and hoisted by Queenslanders, and given to Woods with the wish that it "be sent to His Grace the Archbishop of Brisbane to be hung in the Cathedral Church of St John". Woods posted the flag to Garland for safekeeping. In November 1918, the Cathedral authorities clarified that the flag was not an official standard but rather taken to Gallipoli as the personal property of some Queensland soldiers. Both men exchanged news of their families, in particular their sons, who were on active service. Wood's son, Francis Maitland Woods served much of the war alongside his father. As an enthusiastic amateur archaeologist, Woods also wrote to Garland about objects which he and the men found – coins, relics, and most significantly, the Shellal Mosaic. Discovered by troops on 17 April 1917 during the Second Battle of Gaza, this mosaic was eventually shipped to Australia bound for the Australian War Memorial, and Woods was responsible for overseeing its excavation and transportation. In one letter, dated 27 June 1917, he described the "fearful heat" of the excavation, and the "trials and difficulties of getting it so far from Palestine" including negotiation with the Cairo Museum authorities. In other letters he commented on the various ruins and archaeological sites he saw in his travels. In keeping with his religious and historical interests, he often gave informal lectures to the troops about different aspects of the Holy Land, and reported the success of these small ventures to Garland. Because censorship often prevented Woods from revealing his precise location in his letters, he sometimes alluded to his whereabouts by drawing on his knowledge of antiquity, or using biblical references. The wartime letters ceased in August 1917, with Garland's news that he would be joining Woods in the Middle East.
Later life
In 1919 Woods was appointed OBE. and returned to Australia. He immediately sailed to join his wife in Fiji where she had nursed during the war, then onto Hawaii, where Woods became the Headmaster of Iolani College for a year, then rector of St Clement's Episcopal Church from 1923. Woods died on 6 February 1927 in Queen's Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America from a cerebral tumour. He was survived by his wife, son and daughter.
Legacy
Following Wood's death in 1926, a bell tower was erected to his memory at St Mary's Anglican Church, Kangaroo Point. The belltower is dedicated to Woods on a plaque and by inscriptions engraved on the bells. The State Library of Queensland holds the Maitland Woods Papers, which contain around 65 letters between Woods and Garland. The last letter in the collection is from Woods to Garland, dated 19 May 1926.
