Gunditjmara man, Sapper Herbert Murray arrived on the Western Front with the 2nd Tunnelling Company in March 1918. They were tasked with digging deep dugouts in the Ypres sector and preparing underground works for the Battle of Messines.
He suffered gas poisoning and developed heart problems during his service. In 1936, after being denied a war pension, he wrote in protest to Minister for Health and Repatriation, former Prime Minister, Billy Hughes:
I think it’s a crying shame that a man who ruined his health in the service of his country cannot get justice in his old age.
He died in 1941, aged 56, from a cerebral haemorrhage.
Murray’s brother William enlisted in 1916. He served with the 37th Battalion and was declared missing, presumed dead in September 1917 after their attack on Glencorse Wood. He is commemorated at the Menin Gate memorial for those with no known resting place.
Gunditjmara man, Sapper Herbert Murray (front centre) is pictured with members of the 3rd Tunnelling Company, or ‘earwiggers’ as tunnellers were known.
France
photographer unknown
REPRODUCED COURTESY OF THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
View the video series In our words, to hear first hand accounts of First Peoples service from the veterans themselves, and their families.
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George Wellington
George Wellington, of Jaadwa/Jardwajali heritage, was married and working as a labourer when he enlisted for the First World War in August 1916.
Benjamin Wellington
Gunner Benjamin Wellington, of Jaadwa/ Jardwajali heritage, served with the Light Horse militia in Gippsland for eight years; he rose to Corporal prior to enlisting for the First World War in 1914.
Daniel Hodgkiss
Private Daniel Hodgekiss, a Ngarrindjeri man from Port Willunga, South Australia enlisted in Mildura, Victoria, in 1916.
William Reginald Rawlings
Private Bill Rawlings, was a Gunditjmara man born at the Framlingham Mission Station in Western Victoria
Daniel Cooper
Private Daniel Cooper was a Yorta Yorta man from Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve in NSW.
George Terrick
Private George Terrick, a Taungurung man from the Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission Station near Healesville, Victoria, enlisted in the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion in January 1916
Aunty Dot Peters' wreath
The gum leaf wreath artwork by Nina Kelabora is inspired by the late Aunty Dot Peters AM, who laid a gum leaf wreath at the Shrine each year.
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