Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Alexander Moncrieff is my Grandfather. I say "is" because ANZACs never die, they live forever.
Grandpa joined up in the first reinforcements helping out the ANZACs who partook in the first storming of Gallipoli. He was a windmiller by trade and travelled from Meekatharra to Gnowangerup and then Albany by car to take his place with the gallant Australian forces fighting for our democracy and ultimate freedom. He sailed out on HMAT Anchises which made it through WW1, but sadly was sunk by the Germans a few kilometres off Ireland just 3 weeks before the end of WW2 with the loss of about 11 lives.
Myself and my family are Yamatji Aboriginal people. Our father was born in Meekatharra in 1914 and passed away in 2002.
Grandpa and his brother William were kicked out of their family estate in Scotland and William settled in the east of Australia and Alexander settled in Meekatharra, WA. It was there that he met and married my Grandmother, Nabbo, a full blood Yamatji woman, with whom parented my Dad, Anthony Moncrieff. Dad went on to be a legendary stockman in WA.
Dad was only a few moths old when his father Alexander decided to leave our country and his family, to take up the fight in WW1. I've written a song about them, me and my 3 sons.
No words can express however just how proud I and my family are of Private Alexander Moncrieff - blood runs thicker than water afterall and he is the highest of the highest; albeit a private in the army, but nevertheless an ANZAC, Australia's greatest sons.
Grandpa made it through the hell of Gallipoli unscathed and then went to fight in the Battle of the Somme. It was there that he was shot right through his left shoulder just missing his heart, praise God. He was subsequently shipped off to England where he was a patient at the Great Southern Hospital. I'm not 100% certain that that name is accurate.
Grandpa then came back to Meekatharra and settled down with his wife Nabbo and son. He actually put my Dad in Subiaco Primary School for a short period, but Dad hated city life even as a child (the weather was always cold he told me!). He longed for the hot weather and wide open spaces of the north and absconded to follow up his father and do windmilling work around Meekatharra with him. Dad therefore only went to Grade 1 at school, which meant he could not read or write thereafter. But Alexander taught both Dad and later Dad's wife, my mother Alice, basic reading and basic writing.
I tracked down Private Alexander Moncrieff's war history and came across his signature on the internet when he signed his signature whilst hospitalised in England. Because all their names start with,the letter A, Alexander, Anthony and Alice, they all wrote the letter A exactly the same way! I was chuffed about this.
I met my grandfather once, when I was a small child who had not yet even started schooling in the mid 1960's. That special day will live me forever. I was visiting that town with my eldest sister when it was decided that I should be taken to the Native Reserve, a little way out of town. I clearly remember walking with my sister camp and there was a huge crowd of very black full-blood traditional Yamatji people called the Wadjarri, waiting for our arrival. They were all beaming with huge smiles. I clearly noticed that right in the middle of them sitting on a cyclone bed was an old white man. Immediately, I knew he was my grandfather. My heart told me so. I shyly approached him and the Wadjarri peoples all said to the old white man, "There old man, that is your grandson." I'll always remember what he said next. He said, "Put him up here with me." So they lifted me up onto the bed and he put his arm around me. We sat there for some time together. Even as a little kid, I felt right, I felt safe, I felt a deep warmth inside. Not many words were spoken, just love. I will carry the memory of that day in my heart until my dying day.
Private Alexander Moncrieff had a real love for the Australian Aboriginal people. I still love him very much and will always do so. His name is legend not only amongst the Wadjarri people, but always as an Australian ANZAC legend.
God bless him and God bless us all.