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Lance was born in Mount Gambier on the 22nd August, 1818. He was the son of Patrick James and Margaret Eleanor (Mary) Murphy. There were two other siblings, including Murray and Mrs. D. Brennan.
Lance attended the local St Paul’s Catholic school in Mount Gambier, gaining a prize for his regular attendance in 1930, having not missed a day of schooling. The following year he also received a school certificate. It was also the year that his mother died when Lance was 12.
Despite this, Lance continued to be quite an active member of the Catholic Young Men’s Society where he was a regular in performing in the Annual Review, not afraid to be part of a ‘ballet ensemble’ with eight other young men ’37. That same year Lance gained employment with Chevron Motors Limited at Hamilton. The CYMS made a presentation to Lance at the staging of the revue when the President wished him every success and happiness in his future sphere of activities. The Society paid tribute to ‘Popular member in Mr. Lance Murphy who had moved and whose efforts would be missed.’
That same year, Lance had several unwanted experiences with fire in his role as transport driver for passengers and mail with Australian National Airways to and from Mount Gambier aerodrome. In a freak accident in January, as Lance arrived at the firm’s service station with the day’s mail, he noticed smoke and flames coming from his car’s engine. Safely storing the precious mail first, Lance then grabbed a fire extinguisher, aiming it at the flames under the bonnet. Fortunately, the car was saved, and the damage was not extensive. Later in July the same year in a freak accident, the mail plane struck a windmill before crashing into the hangar roof, then into a parked car. While the plane was completely wrecked, the pilot and five passengers had a miraculous escape with minor injuries. The Border Watch reported that ‘When the accident occurred Mr. Lance Murphy, who is employed by the local representatives of Australian National Airways, Messrs May and Davis, to service the planes and convey passengers and mails to and from Mount Gambier, was inside the hangar. The roof was carried away over his head with a resounding crash, but Mr. Murphy escaped injury. With great presence of mind, he promptly grabbed a fire extinguisher and rushed outside.’
With the outbreak of WWII, aged 21 Lance enlisted at Penola on the 13th February ‘40 becoming SX6726 in the 2/48th Battalion. He was farewelled at Coonawarra in October ’40. The Border Watch reported that ‘Accommodation at the Coonawarra Soldiers' Memorial Hall was taxed to its utmost on Saturday evening, when the first farewell to local men enlisted in the 2nd A.I.F. took place. The men on final leave were Privates Redman, Weir and Murphy, who were among the first to enlist from the district.’ A typical country dance and concert followed before the young men were piped onto the stage, amid sustained applause. In the speeches that followed the sterling qualities of the men were outlined before they were ‘wished "God speed" and a safe return when they had completed the task they were entering upon.’ Each enlistee was then presented with a parcel with Lance also being made a presentation from the Penola Cheer Up Society. Dancing and supper followed with the comment that ‘The attendance at the function was a fitting tribute to the popularity of the departing men who were wished the very best by everyone present.’
Lance’s initial days were spent in the cold of the Pavilions, now part of the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds before he and other new enlistees headed to Woodside for their preliminary training. It is possible that either through the CYMS or both serving in the 2/48th Battalion, that Lance met another young man, Paul (Bill) Cashen. Very early after his enlistment, Bill became the orderly room corporal at Woodside. Both young men became part of the large contingent of 2/48th Battalion enlistees embarked on the Stratheden for the Middle East, on the 7th November 1940, arriving on the 19th December 1940. Close friendships were forged, most to last a lifetime. Their 2/48th Battalion completed a few months training in Cyrenaica before going to Tobruk at the start of April 1941 where the dust, flies, heat, minimal water supplies and constant bombardment were quite a challenge to these fresh new enlistees. With a surname of Murphy, it was inevitable that, in the Aussie tradition Lance was given the nickname of ‘Spud’.
Mark Johnston in his immaculately researched Derrick VC In His Own Words, published a poem Derrick had kept above his diary entry for the 21 – 26th August, ‘41. Post war, it was initially incorrectly ascribed to Tom rather that to SX6726 Private Bryan Lance ‘Spud’ Murphy, The ‘Wandering Bard’. It was entitled ‘SOUND’:
‘I’ve heard some peculiar noises and sounds of different kinds
In streets and shops & on rolling plain the sort one usually finds,
But the noises home in Australia seldom bring
An enquiring look and can’t compare in intensity with the noises of Tobruk
The gentle breeze in the wadis, the Jacks
Yelp on the hill
The crackle of rifle fire, the roar of Bardia Bill
The scream of a lone seagull, wandering
Far from the shore
Strikes a distant chord in my memory of the days before the war
As I lie awake on my blankets, on my bed of sand stone
I hear away in the distance an ever increasing drone
In the sound of the raiding Stukas, like bees from an angry hive
Now comes the scream of their racing props as the(y) start their power dive
The whistle of bombs –
The aka k guns – the sound of sudden death
I lie & make no sound myself but the sound of my indrawn breath
The shattering roar of bur(st)ing bombs of every shape and size
And then a happy sight for us, a Stuka fails to rise.
The boom of exploding petrol, a livid sheet of flame.
A German pilots funeral pyre but the war goes on the same
Oh to hear the shrieking scream of the last exploding shell
Oh to leave the desert (unclear next word) quit this man made bloody hell
Take me over the ocean, back to the tall straight gums
Back to the heart of the bushland, where
The busy saw mills hum
Or drop me off in the city midst the sounds of horn & bell
Take me back to Australia & the sound I love so well. SX6726’
Then instead of a diary entry for the 27 – 29th August ’41, Derrick had a further poem, STANDING BY. This was also published in several newspapers back home, with a few word changes, and was attributed to B.L. (Spud) Murphy – The Wandering Bard. These included the Murray Pioneer of March ’42 and were sent by Private Len Dohnt SX7404 of the 2/48th to his parents:
‘There’s a row of wooden crosses, in a hollow in Tobruk
There’s a row of shallow graves, hard there by the town
And we say a charitable prayer, for those brave lads who never let us down
When the storm of battle’s over & the guns have ceased their roar
And the gentle breezes blow in across the sea
We’ll still hear the(ir?) cheery voices in the waves along the shore
And we’ll take solace in the thought,-
It had to be
They heard the fall in sounded & knew
That they must go though on parade
They soon would stand again
Lined up for inspection by the heavenly God whose battalion can’t be filled with mortal men
Where Jerry cannot bomb them, or pelt them with H.E.
And they’re marching with the army of the brave, the proud & free
We’ll meet them over yonder, til then good shooting mates = You’ve founded a tradition for the 2nd 40 eighth.’
Lance and his cousin, Sergeant Rex Sullivan enjoyed leave back home in August ’42 with the Southern Cross reporting that ‘Lance Murphy, A.I.F., has been on a short visit to the town. Lance has seen much service in danger spots abroad.’ He was also reported as visiting many friends at Penola, with the Narracoorte Herald joyously reporting on the dance and Welcome Home social held in the Coonawarra Soldiers' Memorial Hall where Pte Lance Murphy was feted with ‘a hearty welcome and said that although he was a Mount Gambier boy and had enlisted from Penola, Coonawarra had adopted him as their "Soldier Boy," having given him a farewell here. Pte. Murphy responded, thanking, everyone for their welcome, and also the ladies of the Comforts-Fund for parcels he had received overseas.’ Similarly, the Southern Cross reported on the C.Y.M.’s pleasure at having Lance back among the members.
That joyous return was shattered with the news that good friend, 24-year-old Corporal Bill Cashen was killed in action on the 31st October, 1942. In his book ‘Tobruk to Tarakan’ John Glenn describes that time “which was to be the most bitter and bloody fighting of the war. When next the sun drove away those shadows from the desert, death would have reaped a rich harvest of gallant men. And of the 2/48th Battalion only forty-one weary troops would remain in the field.” His final summing up was ‘Truly it can be said of these men, “They fought themselves and their enemy to a standstill until flesh and blood could stand no more, then they went on fighting.” An horrific battle for the proud and very brave 2/48th Battalion. Corporal Bill Cashen and Private Murray Nicholson of the orderly room staff, Sergeant Lindsay Goode and Corporal Tas Scutt of the signals, and Private Vin McGahan had all been killed.
Fellow soldiers, Lance and John Byrne SX9353 continued to remember Bill.
Advertiser Tuesday 31 October 1944, CASHEN-—ln fond memory of a pal, Cpl. Paul (Bill). 2/48th Btn killed in action. El Alamein, Oct. 31, 1942.—Inserted - by Pte. J. Byrne.
Advertiser Thursday 31 October 1946, CASHEN.— In memory of Bill. 2/48th Battalion who fell at Alamein.—Remembered by Brian Murphy and John Byrne.
Lance was discharged in August ’44 from the 1st Water Transport Group of the Royal Australian Engineers. Lance had become a truck driver carry loads including pulp wood. He moved to Seddon in Victoria. Within five years of being discharged, his father, Patrick died in the Port Ferry Hospital in June 1949, having just returned from a visit to New Zealand. He was buried in the Lake Terrace Cemetery at Mt Gambier.
Aged 39 Lance died on 27th April 1958 and is buried in the Box Hill cemetery, remembered by his wife, Muriel.
Researched and written by Kaye Lee, daughter of Bryan Holmes SX8133, 2/48th Battalion.