Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

George John Murray (service number 2645) was born in Cardwell on 19 September, 1892. He was the son of John and Amelia Martin (née Weiss) Murray of Glencoe Station. John Murray came to the area from Victoria, where he had been a steeplechase jockey and in 1888 was managing the Glenbora Run situated at Kennedy. George Murray worked as a surveyor for J. M. Clare Durack around the Tully River district and then as a stockman before he enlisted on 20 May 1915. He was re-attested and took his oath again at Black Boy Hill, Western Australia on 2 August. During WW1 some 32,000 volunteers did their training at Black Boy Hill camp. Today a memorial has been raised to the men who trained there.

George Murray left Australia from Fremantle on 2 September 1915 on HMAT Anchises with the 8th Reinforcements of the 11th Battalion (AIF). The 11th had been part of the covering force for the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli and the 8th Reinforcements (two officers and 135 other ranks) arrived on 24 October. The Battalion had then been in continuous action for six months with no prospect of relief. The men were awaiting events that would lead to an advance but in actual fact Lord Kitchener was already considering plans for evacuation.

The 11th Battalion received orders to leave Gallipoli and on 7 November boarded the SS Abbassieh for Lemnos. The men remained on Lemnos, carrying out drills, parades, organized sports and suffering in the cold of the winter, when diphtheria broke out and the Battalion was quarantined. George had seen little action but was admitted to hospital at Lemnos in December. He was discharged back to duty and rejoined his unit soon after. The withdrawal from Gallipoli was effected in December and the 11th Battalion left Lemnos for Alexandria on January 4.

In Egypt the Battalion went by train from Alexandria to Tel-el-Kebir and then to Serapeum to participate in the defence of the Suez Canal Zone. However, at this time it was decided to create three new Divisions of the AIF and the 11th Battalion was split in half. The even-numbered sections became the nucleus of the 51st Battalion. George Murray was among the men transferred to the 51st Battalion in Egypt on 29 February.

In June 1916 his unit sailed for Marseilles and service on the Western Front. The 51st Battalion fought its first major battle at Marquet Farm in August-September 1916, suffering severe casualties. George was promoted from Private to Driver and later became Temporary Corporal and Temporary Sergeant. Like most WW1 soldiers he was hospitalized with various illnesses. In May 1917 he sustained a gunshot wound to his leg and was treated at Devonport Military Hospital and then Torbay Hospital, England for a total of 65 days. At the close of hostilities he took leave in Paris and England before he returned to Australia on the Somali on 1 June 1919. He did return to Cardwell but later took up stock work with Surveyor Durack's brother in Western Australia.
Researched and written by The Cardwell Historical Society, for the "1914 Cardwell Roll of Honour and On Active Duty 1919" Cardwell Queensland.