Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Archie Cleve Murchie was born on the 23rd of October 1889 in Inverell, a country town in New England in New South Wales. He was one of five siblings, and his parents were Archibald George Murchie and Roseanna Moore. Before Archie Cleve Murchie went to war on the 2nd of November 1917, he lived at 27 Pelican Street in Sydney, New South Wales. He was 27 years and 7 months old when he went to war. Archie was 5 feet and 7.5 inches and weighed 71.2 kilograms. He had brown eyes, dark brown hair and a dark complexion. His religion was Presbyterian and he was married to Ellen Josephine Murchie (nee Norton). Archie’s occupation before the war was a cook. He had been deemed ‘unfit’ by His Majesty’s service to actively fight in the war because of his eyesight, so his war service was spent as a cook.

Many Australian men enlisted in World War 1 because of their heritage and background. For most, the British Empire was their mother country and they felt that they had to be loyal to them and support them in the fight. The enlistment age was 21-35 years, so Archie fitted well within this age bracket. Those men who didn’t go to war would quite often get nasty looks from the people around them, and sometimes they even got a ‘white feather’ in their mailbox, which meant that you were a ‘coward.’ These are all possible reasons as to why Archie went to war.

Archie Cleve Murchie enlisted for war on the 9th of May 1917 in the Victoria Barracks, NSW. He joined the Recruits Training Squadron in Rentangle Park and became a Private, which was the lowest rank in the army. His service number was 3488. He was part of the 1st Light Horse Regiment and the 30th Reinforcement.

On November 2nd, Archie boarded the H.M.A.T Commonwealth headed for Egypt. However, due to a mishap, Archie failed to re-board this ship on a stopover at Fremantle. This meant that he had to wait for the next ship, the Canberra, which he boarded on the 24th of November. He was fined one pound for this and didn’t receive one day’s pay.

Archie started off at Suez in Egypt but then marched into a reinforcements camp in Moascar, Egypt. Soldiers that came to Egypt as reinforcements were put in the Isolation camp. As they had been in confined ships for some time, soldiers were put in this camp for two weeks after they arrived, so their health could be checked and monitored. Contagious illnesses such as measles were of particular interest, as they could not afford for these to be spread amongst the troops.

Archie was taken on strength for duties with the AMC (Army Medical Corps) TNG (Territory of New Guinea) Cadre, and went to a cookery school in the 1st Light Horse TNG Regiment. At some point Archie must have left this cookery school, some time later rejoining the same cookery school once again. This confirms his role as a cook during the war.

On the 1st and 16th of April 1918, Archie was transferred to the 4th Light Horse Regiment AMC TNG unit. He was then taken on strength in a hospital and after a while, he was transferred again to the 14th Australian General Hospital from Moascar.

During his time at war, Archie committed one major crime – Absent without leave (A.W.O.L). This is when someone runs away from their duties without consent. Archie left the war at 10pm on the 28th of February 1919 and came back at 1:30pm on 4th of March 1919. When he came back, he was punished by not receiving 18 day’s pay.  Also, Archie had marched out of the reinforcement camp and into the 4th Light Horse Territory of New Guinea Regiment, on the 4th of January 1918.

During the war, Archie experienced several bouts of sickness. On the 7th of June 1918, he was diagnosed with trachoma, which is a contagious bacterial infection of the eye causing inflamed granulation on the inner surface of the eyelids. On the 12th of May 1919, he was diagnosed with appendicitis, which consequently meant that he had to get his appendix out. He also had lice. 

On the 17th of August, 1919, Archie arrived back in Australia. He returned home on a boat called Oxfordshire. In 1933, Archie’s wife Josephine died, and Archie then went on to marry my Grandmother’s mother Jemima Dundas McIntyre Johnston. In 1935 one of their daughters, Valda, was born. They carried on living their lives with their two daughters Jean and Valda, Jean being the eldest, in Bondi, Sydney. 

On the 20th of October 1961, at the age of 72 Archie passed away as a result of gangrene. This is a poisoning in the bloodstream, which must have eventually poisoned his entire body, resulting in death. He was then buried in Botany Cemetery, NSW.

How Archie’s service reflected the ANZAC Spirit

The abbreviation ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The qualities of what it means to be ANZAC are to have courage, mate-ship, endurance/persistence, sacrifice and resourcefulness. On the other hand, ANZAC Spirit means that soldiers carry and share certain characteristics during war that may be hard to show at this hard time.

Some examples of what it means to reflect the ANZAC Spirit included when soldiers at war helped the wounded, despite the risk of getting wounded or killed themselves whilst helping out. Another example was soldiers doing jobs without receiving any reward for it. Also reflecting the ANZAC Spirit was the resulting close friendships and bonds developed between soldiers that they otherwise wouldn’t have come to know, bringing them happiness and joy.  And finally, people coming together to fight for their country despite the inherent risks of getting killed or badly injured whilst doing so.

Archie Cleve Murchie reflected the ANZAC Spirit, by leaving his wife to fight for his country which shows courage and sacrifice, by coming back to war when he ran away which shows sacrifice, by cooking for soldiers during war which shows mate-ship, by recovering from illnesses and getting back to work which shows endurance, and by persistence even when he experienced times of grief (e.g. getting deducted a certain amount of pay when he ran away from war).