McPherson, Athol Cluny (Private, b.1881 - d.1915)

Place	Oceania: Australia, Victoria, Horsham
Accession Number	PR03342
Collection type	Private Record
Record type	Collection
Measurement	Extent: 7 cm; Wallet/s: 4
Object type	Letter, Diary, Papers, Photograph
Maker	Beveridge, Sidney Alexander McPherson, Athol Cluny Various
Place made	At sea, Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Broadmeadows, Egypt, Egypt: North Egypt, Mena, Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli
Date made	1914-1919
Access	Open
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright	Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain
Copying Provisions	Copyright expired. Copying permitted subject to physical condition. Permission for reproduction not required.

Description

Collection relating to the service of 352 Private Athol Cluny McPherson, 5 Battalion, 1914-1919. Collection consists of correspondence (approximately 90 letters) from McPherson to his family (1914-1915); two diaries kept by McPherson (1914-1915); an urgent telegram notifying the family of McPherson's death (1915); a letter informing the family of the return of his belongings (1916); a card with a photograph of McPherson's grave at Shrapnel Gully, Gallipoli; two letters written by Chaplain 2nd Class Sidney Alexander Beveridge, AIF; a leaflet from the Imperial War Graves Commission; two souvenir booklets and a leaflet from the 2001 commemoration of Anzac Day at Gallipoli; and three coloured photographs taken in 2001 at Shrapnel Valley. The majority of his letters were written from Mena Camp in Egypt and describe his enlistment, the voyage to Egypt, the excitement of travel and the mood of optimism in 1914 that the war would soon be over.

History / Summary

Biographical note: 352 Private Athol Cluny McPherson, 5 Infantry Battalion, AIF. Killed in action 19 August, 1915, at Gallipoli. Aged 34. Son of Murray Bennett McPherson and Maria Eliza McPherson, of Baillia St., Horsham, Victoria, Australia. Native of Nangeela, Victoria.