The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3189) Private Norman Albert Murphy, 45th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (3189) Private Norman Albert Murphy, 45th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3189 Private Norman Albert Murphy, 45th Battalion, AIF
Presumed dead 7 June 1917
Story delivered 7 June 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Norman Albert Murphy.

Norman Murphy was born in 1895, one of five children of Arthur and Maggie Murphy of Barham’s Mail near Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Riverina. Norman’s father worked leases at Urana, Lockhart and Marrar, farming wheat and chaff, and grazing sheep. After his schooling, Norman worked as a labourer, most likely helping his father work the land throughout the Riverina.

Norman Murphy enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1916, and after a period of training at the military camp at nearby Cootamundra, sailed for England with a reinforcement group for the 45th Battalion. He spent several months training on Salisbury Plain near Wiltshire, before embarking for France in March 1917. By the time he joined the battalion, the fighting on the Western Front had been briefly restored to a war of movement, as German troops withdrew from their Somme defences and took up new ones along the infamous Hindenburg Line. On 11 April 1917, just ten days after Norman arrived at the battalion, the 45th was held in reserve for in the 4th Division’s ill-fated assault on the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt, which resulted in over 3,000 Australian casualties.

The 4th Division was relieved from front-line duties in the weeks after the battle, during which time Norman was briefly hospitalised with scabies. When he returned to the battalion in June, the focus of British operations had shifted north in Belgium, where the British were preparing to carry out a major offensive in an attempt to break out of the so-called Ypres Salient. Preparations for this offensive involved capturing the German defences along Messines Ridge, which overlooked the Belgian city of Ypres from the south-east.

The 45th Battalion formed part of the 4th Division’s assault on the Germans at Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917. Attacking alongside British and New Zealand troops, the assault began with the detonation of 19 underground mines beneath the German defences. The infantry began their assault and captured the smouldering remains of the positions on top of the ridge, as the 4th Division pressed on to the defences beyond, where German resistance stiffened. As the Australians gained ground over the following days, they were subjected to heavy artillery and machine-gun fire from increasing German resistance.

Messines was a resounding success, but victory came at a heavy price. Among the Australian 4th Division’s 2,600 casualties in the fighting at Messines was Norman Murphy, who was listed as missing after the fighting on 7 June. Norman was last seen in a support trench, severely wounded in the head, neck and arms, and waiting for stretcher bearers to administer first aid. At the time, he was wavering in and out of consciousness through loss of blood – and was, according to one man, given a piece of paper on which he began writing a letter to his mother and father. “On account of the bad state he was in,” one man reported, “the writing could not be deciphered.”

Despite the vivid report, Norman was never seen again. He remained missing until a court of inquiry held in March 1918 determined that Norman Murphy had died on 7 June 1917. He was 21 at the time of his death.

Today his name is listed on the Menin Gate Memorial, alongside over 6,000 other Australians who died in the fighting in Belgium who have no known grave.

His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

His is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Norman Albert Murphy, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section