[Index]
Vernon William MURRAY (1890 - 1915)
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Vernon William MURRAY (1890 - 1915) Benjamin MURRAY (1864 - 1966) William MURRAY (1829 - )



Emma RIXON (1834 - 1911) Benjamin RIXON
Margaret PHINNAMORE
Annie MIDDLETON ( - 1936)











Vernon William MURRAY
Vernon William MURRAY Vernon William MURRAY
Vernon William MURRAY Vernon William MURRAY Vernon William MURRAY
Pic P1. Memorial photograph card for Vernon William Murray, 6th Light Horse ‘A’ Squadron, killed at Gallipoli on 22 May 1915. The metal strip on the grave marker reads: ‘J 8 / 32 TPR MURRAY V.W. 6/A L H’. Justice & Police Museum Collection, Sydney Living Museums

Pic 1. Memorial photograph card for Vernon William Murray, 6th Light Horse ‘A’ Squadron, killed at Gallipoli on 22 May 1915. The metal strip on the grave marker reads: ‘J 8 / 32 TPR MURRAY V.W. 6/A L H’. Justice & Police Museum Collection, Sydney Living Museums

Pic 2. Vernon Murray (left) with his brother Percy in 1914.

b. 1890
d. 22 May 1915 at Gallipoli Peninsula aged 25
Near Relatives of Vernon William MURRAY (1890 - 1915)
Relationship Person Born Birth Place Died Death Place Age
Grandfather William MURRAY 1829 Dublin, Ireland
Grandmother Emma RIXON 10 Sep 1834 Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia 15 Nov 1911 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 77

Father Benjamin MURRAY 10 Sep 1864 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 26 Jun 1966 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 101
Mother Annie MIDDLETON 16 Mar 1936 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia

Self Vernon William MURRAY 1890 22 May 1915 Gallipoli Peninsula 25

Sister Ethel Pearl MURRAY 1888 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
Brother Percival George MURRAY 1892 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 07 Sep 1924 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 32
Brother Oliver Benjamin MURRAY 1896

Aunt Mary Ann MURRAY 27 Feb 1855 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 07 May 1922 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 67
Uncle James John CASHMAN 1855 Gippsland, Victoria, Australia 02 Aug 1921 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 66
Uncle William Benjamin MURRAY 18 Apr 1857 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 13 Oct 1957 Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia 100
Aunt Ann LUFF
Aunt Margaret Lucinda Jemima (Lucy) MURRAY 1860 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 1928 68
Uncle John SALISBURY
Uncle Michael MURRAY 16 Feb 1862
Uncle John Richard Rixon (Jack) MURRAY 14 Apr 1862 Tambaroora, New South Wales, Australia 23 Feb 1944 Kyogle, New South Wales, Australia 81
Aunt Isabella MURRAY 14 Mar 1866 Mt Kembla, New South Wales, Australia 1944 Randwick, New South Wales, Australia 78
Uncle Franz NEIBERDING

Cousin James William Murray CASHMAN 30 Nov 1880 Wantabadgery, New South Wales, Australia 05 May 1914 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 33
Cousin Albert Rixon CASHMAN 08 May 1883 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia 20 Dec 1940 Adamstown, New South Wales, Australia 57
Cousin Walter Herbert CASHMAN 1886 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
Cousin Arthur Bergen CASHMAN Nov 1889 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 28 Feb 1890 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 0
Cousin Claude John CASHMAN 04 Mar 1899 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 07 Dec 1965 Darwin, NT, Australia 66

Brother in Law Samuel Edward SHOEMARK 13 Mar 1884 Coreinbob, New South Wales, Australia 02 Jun 1950 Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia 66
Sister in Law Ivy A BELLING 1898 Junee, New South Wales, Australia
Events in Vernon William MURRAY (1890 - 1915)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
1890 Vernon William MURRAY was born 71
22 May 1915 25 Vernon William MURRAY died Gallipoli Peninsula
Personal Notes:
https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/ww1/trooper-vernon-william-murray-1890-1915

Vernon William Murray died in a scrubby gully at Gallipoli on 22 May 1915. Almost seven years later, the Department of Defence issued his father three copies of a photograph of the wooden cross atop his grave.

The photographs were contained in a simple memorial card marked ‘Australian Imperial Force’ and detailed his unit, the date he was killed and his place of burial.

Murray’s parents had learned of his death shortly after it occurred. Reverend Theodore Gordon Robertson, who was close by when Murray was shot and whose brother had been killed at Gallipoli on 25 April, the day of the landing, wrote to the Murrays two days after their son died. Robertson described the important work Murray was undertaking and did not romanticise his death:

He had been sent down to the beach near Gabe Tepe on Saturday morning with a fatigue party, they were returning to our own gully at about 2.30pm & had to come up a dangerous path where bullets from the enemy trench were thick. One of them struck him through the left temple & came out at the back of his head … I saw him lifted onto the stretcher … his pulse was quite feeble. Your son had been at work near the beach levelling a place for stores – a necessary part of the military operation. It is just as honourable to fall in that way as in the actual firing line.

Murray died as he was being stretchered through rugged terrain towards the beach hospital. He was buried at sunset, in the Hillside Burial Ground (now Beach Cemetery), and Robertson wrote:

It was an impressive service in a beautiful place close to the beach … a good many men of his regiment present & they were deeply affected. … we are marking the grave with a wooden cross. That is all the facilities we [have] at present as the beach is still under fire.

Murray was a probationary constable in the NSW Mounted Police, originally from Wagga Wagga but stationed at Boggabri, before enlisting in the Australian Light Horse in September 1914. His skill as a horseman and familiarity with firearms would have made him an ideal candidate for the Light Horse, who used their horses as rapid transport and, unlike cavalry, typically dismounted to fight. Having arrived at Gallipoli without their mounts, the 6th Light Horse was serving in an infantry role.

In September 1915 Vernon’s pay book was returned to Base Records and a small parcel of personal effects was conveyed to his family courtesy of Thos Cook & Son. The parcel contained a disc, a knife and lanyard, a compass and a letter. The three memorial photograph cards were issued at no cost, standard policy for an Australian soldier’s next of kin. However, Murray’s father requested and received two more copies, at a cost of three shillings each.

From 1919, the Imperial War Graves Commission began replacing all the wooden crosses with permanent headstones. These were not photographed for next of kin. At Gallipoli, because of poor ground and environmental conditions, a stone-faced pedestal marker was used instead of the more common headstones seen throughout Europe.

When the new headstones were installed, Murray’s family requested that the following epitaph be inscribed:

We Think of His Life
A Duty Done
Noble, Unselfish And Brave

The cost of these personal inscriptions was supposed to be borne by the soldier’s family. However, the Australian authorities’ unofficial policy was to carry out the engravings requested but not to pursue anyone who did not pay. This was controversial, because many low-income families were honest and said that they could not afford the cost; unaware of the ‘policy’ of not pursuing payments, they therefore did not personalise their loved one’s headstone.
Source References:
71. Type: Book, Abbr: Wagga Pioneers, Title: Pioneers of Wagga Wagga and District, Auth: Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society Inc, Publ: Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society Inc, Date: 2004, Locn: http://www.waggafamilyhistory.org.au/
- Reference = 291 (Birth)
- Reference = 291 (Name, Notes)
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