Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

15/08/1916

Date of Discharge

18/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Holsworthy NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

22/08/1891

Place of Birth

Uriarra ACT

Address (at enlistment)

Queanbeyan NSW (previously Tidbinbilla ACT)

Occupation

Labourer

Next of Kin

Jane Muir (mother), Queanbeyan NSW

Service Number

2605

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

55 Battalion AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW
Roll of Honour at St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Lowe Street, Queanbeyan NSW

Military Medal - for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during attack on the Hindenburg line north of Bellicourt on 30 September 1918. In the absence of stretcher bearers, men were detailed to attend to the wounded. After a line had been established these men, with a disregard for personal safety and although the whole area was being swept by extremely heavy machine gun fire, advanced into No Mans Land, and carried several men back to a place of safety".

William Muir was the brother of James and John Muir. He lived in the Tidbinbilla district, where his grandparents also lived - his grandfather worked for the Cunninghams of Lanyon - until at least 1902 when his father died, sometime after which the family moved to Barrack Burn near Queanbeyan. He worked as a teamster and shearer before enlisting in August 1915 and embarking with reinforcements for the 17th Battalion. At Heliopolis in Egypt he was charged with leaving the rifle range without permission and confined to camp for two days, shortly after which he was transferred to the 55th Battalion. Other than short detachments to the Horse Clipping Depot and the 5th Mobile Veterinary Section, Muir served the war with the 55th Battalion near Fromelles, Gueudecourt (during the winter on the Somme of 1916/17), the taking of Doignies, at Second Bullecourt, Polygon Wood and Villers-Bretonneux. He was wounded in the leg near Hamel in May 1918 but returned to the 55th in time for the attack on the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt where, on 30 September 1918, he earned the Military Medal. He married Sarah Gregory from Tidbinbilla when he returned in 1919 and they moved to Bexley in Sydney. Muir served in the NSW Police. He died on 4 July 1964 and is buried in Woronora Cemetery.

Description - height 5 feet 11 inches, chest 41½ inches.

Timothy J. Cook, 'Snowy to the Somme - A Muddy and Bloody Campaign, 1916-1918', 2014 (p.94, 299)
Peter Procter, 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan', Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001
Queanbeyan Age - 11 May 1917
Our Queanbeyan 'Boys' No.2, Howard & Shearsby, Yass (postcard)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Stretcher Bearer', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial