Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

01/02/1916

Date of Discharge

11/12/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

14/04/1888

Place of Birth

Ayr, Scotland

Address (at enlistment)

Duntroon ACT (Victoria Street, Darlinghurst NSW on embarkation roll)

Occupation

Plumber

Next of Kin

Charlotte Murphy (mother), Ayr, Scotland

Service Number

14955

Final Rank

Sapper

Final Unit

4 Field Company Engineers AIF

Queanbeyan RSL Wall of Remembrance, Crawford St, Queanbeyan NSW

Tom Murphy was a Scottish-born plumber who had been working and living at Duntroon from 1912 up until his enlistment on 1 February 1916. He played football for Federal City and was a member of the Federal Sports Club. Murphy arrived in France in March 1917 and served with the 4th Field Company Engineers in France and Belgium where he was wounded in September 1917 during the Battle of Polygon Wood. After the war Murphy attended the Penman County Garage, Ayr in Scotland, for motor engineering training from March to July 1919. He returned to Australia in August and was discharged in Sydney in December 1919. He was closely involved with St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church in Queanbeyan, Queanbeyan Hospital and Queanbeyan Legacy and was renowned as a singer at concerts and community events. He married Pauline Black after the war and in 1925 he established a plumbing business in Monaro Street, Queanbeyan. Tom Murphy died in Queanbeyan on 13 December 1934.

Description - height 5 feet 6½ inches, weight 144 pounds, chest 33-35 inches, fair complexion, hazel eyes, brown hair, Presbyterian.

Jean Armour, 'And this stone : the story of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Queanbeyan, on the occasion of the centenary', 1974
Queanbeyan Age - 30 August 1912, 25 November 1913, 21 March 1913, 19 September 1913, 25 November 1913, 28 November 1919, 14 December 1934
The Canberra Times - 15 December 1934
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)