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8eLrleved from: hLLp://adb.anu.edu.au/blography/klrkpaLrlck-[ohn-slmpson-6973
Obituaries Australia People Australia Indigenous Australia Women Australia Labour Australia
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Kirkpatrick, John Simpson (18921915)
by G. P. Walsh
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983
John Simpson Kirkpatrick (1892-1915), by
unknown photographer, c1913
Australian War Memorial, A02826
John Simpson Kirkpatrick (1892-1915), soldier, 'the man
with the donkey', was born on 6 July 1892 at Shields,
County Durham, England, son of Robert Kirkpatrick
(d.1909), merchant seaman, and his wife Sarah Simpson.
After attending the Barnes and Mortimer Roads schools he
became a milkboy for four years and at 17, after a brief
association with the local Territorial Army, joined the
merchant navy.
In May 1910 Kirkpatrick deserted at Newcastle, New South
Wales. After humping his bluey ('about the best life that a
fellow could wish for') and briey trying cane-cutting and
station work in Queensland, he worked his passage from
Cairns to Sydney and became a coalminer at Coledale,
Corrimal and Mount Kembla in the Illawarra district. In 1911
he went briey to the Yilgarn goldeld in Western Australia
and for the next three and a half years worked as a
steward, reman and greaser on vessels around the
Australian coast. Deeply attached to his mother and sister,
he wrote regularly and sent a generous portion of his
wages to his mother. On 25 August 1914 as John Simpson
he joined the Australian Imperial Force at Blackboy Hill Camp, Perth, believing like many others that he would be
going directly home to England. Allotted to the 3rd Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps, he
embarked from Fremantle on 2 November for Egypt.
Private Simpson (Kirkpatrick) landed on Gallipoli with the covering force at dawn on 25 April 1915 and quickly
befriended a donkey (called variously 'Abdul' or 'Murphy' but usually 'Duffy') to carry leg wound casualties to the
dressing station. Day and night he worked cheerfully and unconcernedly amid erce shrapnel and rie-re,
carrying the wounded from the head of Monash valley down Shrapnel gully to the beach. So valued was his work
that he was allowed to operate separately, camping with his donkey at the Indian mule-camp. He was known to
his fellow diggers as 'Murphy', 'Scotty', 'Simmie', or simply 'the bloke with the donk'. His name immediately
became a byword for courage: the Indian troops called him Bahadur 'bravest of the brave'. His inspirational
work and good fortune, however, were to be short lived. On 19 May he was shot through the heart in Monash
valley and buried on the beach at Hell Spit. He was mentioned in orders of the day and in dispatches and though
recommended he received no bravery award.
Select Bibliography
C. E. W. Bean, The Story of Anzac (Syd, 1921)
I. Benson, The Man With the Donkey (Lond, 1965)
London Gazette, 5 Nov 1915
Reveille (Sydney), May 1929, Nov 1930, Nov 1955, Aug 1961
Sydney Mail, 3 Nov 1915, 26 Apr 1916
Age (Melbourne), 22 June 1936
records (Australian War Memorial).
Citation details
G. P. Walsh, 'Kirkpatrick, John Simpson (18921915)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography,
Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kirkpatrick-john-simpson-6975/text12119, published in
hardcopy 1983, accessed online 26 September 2014.
This article was rst published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983
Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2014
John Simpson Kirkpatrick, perhaps the best-known and most famous Anzac of all, was 5'8" (173 cm) tall, stockily
built and weighed 12 stone (76 kg); his complexion was fair with blue eyes and brown hair. He was a typical
digger: independent, witty and warm-hearted, happy to be indolent at times and careless of dress. He loved all
kinds of animals. Though others after him also used donkeys to bring in the wounded, Simpson and his donkey
became a legend the symbol of all that was pure, seless and heroic on Gallipoli.
'The man with the donkey' is commemorated by Wallace Anderson's bronze statue at the Shrine of
Remembrance in Melbourne and by paintings by H. Moore-Jones in Canberra and Auckland, New Zealand. In
1965 the theme was depicted on three Australian postage stamps marking the golden jubilee of the landing at
Anzac Cove.
Select Bibliography
C. E. W. Bean, The Story of Anzac (Syd, 1921)
I. Benson, The Man With the Donkey (Lond, 1965)
London Gazette, 5 Nov 1915
Reveille (Sydney), May 1929, Nov 1930, Nov 1955, Aug 1961
Sydney Mail, 3 Nov 1915, 26 Apr 1916
Age (Melbourne), 22 June 1936
records (Australian War Memorial).
Citation details
G. P. Walsh, 'Kirkpatrick, John Simpson (18921915)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography,
Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kirkpatrick-john-simpson-6975/text12119, published in
hardcopy 1983, accessed online 26 September 2014.
This article was rst published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983
Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2014
John Simpson Kirkpatrick, perhaps the best-known and most famous Anzac of all, was 5'8" (173 cm) tall, stockily
built and weighed 12 stone (76 kg); his complexion was fair with blue eyes and brown hair. He was a typical
digger: independent, witty and warm-hearted, happy to be indolent at times and careless of dress. He loved all
kinds of animals. Though others after him also used donkeys to bring in the wounded, Simpson and his donkey
became a legend the symbol of all that was pure, seless and heroic on Gallipoli.
'The man with the donkey' is commemorated by Wallace Anderson's bronze statue at the Shrine of
Remembrance in Melbourne and by paintings by H. Moore-Jones in Canberra and Auckland, New Zealand. In
1965 the theme was depicted on three Australian postage stamps marking the golden jubilee of the landing at
Anzac Cove.
Select Bibliography
C. E. W. Bean, The Story of Anzac (Syd, 1921)
I. Benson, The Man With the Donkey (Lond, 1965)
London Gazette, 5 Nov 1915
Reveille (Sydney), May 1929, Nov 1930, Nov 1955, Aug 1961
Sydney Mail, 3 Nov 1915, 26 Apr 1916
Age (Melbourne), 22 June 1936
records (Australian War Memorial).
Citation details
G. P. Walsh, 'Kirkpatrick, John Simpson (18921915)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography,
Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kirkpatrick-john-simpson-6975/text12119, published in
hardcopy 1983, accessed online 26 September 2014.
This article was rst published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, (MUP), 1983
Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2014
John Simpson Kirkpatrick, perhaps the best-known and most famous Anzac of all, was 5'8" (173 cm) tall, stockily
built and weighed 12 stone (76 kg); his complexion was fair with blue eyes and brown hair. He was a typical
digger: independent, witty and warm-hearted, happy to be indolent at times and careless of dress. He loved all
kinds of animals. Though others after him also used donkeys to bring in the wounded, Simpson and his donkey
became a legend the symbol of all that was pure, seless and heroic on Gallipoli.
'The man with the donkey' is commemorated by Wallace Anderson's bronze statue at the Shrine of
Remembrance in Melbourne and by paintings by H. Moore-Jones in Canberra and Auckland, New Zealand. In
1965 the theme was depicted on three Australian postage stamps marking the golden jubilee of the landing at
Anzac Cove.

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