MURPHY*

Murphy was chosen to be a trusty ‘ambulance’ rescuing more than 300 wounded Australian and New Zealand soldiers during the bloody Gallipoli campaign in 1915. He carried wounded soldiers from the frontline to the beach for evacuation during ANZAC operations during World War One and over the hilly, craggy terrain to the field hospital as the bombs and snipers’ bullets rained down. The little grey donkey was recruited by Australian stretcher-bearer Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick (known as Private Simpson), who relentlessly cared for his brave, trusted helper. Murphy never gave up or complained; working to the point of exhaustion, saving hundreds of lives.

At the end of the battle, when the time came for the donkeys to be returned to Greece, the Australian ‘diggers’ were desperate to protect Murphy - he was one of them, he was a digger and a war hero. They fixed a brown luggage label to his harness, bearing his name and status, and hoped it would secure his safe passage home.

Murphy was posthumously awarded a Purple Cross by the RSPCA, the highest honour available for animals.

(Private Simpson was killed by machine-gun fire while carrying two wounded men and was buried on the beach at Hell Spit. He was known as ‘The Man with the Donkey’)