Australian Dictionary of Biography

Gordon Murphy, c.1940

National Archives of Australia, B883, WX500548

Gordon Bernard Jamieson Murphy (1919–2000), soldier and public servant, was born on 18 February 1919 at the goldfields town of Boulder, Western Australia, only child of Victorian-born Matthew Murphy, painter, and his Western Australian-born wife Elsie Elizabeth, née Duffner. His father and three uncles had volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War I. One uncle was killed in action, while his father Matthew, who served in the 16th Battalion, was severely wounded in the right leg and had his right arm amputated. In the early 1920s the Murphy family moved from the goldfields to the Perth suburb of Victoria Park, close to the treatment Matthew needed at the repatriation hospital. A keen cyclist in his youth, Gordon was educated at St Patrick’s Boys’ School, Perth, then became an apprentice tailor’s cutter with Goode, Durrant, and Murray Ltd.

On 21 May 1940 Murphy enlisted in the newly raised 2/16th Battalion, AIF, for service in World War II. After training at Northam, the battalion was deployed to Palestine in November, as part of the 21st Brigade, 7th Division. Murphy saw action against Vichy French forces in Syria-Lebanon in the brief but hard-fought campaign in June-July 1941. Proving himself to be a capable soldier, he was promoted to lance corporal in September.

Following the outbreak of the Pacific War, the 7th Division returned to Australia in March 1942. As his battalion prepared for war in the new theatre, Murphy was promoted to corporal in June. After Japanese forces landed on the north coast of Papua in July, the 21st Brigade was rushed to Port Moresby and joined the Kokoda Trail campaign. In action in the last days of August, it conducted a fighting withdrawal from Isurava to Ioribaiwa and Itiki, losing soldiers in close-quarters battles. The 2/16th Battalion had begun the campaign with more than six hundred men: by 19 September only 142 were still capable of fighting.

The survivors of the 21st Brigade’s three battalions formed a unit called Chaforce, named for Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Challen but, by 22 November, the 2/16th Battalion component, commanded by Lieutenant Alan Haddy, was attached to the 2/31st Battalion. Sick and exhausted, its soldiers clashed with the enemy in thick jungle almost daily as the Japanese slowly fell back on their beachhead fortifications at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda. Near Gona, on the Amboga River, Haddy had established a base, which the Japanese attacked on the night 6 December. Several Australians were wounded, including Haddy, and at least one was killed. Murphy joined a fighting patrol to relieve Haddy and his men. When his sergeant was wounded, Murphy ‘took charge and exhibited outstanding qualities of leadership in extricating his men and survivors of Haddy’s patrol’ (Uren 1959, 170). He and his small force established a defensive perimeter that they held against small arms and mortar fire until 2 p.m. the next day when reinforcements arrived. For this action he was awarded the Military Medal. Six days later he was evacuated to Port Moresby with malaria. Back in Australia on 22 December, he remained in hospital until late March 1943.

In September the 2/16th battalion deployed to the Ramu Valley campaign in the Finisterre Range of north-eastern New Guinea. As the battalion was sending fighting patrols across the Faria River beneath Shaggy Ridge on 25 October it came under fire. Three men were killed including the platoon sergeant. Murphy took charge, and ‘displaying outstanding courage and initiative he fought his way into the enemy’s lines, causing heavy casualties’ (NAA B883). When the force was ordered to retreat, he remained behind to cover the withdrawal. In the words of the recommendation for the award of a second Military Medal, ‘Murphy’s leadership and courage are a constant inspiration to his men’ (NAA B883). He was one of only five Australians to be awarded a Military Medal with Bar during World War II. Promoted to acting sergeant on 11 November 1943, he was confirmed in this rank on 14 December.

For much of 1944 Murphy was in hospital with recurring bouts of malaria. While recovering he qualified as an instructor at the Allied Land Forces Headquarters Small Arms School, Bonegilla, Victoria. The commanding officer noted Murphy’s ‘good military bearing’ and ‘quiet, but pleasing personality,’ adding that he ‘responded well to criticism when under instruction’ (NAA B883). Rejoining his battalion in October 1944, he fought in its last campaign from June 1945, the Australian amphibious operation to liberate Balikpapan on the island of Borneo. Repatriated on 13 November, he was discharged at Karrakatta, Perth, nine days later. He soon found work as a messenger but in March 1946 was asked to re-enlist to help represent the army in Australia’s contingent for the Victory March in London. Joining other decorated veterans aboard HMAS Shropshire on 18 April, he participated in the victory events and returned to Australia in August.

Settling into civilian life, Murphy married Carmel Kathleen Baker, a typist, on 13 August 1949 at the Catholic Church, Maylands. He worked as a clerk in the Commonwealth Department of Repatriation, earning promotions in 1957 and 1965. In retirement he moved to Clarkson, one of the new coastal suburbs north of Perth. Survived by his wife and their sons Peter and Russell, he died there on 7 June 2000, and was cremated.