Henry William Murray

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry William Murray (1880–1966), the British Empire's most highly decorated soldier in the First World War. Born at Evandale, he served six years in the militia, worked as a bushman, then moved to Western Australia where he joined the AIF as a private in 1914. He won the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery at Gallipoli, and on the Western Front two Distinguished Service Orders for gallantry at Mouquet Farm in 1916 and Bullecourt in 1917, the Victoria Cross for 'sheer valour' at Gueudecourt in 1917, and in 1918 the French Croix de Guerre and the CMG. By 1918 he was a lieutenant-colonel commanding a machinegun battalion. He became a Queensland grazier, and commanded a militia battalion in the Second World War. A modest man, Murray attributed his actions in combat to discipline rather than bravery.

Peter Henning