| 
					
					Unit | 
					3rd Field 
					Ambulance Medical Corps, C Section | 
					
					
					Rank | 
					Private | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Date of Enlistment | 
					25 August 
					1914 | 
					
					
					Service no. | 
					202 | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Date of Death | 
					
					19 May 1915 | 
					
					
					Place of Death | 
					Shrapnel 
					Gully | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Age | 
					22 | 
					  | 
					  | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Cemetery | 
					
					Beach | 
					
					
					Details | 
					I. F. 1. | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Epitaph | 
					He gave 
					his life that others may live | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Next of Kin | 
					(Mother) 
					KIRKPATRICK Sarah | 
					
					
					Address | 
					14 
					Bertram St, South Shields, England | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Parents | 
					the late 
					Robert and Sarah Simpson Kirkpatrick | 
					
					
					Address | 
					14 
					Bertram St, South Shields, England | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					Date of Birth | 
					6 July 
					1892 | 
					
					
					Place of birth | 
					England, 
					South Shields, Durham | 
				 
				
					| 
					
					General | 
					
		 
		"The infantry are quite cut up – not 
		over their terrible losses, but because of one man, Simpson 
		Kirkpatrick I think his name is.  He was known everywhere as “Murph. 
		And his Donk”.  At the Landing he commandeered a donkey and ever since 
		has been coming and going from the distant firing-line to the beach with 
		wounded men.  He worked day and night, plodding along unscathed under 
		fire till all thought he must be protected by supernatural means.  His 
		colonel long ago told him to carry on all on his own; to do whatever he 
		liked and go wherever he liked.  He has been a little army of mercy all 
		on his own.  Yesterday morning, I think it was, he went up the valley 
		and stopped by the Water Guard where he generally had breakfast.  It 
		wasn’t ready so he went on, calling, “Never mind, give me a good dinner 
		when I come back.” 
		He never came 
		back.  Coming along the valley holding two wounded men to the donkey he 
		was shot through the heart.  Both wounded men were wounded again." 
		
		Ion IDRIESS, The Desert Column.  
		Chapter 2 – Shrapnel Gully, Gallipoli – 22 May 1915. 
		 
		"One bearer there was 
		whose name has become a tradition in Australia.  A number of donkeys 
		with Greek drivers had been landed on April 25th for water-carrying.  
		The Greeks were soon deported, and after the first days the donkeys 
		ceased carrying and fed idly in the gullies, till they gradually 
		disappeared.  Private Simpson, of the 3rd Australian Field 
		Ambulance, was seized with the idea that one of these might be useful 
		for moving men wounded in the leg.  On the night of April 25th he 
		annexed a donkey, and each day, and half of every night, he worked 
		continuously between the head of Monash Valley and the Beach, his donkey 
		carrying a brassard round its forehead and a wounded man on its back. 
		Simpson escaped death so many times that he was completely 
		fatalistic; the deadly sniping down the valley and the most furious 
		shrapnel fire never stopped him.  The colonel of his ambulance, 
		recognising the value of his work, allowed him to carry on as a 
		completely separate unit.  He camped with his donkey at the Indian 
		mule-camp, and had only to report once a day at the field ambulance.  
		Presently he annexed a second donkey.  On May 19th he went up the valley 
		past the water-guard, where he generally had his breakfast, but it was 
		not ready.  "Never mind", he called.  "Get me a good dinner when I come 
		back". 
		He never came back.  
		With two patients he was coming down the creek-bed, when he was hit 
		through the heart, both the wounded men being wounded again.  He had 
		carried many scores of men down the valley, and had saved many lives at 
		the cost of his own." 
		
		BEAN, C E W, 
		The Official 
		History of Australia in the war of 1914-1918, The Story of Anzac,
		volume 1, 11th edition, pages 553-554 (source 1)  | 
				 
			 
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				| 
				 Other Sources  | 
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				Photo | 
				
				
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				  | 
				
				Gallipoli Diaries, KING, Jonathan, page 19 (source 2) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				WW1 Official History - Vol 12, BEAN, Charles, photo 69 
				(source 1) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				National Library of Australia – Pictures Catalogue (source 
				39) | 
			 
			
				
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				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				Australian War Memorial, A03117, (source 7) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				The Western Mail Newspaper, 22 October 1915, page 23 
				(source 52) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				The Western Mail Newspaper, 31 December 1915, page 33 
				(source 52) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				Australian War Memorial, A02826 , (source 7) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				The Sunday Times Newspaper, 7 November 1915, page 17 
				(source 35) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Photo | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				The British Australasian Newspaper, 16 December 1915, page 7 
				(source 345) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				
				Headstone | 
				
				
				  | 
				  | 
				
				Australian 
				War Memorial, C02207, (source 7) | 
			 
			
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				
				Headstone | 
				
				
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				Gallipoli Photographic Expedition, 2009 (source 183) | 
			 
			
				
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Various | 
				
				
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				King's Park Avenue of Honour, Perth WA (source 146) | 
			 
			
				
				
				  | 
				
				  | 
				
				Various | 
				
				
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				  | 
				
				Australian War Memorial, ACT, Panel 183 (source 14) | 
			 
			 
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