Ben Murray Gallipoli Veteran

In late 1975, my partner Boronia and I had the pleasure and privilege to accompany a linguist, Peter Austin, to Marree in South Australia. Peter was completing his field research for his PhD in Linguistics on the Diyari language. Peter is now one of the world’s leading authorities in endangered languages.

In the small town of Farina, we met up with Ben Murray, one of Peter’s key informants and consultants, and one of the few remaining speakers of Diyari.

Murray was the only occupant of the abandoned township, moving from one house to the next as they fell apart around him. We heard a little of his remarkable life story then, and I particularly remember him telling us about his time as a soldier in the first world war.

Peter (along with co-authors Louise Hercus and Philip Jones) later published a short biography of Murray in the Journal Aboriginal History: 'Ben Murray (Parlku-nguyu-thangkayiwarna)' Aboriginal History, vol. 12, no. 2, pp114-188. Pages 159 and following recount his time as a soldier in Gallipoli and Palestine.

Murray’s life was remarkable in many respects, spanning as it did the interactions of three communities, Indigenous, Afghan and Anglo-Saxon. Murray’s stories (link to article here) provide some insights into the nature of the remote Australian frontier in the 1890s, and to Murray’s stoicism and sense of humour. I particularly remember Murray explaining how his knowledge of Afghan language and customs assisted in ensuring that he was captured alive and not killed by the Turks in 1918, an event recounted in some detail in the short biography.

Murray died in 1994 at the age of 101. He deserves to be remembered on this ANZAC day. Perhaps we should also remember the contribution and persistence of Murray’s Diyari forebears whose knowledge of the land, whose customs and language now rests on the brink of extinction.