Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Career shipwright Patrick Daniel Murphy BEM, Royal Australian Navy. The son of William and Norah Murphy, he was born 25 February 1894 at Castletown, County Cork, Ireland. He came to NSW and joined up, aged 21, in December 1915.
He served throughout the war on land, in Australia and New Guinea, and at sea on Cerberus and Encounter. After the war he remained in the Navy and, in 1924, married Ada Clare Stephens (23) in Burwood, NSW. In later life they lived in Clovelly.
In 1938, at the rank of Chief Shipwright First Class, Patrick transferred to Auxillary Services as a constable with the Sydney Dockyard Police (Garden Island). Later that year he was awarded a Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service (Military Division).
In 1939, with the advent of WWII, he was commissioned for active service (land based), but transferred back to sea-going service in March 1942. In May 1943 he was commissioned as a temporary Acting Warrant Shipwright and served on Shropshire.
In Cape Town, South Africa, on 5 September 1943, Patrick (49) was seen on the dock at Table Bay. Two days later his body was recovered from the water nearby and he was buried at Dido Valley Cemetery, Simonstown, South Africa.
Ada outlived him by 30 years and died in NSW, aged 75.