Orders, Decorations and Medals

An Australian D.S.O. group awarded to Lieutenant Colonel H. V. P. Conrick, Australian Medical Corps, who served in Gallipoli where the legendary 'Simpson, the Donkey Man' was one of his stretcher bearers.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER, G.V.R., lacking top suspension buckle to allow mounting; 1914-15 STAR (Captain, A.M.C., A.I.F.); BRITISH WAR and VICTORY MEDALS, M.I.D. (Lt.-Colonel, A.I.F.); WAR MEDAL 1939-45, named (M. N. Surgeon); COLONIAL AUXILIARY FORCES DECORATION, G.V.R., officially named on reverse (Lt. Col., D.S.O., U.L.) lacking top suspension buckle to allow mounting. Together with two faded photographs of the recipient with his brother, and statutes for the D.S.O., the group on a tattered original wearing bar from which the last is now detached, generally very fine (6)

D.S.O., London Gazette 18 July, 1917: 'Conrick, Horatio Victor Patrick Major, Australian Army Medical A Corps. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in attending to the wounded. He proceeded to the scene of an explosion under very heavy shell fire, and personally directed the removal of the wounded. His fearlessness and disregard for his personal safety had been marked on all occasions.'

Horatio Victor Patrick Conrick (1882-1960) was born on 27 May 1882 at Fitzroy, Melbourne, son of Michael Francis Conrick, bank manager, and his wife Christina, nee Love, both of whom were native born. Educated at the Christian Brothers' School, St Kilda, he worked as a bank clerk before studying medicine at the University of Melbourne (M.B., B.S., 1910); he then became resident medical officer at Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Brisbane. In January 1914 Conrick was commissioned Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps; when war broke out he was appointed to the Australian Imperial Force and posted to the 3rd Field Ambulance, A.A.M.C. He embarked for Egypt in September, served throughout the Gallipoli campaign and was mentioned in dispatches in August and December 1915. In January 1916 he was appointed to the 2nd Australian General Hospital in Egypt and a month later was promoted major. He was then transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital and left for the Western Front in April. After a period as medical officer-in-charge, Anzac Base Details, he was attached to the Australian Voluntary Hospital in July, then for the rest of 1916 held appointments with the 2nd A.G.H. and the 5th and 7th Field Ambulances. He was serving with the latter unit when his award of the Distinguished Service Order was gazetted in July 1917. Later that year he served with the 1st and 15th Field Ambulances, the 10th Casualty Clearing Station and the 24th Battalion. He was made temporary Lieut-Colonel and senior medical officer at the 2nd Command Convalescent Depot in November and was again mentioned in dispatches. From 3 April to 24 May 1918 he commanded the 8th Field Ambulance; his rank was confirmed on 1 May.

Conrick embarked for Australia in June 1918 and was demobilized in August. On 12 September, at St Mary's Catholic Church, North Sydney, he married Mary Frances Punch. They settled at North Sydney and Conrick resumed medical practice; concentrating on children's medicine, he held appointments at the Renwick Hospital for Infants, Sydney, from 1922 and was honorary consulting surgeon there from 1957 until his death. From the late 1940s he was honorary assistant physician at Mater Misericordiae General Hospital and for several years was New South Wales representative on the council of the British Medical Association. He kept up an active interest in the A.A.M.C. until 1943 when he was placed on the retired list with the rank of Lieut-Colonel; in 1931 he had been awarded the Volunteer Officers' Decoration. Survived by his wife and two daughters, Conrick died on 18 July 1960 and was buried in the Catholic section of Gore Hill Cemetery.

On April 25th, 1915, Capt. Conrick, A.A.M.C., landed on Gallipoli with the 3rd Field Ambulance. The famous 'Simpson, the Donkey Man' was one of his stretcher bearers, so he has written with first hand knowledge of this brave and remarkable Australian soldier who made history that will long be remembered amongst others by the families and friends of the diggers who served on Gallipoli.

'Simpson, the Donkey Man'

Here are some personal recollections about this soldier, which I can vouch for, as he was in the same unit with me. I enlisted in 'A' Section of the 3rd Field Ambulance in Brisbane in 1914 as Medical Officer. We arrived in Egypt in December 1914 and were joined there by our 'B' Section from South Australia and our 'C' Section from Western Australia and Tasmania. We were a composite unit from all States of Australia, other than N.S.W. and Victoria. John Simpson Kirkpatrick had enlisted in the 3rd Field Ambulance in Western Australia. This soldier enlisted as Simpson and was known to his mates as 'Simmy.' At the landing at Anzac April 25th, 1915, he went ashore with his bearer squad of four; his three mates were either killed or wounded and Simpson was left alone. Being a young man of initiative and courage, he captured one of the stray donkeys that had been brought ashore for ammunition work. He placed his red cross brassard over the donkey's forehead below the ears and called the donkey 'Murphy.' Some afterwards referred to Simpson as 'Murphy the Donkey Man.' With this donkey and working as a unit on his own, he carried and guided the wounded from the trenches down, despite the shrapnel, to the first aid post. In these early days it was highly dangerous to go along his usual track in daylight, as snipers from the Turkish trenches, which were higher than ours, kept up a constant barrage of rifle shots. It was while proceeding along this track on a visit to the front lines that our divisional commander, General Bridges, received the wound from which he died a few days later. After the General's death, the gully was made safer by the building of sandbagged walls at intervals along the track. From all of which it will be seen that Simpson carried out a very dangerous mission. He had several donkeys killed while on his job, and he escaped death till about 3 weeks after the landing, when he was shot by a sniper through the heart while taking a wounded soldier on his donkey to the beach. Simpson was a very game man and in fact, he laughed at danger. At all times he was cheerful and a great favourite with his mates of the 3rd Field Ambulance. On one occasion I passed him in Monash Gully and called out to him, 'Look out for yourself Simmy.' His laughing reply came, 'That bullet hasn't been made for me yet, sir.' When our C.O., Colonel Alfred Sutton, a good soldier and sensible man, came ashore at Anzac about one week after the landing, we reported to him the type of work Simpson was doing, detached from the Ambulance. He replied he was quite agreeable he should continue, as his was an exceptional case, the only stipulation being that he should report at intervals to H.Q. Simpson came to us at times for rations, but more often he was fed by the Indian Mountain Battery and Jacobs Mule Train, who were camped near Monash Gully. They greatly admired him and would have given him anything. After his death, these Indians took charge of his donkey, fed it and looked after it. Their Medical Officer, Capt. Casey Evans (afterwards Sir Casey Evans) told me that he enquired of some of them if they would not lose caste by handling a donkey. They replied, 'What matter, sahib, it is the donkey of a Bahadur - a hero.' We buried Simpson in the cemetery on Brighton Beach, close to 'Hell-fire Corner,' a spot he had passed hundreds of times in his brave journeyings. Most of us had known him for four short months only, but long enough to assess his worth; surely 'a very gallant gentleman.'