One Hundred years ago three Sydney Diggers from the same family died

ONE hundred years ago three Diggers from the same family died. This year their relatives are making a special journey to Manly to mark the anniversary.

Angus McPherson and Archie McPherson. Picture: Manly Library.

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THERE were many tragic tales that came out of World War I but one northern beaches family in particular suffered devastating losses.

This year descendants of the McPherson family will be travelling to Manly from Queensland and country NSW to mark the 100th anniversary of three diggers, all related, who died separately in the closing stages of the war.

Angus and Olive McPherson with their children. Picture: Supplied

Four brothers from the McPherson family, all from Manly, served in the Great War.

Angus and Archie McPherson died in hospitals in England.

A third brother, Alex McPherson, survived the war, but died aged 36 in a terrible accident a few months after he returned, when he fell under the wheels of his wagon at Newport and suffered a

broken neck.

He is buried at Manly Cemetery and the Trustum family, who descend from Angus, will visit his grave during their visit.

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A fourth brother, Robert, who also served in World War I returned wounded.

And, a brother-in-law of the McPherson boys, Len Walker, known as the Little Drummer Boy from Manly, also died in 1918.

Len Walker. Picture: Val Allen

The names of brothers Angus and Archie McPherson are recorded on the Manly War Memorial, along with Len Walker, and their deaths will be marked by family members at the 4.25am dawn service in Manly, as well as the 11am service, where they will lay flowers.

Rod Trustum, 45, from Tamworth, whose eldest boy Angus Cameron, aged three, was named after his great, great grandfather, said there would be 10 members of the family aged from four months to 75 years travelling to Manly for the Anzac Day ceremonies.

Allan and Helen Trustum with grandson Angus. Picture: Supplied

“It’s something we want to do as a family — to pay tribute to the diggers that fought for Australia as well as remembering what our own family sacrificed,” Mr Trustum said. “We personally paid a large price in World War I.”

Rod’s mother Helen, 72, said when her grandfather, Angus McPherson, died aged 32, it had a massive impact on the family.

He left behind a wife, Olive, and four children under five, including Helen’s mother, also called Olive, aged three.

Angus and Archie McPherson's names appear on the Manly War Memorial. Picture: Julie Cross.

Mrs Trustum said her grandmother was forced to work and couldn’t look after the children as well, so the masons paid for the children to go William Thompson Masonic School in Baulkham Hills.

She could only visit once a month and would travel by ferry, train and then walk the 8km to get there.

“Things were very tough after my grandfather died,” Mrs Trustum said.

Before the war Angus was a delivery man using a horse and cart, before eventually getting a truck. He left Sydney in June, 1918, and died in England on October 11,1918, after succumbing to the ‘Spanish’ influenza, which went on to kill more people than the entire war.

He is buried in Sutton Veny in England.

The Manly War Memorial on The Corso, Manly. Picture: Julie Cross.

His brother Archie suffered an arm injury while fighting in France. After recuperating in England, he was sent back where he was then poisoned by mustard gas on April 23, 1918.

He died aged 26 from the effects of gas in a hospital in Birmingham, England, on May 19, 1918, and was buried in that city.

Len Walker, was from Pittwater Rd, Manly. He tried to enlist when he was 15 or 16, turning up at Victoria Barracks at Paddington with a small snare drum.

On a second attempt to enlist in November, 1916, he claimed he was 18 years
and 11 months old.

He was accepted and assigned to the 19th Battalion and became known far and wide as the Little Drummer Boy from Manly.

After training, he arrived at the Western Front in July, 1918. But just three weeks later he was killed in action, probably aged 18. He was buried in the Villers-Brettoneux Military Cemetery.

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