Sage Clyne Sinclair Murray. Image courtesy The Daily Telegraph.
Sage Clyne Sinclair Murray was born in Orange on 4 September 1893, the sixth of thirteen children born to William Murray and his wife Alice (nee Wren) of Cargo Road.
On 22 August 1914 Sage and his older brother George Wren Murray travelled to Roseberry Park in Sydney and enlisted in the First World War. The war had begun less than three weeks earlier; the brothers were among the first men from the Orange district to volunteer.
Two months later, on 20 October, Sage and George embarked HMAT A16 Star of Victoria in Sydney. They served together in Gallipoli, Egypt, Palestine and France.
George suffered ill-health during late 1916 and 1917. In January 1918 he was evacuated to Tidworth Military Hospital, where he died of pleurisy and heart failure.
In July 1918 Sage boarded Port Darwin at Suez for a period of furlough in Australia. His parents William and Alice travelled to Sydney to welcome him home on 17 August 1918. The Leader noted that his official welcome home party was held on 22 August 1918, exactly four years after his enlistment. Some 100 people attended the celebration and “games and dancing were indulged in till the early hours of the morning”. The residents of Forbes Road presented Sage with a set of military hair brushes; he received a gold medal from the people of Cargo.
Sage returned to Liverpool camp in early October, and was still there when peace was declared the following month. He was discharged from the AIF on 22 November 1918.
On 28 August 1920 Sage married Emily Agnes Sykes at the Holy Trinity Church in Orange. The bride and bridesmaid’s bouquets were tied with the colours of the 1st Light Horse, in honour of the groom’s war service.
During the 1930s Sage was employed as a patrol man with the Orange Diggers’ Mechanical Coursing Club. On 2 April 1939 he was attacked by three men who attempted to enter Wade Park coursing ground without tickets. He suffered two fractured ribs, and severe injuries to his head.
During WWII Sage was a member of the unit that oversaw Japanese prisoners of war detained at Cowra.
Sage Murray passed away in Orange on 15 November 1943, aged 50. He is buried in the Presbyterian section of Orange Cemetery.
Sage Clyne Sinclair Murray is commemorated on the Nashdale Public School Honour Roll and the St John’s Presbyterian Church Orange Honour Roll.
Walter Stewart Murray was another of George’s brothers who served in WWI. A cousin, George Murray from Manildra, and second cousin, Hugh Miller Murray, also served.
Orange historian William (Bill) Folster estimates that more than fifty men from the extended Murray family in the Central West answered the call to arms during the First World War. The Murray clan has a long tradition of military service. Sage’s namesake and great grandfather, Sage Murray, fought in the Battle of Waterloo, and his great uncles in the Sudan and Boer Wars.
The Murray Clan of Orange. Image courtesy The Daily Telegraph.
