Mundah, Gilgandra, NSW
5683
13th Battalion,
Tooraweenah Kookaburra
KIA 18.9.1918
AKA Alexander James Ferguson
Donald Ferguson was a 28 year old farmer of Gulargambone when he enlisted on 14 February, 1916 at Casula. He passed his medical examination in Sydney on 31 January and it described him as 5’6” tall, 126lbs (57kgs), chest expansion of 32-35”, fresh complexion, brown eyes, dark hair with no distinctive marks noted. He had suffered from Rheumatism twelve years previously, aged 16 years.
Donald’s father was deceased and Alice Ferguson of Mundah, Gulargambone NSW was his next of kin. Donald’s birth name was Alexander James Ferguson, but called Don to avoid confusion with his father and grandfather who had the same name. Donald did not march in the Tooraweenah Kookaburra March even though he was included in Roy Cameron’s book, “The Kookaburra March’
On 6 April 1916, a Farewell was given to a group of district men at Tooraweenah; Donald, Leo Waterford, James, Andrew and Rufus Irvin, L Sheldon and Stuart (sic) McPherson were presented with gifts of a balaclava, pens, socks and watches
After training, Donald embarked for Egypt on 3 May, 1916, on HMAT ‘Clan MacGillivray’, with the 13th Battalion. They had one more month of training and arrived in France via England in September 1916. Donald was wounded in action for the first time in February 1917. He suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks and calf and was sent to England for treatment and convalescence. He returned to France at the end of August 1917, but one month later, at the end of September, he was wounded for the second time with a gunshot wound to the chest wall. Once again, he was sent to England for treatment and convalescence and returned to France in March 1918. The third time he was in hospital for a week in August 1918 and rejoined his unit for only a month when he was killed in action at Le Verguier, France on 18 September, 1918.
Donald is buried in the Jeancourt Communal Cemetery Extension in France. Alice received photos of the grave, the Memorial Plaque, the Memorial Scroll and his medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial on Panel 6 and the Gilgandra and Gulargambone War Memorials.