Enlistment Address

Gilgandra, NSW

Service Number

Depot

Unit

LIverpool Camp, NSW

Comment

Gilgandra Coo-ee

Fate

Discharged as medically unfit, 29.11.1915

Information

Ernest Simpson

Ernest Simpson was a 33 year old labourer when he attempted to enlist in Gilgandra on 9 October 1915. Ernest had paid for 3 weeks in a hotel waiting in Gilgandra because he wanted to enlist with the Coo-ees but he failed the medical when a hernia was found. He decided to march anyway, hoping to have surgery to correct the problem in Sydney. The ‘Farmers and Settler’ newspaper described him as ‘the strongest man that has offered….and is sound as a bell’.

After 16 days in Liverpool Camp a Medical Board Report found that he had a double inguinal hernia so Ernest was rejected as medically unfit on 29 November 1915.

Ernest was mis-named as C A Simpson in a newspaper report, which prevented confirming his service record until recently. He was born in Horsham Victoria about 1882and his next of kin was his father, Duncan Simpson of Renmark South Australia.

He is commemorated on the Gilgandra Coo-ee Gateway Memorial