Denmy, Gulargambone, NSW
1639
45th Battalion,
Tooraweenah Kookaburra
RTA 4.4.1919
Private Andrew Ferguson was a 25 year old grazier of Gulargambone when he enlisted on January 12, 1916 with the Tooraweenah Kookaburras and marched to Bathurst.
Andrew was born in Gulargambone to Sarah Ferguson; who was his stated next of kin when he enlisted. His medical examination described him 5’7” tall, 123lbs, chest expansion of 32”, a fresh complexion, blue eyes, fair hair and no distinctive marks. He was Presbyterian.
After training at Bathurst, Andrew embarked at Sydney on HMAT Ceramic on April 14, 1916. The 45th Battalion trained in Egypt before they left for England. He arrived in France in September 1916 and was wounded in action one month later, when he was struck by a shell on November 14, 1916. He was described as ‘excited but not dazed’; aphonic (unable to talk) for 3 months, headaches, tremors, giddiness, epileptic attacks and cardiac symptoms. His final diagnosis was shell shock. He was sent back to England for treatment and convalescence, via the 36th Casualty Clearing Station, and the 10th General Hospital at Rouen. He spent 3 months in the London General Hospital at Chelsea and the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Wandsworth.
Eventually he was sent back to Australia on HMAT Themistocles , arriving on July 4,1917, and he was discharged August 3, 1917.
A report of the welcome home given to Andrew and another soldier C Curtis was in the Gilgandra Weekly August 24, 1917. After speeches the men were given a gold medal in appreciation of their loyalty to King and country.
He was issued the British War Medal and the Victory Medal