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Western Mail, Thursday, 15 August 1929, p. 2
The Man with the Donkey.
Mr. A. E. Coate. 'Katanning, writes:-
In "The Western Mail" of July 4, and 18, and August 1, there appeared several articles dealing on the Man with the Donkey. The following is an extract from "The Patriot's Record" of October, 1918: "Of all heroes this war has produced, none finds so warm a place in Anzac hearts as does Private James Simpson, and yet not one out of every dozen would know who was meant if that name was mentioned, for as Mr. Bean, the Australian Press representative, writes: 'Everybody knew the man with the donkey, and everybody knew that if ever a man deserved honour in this war it was he. He was a stretcher-bearer. Few people knew his name; to most he was Scottie or Murphy; those who called him the one, called the donkey the other. West Australian boys and girls will be proud to know that ideal of Anzac heroes enlisted at Blackboy Hill. They will also be pleased to learn that Colonel Pope, of Perth, was the owner of the donkey. When the troops were making ready to leave Lemnos for Gallipoli, the Colonel bought two small donkeys, which he thought might be useful for carrying supplies up the craggy valleys of Sari Bahr. In the famous landing these animals were forgotten, and nobody seems to know how they got ashore, but it is certain that Private Simpson commandeered one of them, and made him a sharer in his fame and glorious deeds of mercy. When it was decided to leave the Peninsula, the donkey was taken on board by Colonel Pope, who intended to send him back to Western Australia so that all might see the faithful pet of a very gallant Anzac soldier, but it was not to be. Some day we may be allowed to say bow it came about that the familiar little animal now lies at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.