John Simpson
Kirkpatrick (Wikipedia) From the free Wikipedia Encyclopedia, which is written by volunteers..
Australia's favourite
hero (anzacs.net)
Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick. Simpson - The man with the donkey (archived from gallipoli-association.org) Brief story of John Simpson Kirkpatrick. Includes the
variety of names he and his donkey(s) had. Answers the question, "What
happened to the donkey after Simpson was killed?"
Not Only a
Hero (anzacday.org.au)
"An Illustrated Life of Simpson, the Man with the Donkey"
Simpson and his Donkey - John Simpson Kirkpatrick (anzachouse.com) 1913 portrait photo, early life, the first 24 hours at Anzac,
Simpson finds a donkey, other information about the donkeys, the daily routine, his last day.. Simpson and his donkeySimpson and his donkey (diggerhistory.info) The story of John Simpson Kirkpatrick's life, illustrated with images that
include his medals and special stamps issued to commemorate Simpson and his
donkey.
Book review: Simpson and his Donkey (thebookchook.com) Review of a book on Simpson and his Donkey written by Mark Greenwood. (See
also Classroom activities below.)
Book review: Dust, Donkeys and
Delusions
(smh.com.au) 24 Nov 2012 Author Graham Wilson argues that although
many claims about Simpson and his donkey are exaggerated, the legend serves
a valuable function. See also review under "Getting the facts right" below.
Dust, Donkeys and Delusions: The Myth of Simpson and his Donkey Exposed
(bigskypublishing.com.au)
This publisher's website summarises the approach taken by
author Graham Wilson in presenting the story of Simpson and his Donkey as a
misleading myth. For sample pages click on the link at the bottom of the
page ("CLICK HERE TO VIEW SAMPLE CHAPTERS"). An alternative means of viewing
sample pages is to search for the title in
Google Books.
Letters between John Simpson Kirkpatrick and
his family, 1915 (awm.gov.au) A collection of
handwritten letters between John Simpson Kirkpatrick and his mother, Sarah Kirkpatrick,
and his sister, Annie Kirkpatrick, written in 1915. (For more
correspondence, scroll down for links to copies of letters from earlier
years.)
The image of John Simpson Kirkpatrick at the
right is portion of the Australian War Memorial's image A02847 which shows members of the 3rd Australian Field
Ambulance.
Should Simpson have been awarded the Victoria Cross? John Simpson Kirkpatrick: Victoria Cross (en.wikipedia.org) Summarises the issue relating to Simpson and
the awarding of the Victoria Cross..
Gallipoli hero Simpson won't receive the VC (abc.net.au) 1 Mar 2013 News story reporting in 2013 that a Defence
tribunal had decided Simpson should not retrospectively receive
the Victoria Cross.
Why
wasn't Simpson decorated? (aph.gov.au) (If the web page is unavailable, you can
find the information in the archived pdf file:(If the web page is unavailable, you can
find the information in the archived pdf file: Anzac Day KitAnzac Day Kit[pdf,
3.9MB].)) Scroll about halfway down to the sub-heading "Scroll about halfway down to the sub-heading "Why wasn't Simpson decorated?" The
notes point out that Simpson was decorated, but not with the Victoria Cross.
(Note that many links are not accessible
as this material was produced for users of the Parliamentary Library.)
Simpson and the Victoria Cross:
Australia's favourite hero (anzacs.net) Scroll down just over half way to "Jack was recommended for the Victoria
Cross, officially, through his unit..." This section explains how Simpson
came close to receiving the Victoria Cross. Further down is an Australian
Government explanation of why Simpson has not been posthumously awarded the
Victoria Cross.
John
Simpson Kirkpatrick
(anzachouse.com) Scroll to just over half-way down to the section called "No
decoration".
FOR SENIOR STUDENTS
Is too much attention being paid to Simpson and his
donkey? WW1 legend of Simpson and his donkey a case of selective truths
(theaustralian.com.au) The story of Simpson has been exploited, according to the
preface of Simpson and the Donkey: The Making of a Legend
by Peter Cochrane.
Drop the donkey, urges Tasmania's governor[pdf] (govhouse.tas.gov.au) The late Tasmanian Governor, Peter Underwood, said in
his Anzac Day speech for 2014: "We should spend less time
studying Simpson’s donkey and more time looking at why we were
fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan for so long" (pages 5-6).
News
100th anniversary of death of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick (smh.com.au)
19 May 20155 Head of military history at the Australian War
Memorial Ashley Elkins says Simpson was an ordinary working class
man whose legend proved far bigger than Simpson himself was.Head of military history at the Australian War
Memorial Ashley Elkins says Simpson was an ordinary working class
man whose legend proved far bigger than Simpson himself was.
Simpson and his Donkey Teacher Notes(franelessac.com) Provides a
pdf file containing suggested classroom uses and activities relating to the illustrated
children's book Simpson and his Donkey by Mark Greenwood.
Simpson and
his Donkey (convictcreations.com) "A Human Soldier." The story of Simpson and his Donkey, followed
by questions for students to answer or discuss. My Storybook of the Anzacs at Gallipoli 1915
[pdf file, 3MB] (anzacportal.dva.gov.au) See page 32 for an activity to complete on Simpson and
his Donkey. The following document contains the information source for
use in completing the activity: - Worksheets for My Story of Gallipoli 1915[pdf file, 6.5MB] (anzacportal.dva.gov.au) See the last page (page 64) for the information on
Simpson and his Donkey.
These documents form part of the
Investigating Gallipoli collection..
● Our Simpson and his
Donkey printable and interactive
word searches ● Simpson and his
Donkey section of our colour-in activities page ● Booklets to download
where some booklets contain Simpson and his Donkey activities
Simpson and his
Donkey - YouTube (youtube.com)
The illustrated story of Simpson and his donkey (with the
song And the band played Waltzing Matilda as background
music).
Man and the Donkey
(youtube.com)
British TV report on a play about John Simpson Kirkpatrick
and his donkey, set in his home town of South Shields. The report, however,
is usefully more a summary of Simpson's life than a report about the play.
(The full title of the YouTube video is amusingly given as "Man and the
Donkey, John Simpson Cook Patrick", presumably arising from the tendency of
some English people to pronounce the word "cook" as "kirk".)
Anzac Heroes (media.news.com.au) - John Simpson Kirkpatrick Short video. Click on John
Simpson Kirkpatrickfor the SECOND video listed, "The man with the
donkey."
Me Darlin' Boy (soundcloud.com) This song by singer/songwriter
Lugh Damen is based on letters between
John Simpson Kirkpatrick and
his mother, Sarah Kirkpatrick. The lyrics [pdf] are available. For more
information see our Modern Anzac
Day music page.
John Simpson
Kirkpatrick (YouTube) - sample only This is a 1min19sec sample of a new song from
Dogmatic Music
(facebook.com) specially written
for use in schools. Watch and listen to the YouTube video free. The full
3min33sec version is available for purchase and download from
cdbaby.com.
Simpson and his Donkey, 1915
(awm.gov.au) Information about a sculpture of Simpson and his Donkey
by Peter Corlett. (AWM Accession No. ART40993.)
Simpson and his Donkey (monumentaustralia.org.au)
Information about a South Australian statue of Simpson and his donkey by
sculptor Robert Hannaford.
Can you help?
Is
this Simpson?
The photo at the right is presented as Simpson
and his Donkey on many web pages, for example Five Months at Anzac: Joseph Lievesley Beeston.
However, we seem to remember seeing a website a few years ago that identified a
photograph that might have looked like this one and claimed the man in the
photo is NOT Simpson.
Are you aware of that website or of information
that suggests the man is not John Simpson Kirkpatrick? Or perhaps you can
confirm that Simpson really is the man in this photo.
Please email us with any information: anzacwebsites@gmail.com
(REMOVE SPACES)
A collection of
handwritten letters between John Simpson Kirkpatrick and his mother, Sarah Kirkpatrick,
and his sister, Annie Kirkpatrick, written in 1915. (For more
correspondence, scroll down for links to copies of letters from earlier
years.)
Is
this Simpson?
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