As communities across the Hilltops pause this ANZAC Day to remember those who served, one local story stands out — not from the battlefield trenches, but from the hands that worked tirelessly to save lives within them.

Dr Rupert Dufty Heggaton was not a young man when he enlisted for service in World War I. He was 42 years old, a respected physician, and the mayor of Murrumburrah — a man already deeply committed to his community.

Yet, like many of his generation, he answered the call.

At a time when doctors were desperately needed in the theatres of war, Dr Heggaton enlisted in 1915 and was commissioned as an Honorary Captain in the Australian Army Medical Corps.

His service would take him far from the quiet streets of Murrumburrah to some of the most demanding environments of the war.

Attached to the Australian Mining Corps — a specialised unit tasked with dangerous underground tunnelling operations — he travelled via Egypt and Malta before arriving in France. From there, his work placed him both in the field alongside tunnelling companies and later in military hospitals treating the wounded.

It was work that required not only skill, but resilience.

While soldiers faced the dangers of combat, medical officers like Dr Heggaton were confronted daily with the aftermath — injuries, illness, and the relentless toll of war. Records show he spent months moving between frontline duties and hospital postings, responding wherever he was needed most.

After more than a year of service overseas, he returned to Australia in July 1917.

His medical practice in Murrumburrah had continued in his absence, leased out while he served — a quiet reminder that life at home carried on, even as so many left it behind.

Following his return, Dr Heggaton continued his service in a different way, taking up a role at a recruiting depot in Sydney before eventually returning to his local practice.

For his contribution, he was awarded the 1914–18 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal — honours that recognise not only time served, but the significance of that service.

Stories like Dr Heggaton’s are part of a broader local history preserved by the Murrumburrah and District Historical Society, which holds a wide range of titles documenting the region’s past. A selection of these books is available through the museum, as well as at WhichCraft Coffee Cottage.

This ANZAC Day, as wreaths are laid and names are read, stories like Dr Heggaton’s bring that history closer to home.

Not just a soldier. A doctor. A mayor. A man who served his community.

Harden Murrumburrah Historical Society has many titles on local history, with books for sale at the museum.