The block of Timaru bluestone, unveiled on top of the Cave Hill on April 29, 1928, bears the touching inscription: "So long as the rocks endure, and grass grows, and water runs, so long will this stone bear witness that through this low pass in the hills, men from the Cave, Cannington, and Moutakaika districts rode and walked on their way to the Great European War 1914-1918. Some of them have not returned, but have left their mortal remains in foreign lands and strange seas, that our British way of living may continue, but their immortal souls have risen from the Grave."
The sons of Irish immigrants, Michael John and Harriet Murphy, the brothers were contentedly following in their father's footsteps and working the land at Cannington - 35km inland from Timaru - when war broke out.
Ernest Murphy signed up as a single 22-year-old with the 7th Reinforcements on June 12, 1915.
He spent three weeks in hospital at Trentham suffering from the measles before he set off with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion on October 9, 1915 bound for Suez, Egypt.
He then joined the 1st battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment on the Western Front.
When the Battle of the Somme opened on July 1, 1916 - where 20,000 Allied soldiers died on the first day - the New Zealand Division was at Armentires.
By the time the Kiwis arrived on the infamous Somme battlefield on September 15, 1916, the enemy's defences had been penetrated to a maximum depth of about 6.5km, on a front of about 32km.
On September 26, Murphy's battalion was ordered to take two defensive German trenches that was protected by a thick belt of razor wire.
After a creeping barrage, the soldiers advanced in the autumn afternoon sun.
Despite attention from bombers and machine-guns, they took just 23 minutes to overrun the trenches.
Casualties were slight, according to the official history of the Canterbury Regiment. But Ernest Murphy wasn't so lucky - he was killed in action.
A comrade confirmed his death.
"I saw E. Murphy. He was dead. I knew Murphy well. I am certain of his identity," a document with his personal military file records.
Ernest Murphy is buried at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery alongside 5568 Commonwealth comrades, near Longueval.
After his death, brother Michael Allan Murphy signed up as a 20-year old with the 22nd Reinforcements Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
The farmhand left Wellington on February 16, 1917 and was sent to the Western Front with the 2nd battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment.
After withstanding Germany's big push, the Spring Offensive, the Allies began to fight back.
Private Murphy received orders to go over the top on October 8, 1918.
In what was the Second Battle of Le Cateau, the troops attacked at 4.30am and initially made good progress over the French farmland.
But they soon ran into heavy machine-gun fire. Murphy was killed during the fighting.
He is buried at Honnechy British Cemetery, 8km from the village of Le Cateau.
Noel Crawford, an amateur historian who has written a history on Cannington where he grew up, said the losses of such young men as the Murphy brothers were a devastating loss to the area.
"Almost every family, every farm, lost a son. Some never got over it."
To read the first 26 stories in this series go here.
