The eldest of five children, Allan Dunkley was born in Granville in 1898 and enlisted upon turning 18. He joined the 3rd Battalion’s 16th Reinforcements and was hospitalised after receiving a gunshot wound not long after joining the action in Belgium.
Repatriated to hospital in England, Dunkley spent three months recovering from what was described as a severe injury. It was during this time he most likely met his future wife Eva Lambert. They were married in Norfolk in November of 1917.
Playing his junior football with the Granville Rechabites, upon returning home a married man in 1919, Dunkley joined rival Parramatta club Kia Ora with whom he played at least one more season.
Dunkley lived till the age of 67.