Lest We Forget

The ANZACs’ Day –
25 April 1915
Very early on the morning of 25 April 1915, long before sunrise, the ANZACs were getting ready to go into battle. They had sailed from Egypt, and now lay off the coast of Turkey in the darkness. They quietly climbed down rope ladders and stepped into small row boats. These were then towed as close as possible to the beach before the men rowed the last part to the shore. They had practised this many times. But they were still very nervous. They didn't know if the Turkish soldiers would be awake, or how many there were. All they knew was that once ashore, they had to go inland, as far from the beach as possible, and make room for more men to land behind them. That was the plan.

Suddenly, a bright flare went up into the sky, turning night into day. The ANZACs were still making their way to the shore. Then the machine-guns and rifles opened up.
The ANZACs who jumped out of the boats that day were met with terrible gun fire. Turkish bullets were whizzing through the air like hail, and many men were killed or wounded in those first few hours. Some men didn't even get out of the boats before they were shot. Others, who jumped out as they ran aground, found the water was up to their shoulders. Some men drowned because their packs were so heavy, or because they had never been taught to swim. Once ashore, the ANZACs became confused. They had expected a flat beach but instead they were at the base of some cliffs. They had landed in the wrong place!

They were scared but excited. Clawing their way up the cliffs, they called for their mates to follow. They dodged the bullets and ran from sand dune to sand dune, always heading inland, always into terrible rifle fire. At the end of the first day, 2000 ANZACs lay dead. Against all odds, however, they had held their ground.

The bloody fighting continued, and by the end of the first week more than 6500 ANZACs had been killed or wounded. Fighting was now going on in the gullies and ridges a kilometre inland.

During the 1920s, Anzac Day became established as a National Day of Commemoration for the 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders who died during the war.

In Turkey the name "ANZAC Cove" was officially recognised by the Turkish government on Anzac Day in 1985. In 1934, Kemal Atatürk delivered the following words to the first Australians, New Zealanders and British to visit the Gallipoli battlefields. This was later inscribed on a monolith at Ari Burnu Cemetery ( ANZAC Beach ) which was unveiled in 1985 and the words also appear on the Kemal Atatürk Memorial, Canberra:
"Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives. You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side Here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, Who sent their sons from far away countries Wipe away your tears, Your sons are now lying in our bosom And are in peace After having lost their lives on this land they have Become our sons as well."[28]
In 1990, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, Government officials from Australia and New Zealand as well as most of the last surviving Gallipoli veterans, and many Australian and New Zealand tourists travelled to Turkey for a special Dawn Service at Gallipoli. The Anzac Day Gallipoli Dawn Service has since attracted upwards of 15,000 people. Until 1999, the Gallipoli Dawn Service was held at the Ari Burnu War Cemetery at Anzac Cove, but the growing numbers of people attending resulted in the construction of a more spacious site on North Beach, known as the "Anzac Commemorative Site" in time for the year 2000 service.